Category Archives: Worksheets

Classroom documents for student use. Most are structured and scaffolded, and most are pitched at a fundamental level in terms of the questions they ask and the work and understandings they require of students.

Cultural Literacy: Je Ne Sais Quoi

Occasionally, if a few minutes remain in a period after a lesson, I’ll pull out a short exercise to keep students busy. Often, these are things like this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the french noun je ne sais quoi. I tell kids that while this isn’t something they will be tested on–and what a dismal standard for assessing the importance of knowledge that is!–but rather something they will need for cocktail party chatter when they become successful professionals.

If you find typos in this document, 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.

Cultural Literacy: Fiorello LaGuardia

If you teach in New York City–or somewhere else, and want to introduce students to one of the most dedicated and selfless public servants in the 20th century–you might find this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Fiorello LaGuardia useful.

If you find typos in this document, 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.

Cultural Literacy: Checks and Balances

It’s as good a time as any, I guess, to post this Cultural Literacy worksheet on checks and balances. I do so in hope of the survival of our republic from those who would subvert it.

If you find typos in this document, 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.

A Short Exercise on the Greek Word Root Alg/o

Here is a short exercise on the Greek Word root alg/o–it means pain–which can help students get settled after the transition between classes. This is also a vocabulary-building endeavor; I like to think these worksheets also–passively–assist students in developing pattern recognition in language.

Nonetheless, this is another medical root that will show up in words in the healthcare professions, if you have students headed in that direction.

If you find typos in this document, 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.

Cultural Literacy: Understatement

Here is a short Cultural Literacy exercise on understatement. I use these to get class periods started, as well as to help those students who struggle with transitions between classes to settle themselves and focus on the work at hand.

If you find typos in this document, 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.

A Short Exercise on the Greek Word Root -latry

Here’s a short exercise on the Greek word root latry which your students will quickly figure out means, when it appears in word, worship of something. I use these exercises at the beginning of lessons to get students settled and thinking in terms of patterns in knowledge.

If you find typos in this document, 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.

Risque (adj)

Because I work in a high school, I hear a lot of foul language. I’ve tried to take the high road on this, teaching students about how certain linguistic registers apply to certain social situations, and vice versa. One way I’ve tried to do this is to introduce, by way of this context clues worksheet on the adjective risque, the idea that there are some things–and I emphasize that things are represented by words we call nouns–that are just too, well, risque to utter in certain company (e.g. teachers) and some circumstances (e.g. schools).

If you find typos in this document, 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.

Quell (vt)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the transitive verb quell. It seems like a word students ought to know.

If you find typos in this document, 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.

Submit (vt./vi)

Here is a a context clues worksheet on the verb submit, which is used both transitively and intransitively.

If you find typos in this document, 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.

Mayhem (n)

This context clues on the noun mayhem probably describes more schools in this country than any teacher or administrator would care to acknowledge. It certainly most accurately designates the school in which I currently serve.

If you find typos in this document, 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.