Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Caucus (n)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun caucus; don’t forget that it  also has use as a verb.

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.

Boon (n)

Since it’s a word in relatively common use these days, perhaps this context clues worksheet on the noun boon will be useful in your classroom. This word is also used as an adjective, but it means basically the same thing.

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 Roots Hect-, Hecto- and Hecat-

You might find this short exercise on the Greek word roots hect, hecto, and hecat useful for getting a class started. It means hundred.

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: Sociopath

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the sociopath. It strikes me as a particularly timely word and concept.

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.

Epitome (n) and Epitomize (vt)

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun epitome, and, to accompany it, another on the verb epitomize, which is only used transtively. These are words advanced high school students should know. In any case, these two worksheets could work together to help students understand how language operates and words move around between parts of speech.

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.

An Early Summer, Midweek Text: A Lesson Plan on Using Concrete and Abstract Nouns

A couple of days ago I posted a context clues worksheet on the adjective abstract. For high school students, especially the college bound, this is a key concept and word.

To take it further, here is a lesson plan on concrete and abstract nouns.

To begin this lesson, you might want to use (that is, if you don’t incorporate the aforementioned context clues worksheet on abstract, which I should probably do myself), you might find this Everyday Edit worksheet on The Empire State useful. This scaffolded worksheet on using concrete and abstract nouns is the mainstay of the lesson; this teacher’s copy of the worksheet will make the lesson a bit easier to deliver.

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.

A Short Exercise on the Greek Word Root Dactyl/o

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word root dactyl/o. It means finger, toe, and digit (which may require some explaining, or perhaps a context clues worksheet to explain what digit means in this context).

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.

Bellwether (n)

Here is a a context clues worksheet on the noun bellwether. It’s a commonly used word, and high school students, I imagine most people would agree, ought to know 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 Text for Independence Day 2017: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on the Declaration of Independence

Over the summer vacation, I’ll be away from my computer for three Fridays. I’ve decided to post those missing Weekly Texts over the next couple of weeks.

Here, on the Fourth of July, is an Intellectual Devotional Reading on the Declaration of Indepedence and a comprehension worksheet to complement it.

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.

Abstract (adj)

One of the salient characteristics of most of the struggling learners I’ve dealt with over the years has been their lack of confidence in dealing with abstract issues in their schools’ curricula. Most of the big concepts, e.g. democracy, virtue, diplomacy, and even thought that we seek to teach are abstractions. In any case, we need students to understand the difference between concrete thinking and abstract thinking for a variety of reasons, just as we need them to understand the difference between concrete and abstract nouns (a full lesson plan on this is forthcoming from Mark’s Text Terminal).

I developed this context clues worksheet on the adjective abstract as an attempt to help students understand the basic concept of abstraction as something that exists in the mind, but not really in concrete reality.

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.