Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Nonpareil (adj)

Posted on October 5, 2020 | Leave a comment

I don’t think I can defend it as a word students must know, but since it popped up as Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day on a morning when I felt like writing one, I can offer you this context clues worksheet on the adjective nonpareil. In addition to describing a certain kind of confection (“a small flat disk of chocolate covered with white sugar pellets” or “sugar in small pellets of various colors”–in other words, think of Nestle’s Sno-caps at the movie theater), this worksheet, using context, uses the definition “an individual of unequaled excellence” and “paragon.”

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.

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Cultural Literacy: First Amendment

Posted on October 5, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. If now isn’t a good time to spend some time reading, thinking, and writing about the rights guaranteed by this Amendment, I don’t know when would be.

If I were teaching this important topic in civics this fall, I would be sure to emphasize the Establishment Clause as well as the guarantee of the right “of the people peaceably to assemble.” As Kevin Phillips’ nightmare scenario of an American Theocracy begins to advance to lived reality, the Establishment Clause becomes a very important topic of study. As far as peaceably assembling, that right appears to have been abrogated.

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.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Essays/Readings, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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Enhance (vt)

Posted on October 4, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb enhance. It’s only used transitively. I doubt there is any question about the fact that this is a word high school students should know and be able to use by the time they receive their diplomas.

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.

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The Weekly Text, October 2, 2020, Hispanic Heritage Month 2020 Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Teresa of Avila

Posted on October 2, 2020 | Leave a comment

Ok, for Week III of Hispanic Heritage Month 2020, and for the Weekly Text from Mark’s Text Terminal for October 2, 2020, here is a reading on Teresa of Avila along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

Teresa was essentially a sixteenth-century Catholic mystic. Her mysticism, unsurprisingly, brought her to the attention of the Inquisition. She founded a religious order; as the reading explains, she was, in the final analysis, an influential figure in Catholic theology. If you want to move beyond the relatively basic comprehension questions on the worksheet, you–and more importantly, your students–can consider some of the concepts present in Teresa’s story: religious law, orthodoxy, mysticism, feminism and women’s role in the Church, among others.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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Cultural Literacy: Persona non Grata

Posted on October 2, 2020 | Leave a comment

As the election began to approaches, I admit, I went into my archive of Cultural Literacy worksheets to find a few that had civics themes or related ideas. Continuing with that, and I hope this document speaks for itself in our current political, social, and economic circumstances, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Latinism persona non grata. It means, of course, “unwelcome person.”

Of which we as a society currently bear a surplus.

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.

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Common Errors in English Usage: Reeking Havoc/Wreaking Havoc

Posted on October 2, 2020 | Leave a comment

It’s not a particularly common expression, perhaps simply from lack of use, but maybe this English usage worksheet on the expression wreaking havoc will return this useful expression to the vernacular, if not only academic discourse.

This worksheet’s reading (like this whole series, from Paul Brians’ book Common Errors in English Usage) explains that the expression is not “reeking havoc” but rather “wreaking havoc.” So, I wrote the worksheet so that students may develop their understanding of the use of wreaking havoc by working with it and the verb to reek.

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.

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Metacognition (n)

Posted on October 2, 2020 | Leave a comment

It’s something I try to work into my units and lessons, and the evidence for its necessity in the classroom is widespread and incontrovertible, so I have used heavily, across the common branch curriculum, this context clues worksheet on the noun metacognition.

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.

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Cultural Literacy: Fifth Amendment

Posted on October 1, 2020 | Leave a comment

Last but not least on this distinctly autumnal day, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment most famously protects defendants against self-incrimination–i.e. they can “take the Fifth” when asked a question whose answer may incriminate them in a crime. The Fifth Amendment also prohibits double jeopardy and mandates due process of law.

This knowledge will help prepare students to what I expect will be heavy use in the coming months of this shield against self-incrimination.

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.

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Word Root Exercise: Avi-

Posted on October 1, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word root avi, which means bird. So now you know why the place where the birds live at the zoo is called an aviary.

What do birds spend a lot of their time doing? Flying. That’s why this root also appears in a flight-related noun like aviator. This is a very productive root in English for certain kinds of technical terms in flight, like avionics and aviation.

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

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Inordinate (adj)

Posted on October 1, 2020 | Leave a comment

Like many Words of the Day from Merriam-Webster lately, I almost let this one go past; but here, owing to the fact that it is a commonly used word, here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective inordinate. It’s used in the most common sense it turns up in conversation, i.e. “exceeding reasonable limits” and “immoderate.”

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.

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