Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

The 1966 NCAA Basketball Championship

Here is a reading on the 1966 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship with its attending comprehension worksheet. This is a story of ending an injustice in American collegiate sports, and the undermining of racial prejudice. As such, I suspect that for the right students, this material would be of compelling high interest; in most of the classrooms I’ve overseen as a teacher, I taught a lot of such students, so I have used these documents heavily.

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.

The Weekly Text, November 9, 2018: A Literacy Lesson on the Polysemous Word Bond

This week’s Text (after missing last week) is something I whipped up pretty much on the fly about three years ago when I was assigned an eight-meeting class conducted over eight weeks on math and science literacy. This literacy lesson on the polysemous word bond is, as I look at it now, an odd melange of stuff. Depending on what it is you want kids to understand, there are materials here for one extended lesson–I wrote this for a sixty-one-minute long period–or a couple of different short exercises.

The first document, because I worked in economics and finance-themed high school, is this Cultural Literacy worksheet on bond as a financial instrument. These two context clues worksheets on the verb and noun bond in the sense of attaching or joining follow; logically, I guess, this short reading and comprehension exercise on chemical bonds rounds out this deck. I also, for some reason, made up this learning support with three definitions of bond from Merriam-Webster’s 11th Edition.

Now that I think about it, Bronx County summoned me to jury duty before I had a chance to use this material. The coverage teacher who used it did say students received it relatively well.

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.

Word Root Exercise: Geo

Day four of a new job today. Here is a worksheet on the Greek root geo. It means, as your students probably won’t take long to figure out, earth. This is another of those very productive roots in English, and it shows up in words used across the common domain in the high school curriculum, particularly in the physical sciences.

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.

Buffoon (n)

I’m hard pressed to find a better day than today–election day–to post this context clues worksheet on the noun buffoon. This is a relatively commonly used noun in English, and certainly should be part of the inventory of anyone interested in talking about politicians and their ilk.

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.

The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments

On Election Day, 2018 it is a rainy day in Springfield, Massachusetts. Don’t let that prevent you from getting to your polling place! This is one of the most consequential elections cycles in my life time. I’m an old guy now, so you know that’s really saying something.

Today seems like as good a time as any (I’d actually been saving these for a Black History Month post) to post this reading on the 13th, 14th and 15th. Amendments and its accompanying comprehension worksheet. Also, this Everyday Edit on the Voting Rights Act is an timely document to post this morning, especially in light of the attempts around the country to suppress universal suffrage. Incidentally, if you like that Everyday Edit exercise, I’ll remind you once again that the good people at Education World give away a year’s supply of them at no cost to you.

Please vote!

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.

Word Root Exercise: Gnos, Gnom, Gnomon

One last thing this afternoon, to wit a worksheet on the Greek roots gnos, gnom, and gnomon. They mean knowledge, and they show up in words like diagnosis and prognosis, which makes this another one of those roots to produce a lot of words in the health professions.

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.

Role (n), Roll (n), and Roll (vt/vi)

Here’s a series of five homophone worksheets on the noun role, the noun roll, and the verb, used both transitively and intransitively, roll. In general, and only this conclusion requires only scant thought, roll as these two parts of speech is a very busy polysemous word.

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.

Independent Practice: Roman Republic

On a bright autumn afternoon the day before Halloween, here is an independent practice worksheet on the Roman Republic.

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.

Caravan (n)

I wrote this context clues worksheet on the noun caravan to introduce a lesson on the African gold-salt trade. In any case, it seems like a good word for young people 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.

Cultural Literacy: Copyright

Since I’m already sitting here this afternoon, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on copyright. It’s something students with budding artistic talents and aspirations 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.