Category Archives: The Weekly Text

The Weekly Text is a primary feature at Mark’s Text Terminal. This category will include a variety of classroom materials in English Language Arts and social studies, most often in the form of complete lesson plans (see above) in those domains. The Weekly Text is posted on Fridays.

The Weekly Text, April 20, 2018: Three Context Clues Worksheet on Rational (adj), Irrational (adj), and Rationalism (n)

Posted on April 20, 2018 | Leave a comment

Today is National School Walkout Day during which students across the United States, possessed in general of more good sense than adults in our era, will walk out of school to protest the patent insanity of our nation’s gun laws.

Out of respect for the young people staging this protest, I’ll keep this week’s Text short, to wit these three context clues worksheets on the adjectives rational and irrational, and the noun rationalism. If memory serves, I wrote these initially to attend some lessons on the Enlightenment.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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The Weekly Text, April 13, 2018: A Lesson Plan on Using Adverbs of Time

Posted on April 13, 2018 | Leave a comment

It’s Friday the thirteenth, and so far nothing bad has happened in my tiny corner of the universe; I hope the same is true for you.

This week’s Text is a complete lesson plan on using adverbs of time. I begin this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on anthropomorphism. However, if the concept of anthropomorphism is too abstract for your students, or if this lesson enters a second day, then here is a homophone worksheet on the nouns profit and prophet that may well be useful to you in other areas of your practice. When teaching this lesson, I also use this learning support which might also be useful elsewhere in your classroom; it’s in Microsoft Word, in any case, so it will be easy to bend to your needs. Here is the structured, scaffolded worksheet that is the mainstay of this lesson. Finally, here is the teacher’s copy of the worksheet to guide you in guiding your students.

And that’s it for another week. I hope spring has sprung where you live. The first azaleas are in bloom in the New York Botanical Garden, which is pleasant indeed.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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The Weekly Text, March 30, 2018, Women’s History Month 2018 Week V: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Posted on March 30, 2018 | Leave a comment

Today is the final Friday of Women’s History Month 2018. I’m actually posting this week’s Text from my phone, as spring break has begun, and I left my computer at work; I’m on a train headed for lovely Cold Spring, New York for the day.

Depending on what and how you teach, you may find useful this reading on Jackie Joyner-Kersee. If you do, then here is a comprehension worksheet to accompany it. Finally, here is an Everyday Edit worksheet on Bessie Coleman, the aviatrix. (And, incidentally, if you like the Everyday Edit worksheet, the magnanimous people at Education World have a year’s worth of them on offer–for free!).

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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The Weekly Text, March 23, 2018, Women’s History Month 2018 Week IV: a Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Queen Isabella of Spain

Posted on March 23, 2018 | Leave a comment

Well, it’s Friday again, so it’s time for another Weekly Text, which continues to to observe Women’s History Month. So, here is a reading on Queen Isabella of Spain with a comprehension worksheet to accompany it. As long as we’re on the subject of royalty in modern history, here is an Everyday Edit on the women in King Henry VIII’s life to complement the longer exercises on Queen Isabella. Incidentally, if you want more of these Everyday Edit exercises, the good people at Education World have posted a year’s supply of them free for the taking.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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The Weekly Text, March 16, 2018, Women’s History Month 2018 Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Geneticist Barbara McClintock

Posted on March 16, 2018 | Leave a comment

Another Friday has rolled around, so it’s time for another Weekly Text in observation of Women’s History Month. This week’s Text is a reading on geneticist and botanist Barbara McClintock accompanied by this comprehension worksheet on the reading. Finally, here is a complementary Everyday Edit worksheet on Marie Curie (and you can get a full-year supply of Everyday Edit worksheets from the generous proprietors of the Education World website.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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The Weekly Text, March 9, 2018, Women’s History Month 2018 Week II: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Abolitionist and Author Lydia Maria Child

Posted on March 9, 2018 | Leave a comment

Friday morning at last, which means it’s time for the Weekly Text, this one in observance of Women’s History Month. This week I offer this reading on Lydia Maria Child. To accompany it, here is a reading comprehension worksheet. Finally, here is an Everyday Edit worksheet on “Women Get the Vote.” (And, incidentally, you can get more Everyday Edit Worksheets–indeed, an entire year’s worth–from the generous people at the Education World website.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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The Weekly Text, March 2, 2018, Women’s History Month 2018 Week I: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Maya Angelou

Posted on March 2, 2018 | Leave a comment

Let’s get right to this week’s text, which is a reading on Maya Angelou. You might want to use, or adapt, this comprehension worksheet which accompanies the reading. Finally, here is an Everyday Edit exercise on Women’s History Month to attend any lesson you might want to contrive frome the first two documents. By the way, you can get lots more Everyday Edit worksheets from the generous folks who operate Education World.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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The Weekly Text, February 23, 2018, Black History Month 2018, Week IV: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Posted on February 23, 2018 | Leave a comment

This is the last Friday of Black History Month, 2018, so this is by definition the final Weekly Text for the month. I’m actually publishing this from my phone, since I am away from New York (but on an Amtrak train on my way back right this minute).

Here is a reading on Archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of the great men of my lifetime. You might be able to use this comprehension sheet which accompanies the reading. Finally, here is an Everyday Edit on Martin Luther King, Jr. (and you can get lots more Everyday Edits from the good people at Education World.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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The Weekly Text, February 16, 2018, Black History Month 2018 Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education

Posted on February 15, 2018 | Leave a comment

If the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision isn’t something that all Americans should revere, then I don’t know what is. I’ll be the first to stipulate that it was belated. But the fact that a a working man named Oliver Brown could bring an action against the discriminatory district in which his children attended school, take it all the way to the highest court in the land, and effectively force this nation to live up to the high ideals asserted in its founding documents should inspire anyone who hears it.

So, here is an Intellectual Devotional reading on Brown v. Board of Education with a reading comprehension worksheet to use with it. This Everyday Edit on Desegregation at Central High (and you can get lots more of these from the generous proprietors of the Education World website) nicely complements this reading.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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The Weekly Text, February 9, 2018, Black History Month 2018 Week II: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on James Baldwin

Posted on February 9, 2018 | Leave a comment

Have you seen director Raoul Peck’s documentary about James Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro yet? If not, I cannot recommend this film highly enough. I have always been a film buff, so I have greatly appreciated the arrival, in the last ten or fifteen years, of a bumper crop of engaged, talented documentarians. Indeed, most evenings I watch a documentary of some sort, so I like to think I know something about the form. If “I Am Not Your Negro” doesn’t represent formal perfection, then I don’t know what does.

Also, obviously, it showcases one of the most important public intellectuals and writers of my lifetime. I’ll simply say that The Fire Next Time was one of those books that radically altered the way I perceive the world, and I am grateful to it for that.

This week’s Text is a reading on James Baldwin with a comprehension sheet to accompany it. You might also find useful (and you can get lots more of these from the generous people at Education World) this Everyday Edit on the U.S.-Africa Capital Connection.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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