Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Word Root Exercise: Ax

Posted on October 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

Moving right along this morning, here is a worksheet on the Latin word root ax. It means, simply, axis. If you click on that hyperlink, however, you’ll see that “simply” isn’t the right word: axis is a complex polysemous word in English. In any case, I suspect this document would be useful in a certain kind of math class, or perhaps a mechanical drawing course. At the same time, it is also a general vocabulary-building exercise.

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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A Lesson Plan on Data Storage from The Order of Things

Posted on October 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

As you get older, you take it for granted, but it’s still fun to experience synchrony. A friend of mine and I land on synchrony quite often while texting–often using the same words simultaneously. In this case, the same day I interviewed with some very nice, clearly talented, unusually engaged and deeply committed folks at a computer-themed career and technical education high school in the North Bronx, I pulled out this lesson plan on data storage, adapted from text I grabbed from Barbara Ann Kipfer’s The Order of Things. I expect this would work well at a school such as theirs. I hope they find their way to it.

For your students, here is the list as reading and comprehension questions, which is the work of this lesson.

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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Kiln (n)

Posted on October 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

If you are of a certain age, you wouldn’t need this context clues worksheet on the noun kiln because you would have had an art class, where you would have had a chance to shape clay and fire it into a ceramic object–using a kiln. Now, however, since we as a society appear to have resolved that children don’t need arts instruction, kids have fewer and fewer interactions with industrial objects like kilns. So we can’t count on their knowing what a kiln is or what it does.

In any case, it was the Word of the Day today at Merriam-Webster; as you can see, I couldn’t let it pass without comment or context clues worksheet.

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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Mendelian Genetics

Posted on October 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

In general, I don’t teach science. But I’ve spent sufficient time in the company of the discipline, especially that middle-school and high-school level, that I know this reading on Mendelian genetics and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet are the foundations of a broader inquiry into genetics.

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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Common Errors in English Usage: Religiosity (n), Piety (n)

Posted on October 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

While I’m not sure I could argue that either of these words are vital to the high school student, that’s not necessarily the point of the English Usage worksheet on differentiating between the use of religiosity and piety when discussing the concepts the two nouns represent. This document, rather, seeks to help students make usage decisions based on the subtle differences between two words like these.

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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Misnomer (n)

Posted on October 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

I don’t know if I can argue that it’s a word high-schoolers ought to know, but if you think so, then here is a context clues worksheet on the noun misnomer. It means “a use of a wrong or inappropriate name” and “a wrong name or inappropriate designation.”

Misnomer does appear fairly often in educated discourse.

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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Gay Rights

Posted on October 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

Again, and as below, hearings on Amy Coney Barrett’s elevation to the United States Supreme Court are in session as I write this. Judge Barrett’s presence on the high court could be consequential indeed, especially for the LGBTQ community.

So you’ll understand why I think now is a good moment to post this reading on Gay Rights along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

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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Term of Art: Balance of Terror

Posted on October 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Balance of terror: Mutual fear of commencing a nuclear war, a concept which postulates that no country will use nuclear weapons because of the fear of retaliation by the other side. Such a balance has been held because nuclear war, believed to be mutually destructive, would be non-productive to the aggressor. However, the concept is now questioned by proponents of a ‘limited’ nuclear war who believed that the use of nuclear weapons can be closely controlled and restricted to certain areas without provoking massive retaliation.”

Excerpted from: Cook, Chris. Dictionary of Historical Terms. New York: Gramercy, 1998.

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Cultural Literacy: Ex Post Facto

Posted on October 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

Alright, moving right along on this rainy day, during which the very consequential confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States are underway, it seems like a perfect time to post this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Latinism ex post facto.

The worksheet introduces the term–it means, just as it sounds, “after the fact”–but then quickly moves on to its conceptual meaning in law. An ex post facto law, as the worksheet explains to its readers, “makes illegal an act that was legal when it was committed, or changes the rules of evidence to make conviction easier.” The United States Constitution forbids the making of ex post facto laws.

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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Usurp (vi/vt)

Posted on October 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

It is, to sound a familiar theme, the Word of the Day at Merriam-Webster seems like another timely verb to me, so here is a context clues worksheet on the verb usurp, which is used both intransitively and transitively.

N.B. please that the context clues sentences for this word are a bit dense. I struggled to find a way to write simple sentences, then opted for building in some social studies content–e.g. you can see how usurp, which means, basically, “to seize and hold without right”–could easily end up in a short declarative sentence about the Magna Carta.

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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