Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Several years ago I developed this reading on Michel de Montaigne and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet to use with a unit I was working on to support students in their various essay-writing endeavors around the school and across the common branch curriculum.

What I discovered in the course of this project was that students really didn’t understand what an essay is (then, as often happens, I discovered as well that my own grasp of the essay form wasn’t what it should be for someone in my position). Hence these documents: Montaigne, as you may know, is really the father of the essay form–particularly the kind of discursive composition which is often characteristic of essay writing.

In any case, I’m not sure I ever used this in the form you have it here–i.e. in its entirety. Depending on the needs and abilities of the students I served, I’ve chopped the reading up in pieces, but also edited the material I considered most salient in it into one paragraph. I’ve used parts of the worksheet and none of it at all. It’s a solid conspectus of Montaigne’s life and work, therefore a good introduction to him for high school students

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.

On a Monday morning after an election that made history, here is a reading on Marcus Aurelius along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I don’t remember talking much about Marcus Aurelius in the global studies courses I co-taught in New York City–which doesn’t mean he isn’t someone worthy of attention. He offers the possibility of discussion of stoicism (if you’re interested in reading The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius one of the great Stoic texts, you can download it for free here), as well as the ebb and flow of politics in ancient Rome–which looks in retrospect a lot like our politics today.

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.