Tag Archives: building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge

Write It Right: Connection

Posted on June 24, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Connection. ‘In this connection I should like to say a word or two.’ In connection with this matter.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. Write it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2010.

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Complicity (n)

Posted on June 24, 2022 | Leave a comment

OK, if you’ve been listening, even passively, as I have mostly, to the House January 6 Hearings, you’ll understand why now is a good time to post this context clues worksheet on the noun complicity. For the purposes of inferring meaning from context in this document, complicity means “association or participation in or as if in a wrongful act.”

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, 24 June 2022: Summer of Soul Lesson 4

Posted on June 24, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is the fourth and final lesson plan of the Summer of Soul unit I wrote earlier this year. This lesson opens with this short reading with three comprehension questions on the concept of “a seat at the table,” i.e. joining in decision-making processes, particularly where those decisions concern oneself. The mainstay of this lesson is this reflection and assessment guide for discussion and note-taking at the end of this unit.

Because this is it. You now have access to all four lessons in this unit. If you expand this, or otherwise change it, I would be very interested in hearing what you did. I wrote this unit quickly to capitalize on student interest (Summer of Soul won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 94th Academy Awards in 2022). Even as I presented the unit, I recognized that there is a lot of room to expand and improve this material.

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, Lesson Plans, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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Word Root Exercise: Spiro

Posted on June 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

OK, finally on this cool and cloudy Wednesday morning in Brooklyn, here is a worksheet on the Latin word root spiro. It means breathe, which is why you’ll find it at the base of commonly used English words such as perspire and aspirate, and less commonly used words in general discourse, but common in the health professions, like respire (breathe to the layman), suspire, and spirometer.

In fact, this is another one of those roots essential to students interested in pursuing careers in health care, so I’ll tag it as a career and technical education document.

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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Aspersion

Posted on June 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Aspersion (noun): A disparaging or slanderous comment, report, or expression; calumny; slur; Adj. aspersive; v. asperse.

‘But whatever the fact here, the Americans were quickly aware of every British aspersion on their culture, whether in a book or in one of the reviews.’ H.L. Mencken, The American Language”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

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Common English Verbs Followed by Gerunds: Discontinue

Posted on June 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

If you can use it (I still don’t know if I can), here is a worksheet on the verb discontinue in its use with a gerund. I wonder if I should have discontinued writing this particular series of documents.

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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Archimedes

Posted on June 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a reading on Archimedes along with its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

Is there anything more I need to say about this polymath from Syracuse? He gave us the lever, and shouted “Eureka” (Greek for “I have found it”) when he solved the problem of the Golden Crown.

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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Cogent (adj)

Posted on June 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective cogent. It’s not a word one hears much, which is too bad as it is a solid, useful word which means “appealing forcibly to the mind or reason,” “convincing,” “pertinent,” and  “relevant.” Merriam-Webster also makes a point of emphasizing the synonym “valid” for cogent.

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: Fractal

Posted on June 22, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the fractal as a concept of mathematics, which turns out to be something different than I thought it was. I’d confused the basic concept of fractals with a Mandelbrot set, which is a type of fractal–but not the only one, apparently.

In any case, this is a full-page worksheet with a four-sentence reading and five comprehension questions.

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 English Verbs Followed by Gerunds: Detest

Posted on June 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

Finally this morning, here is a worksheet on the use of the verb detest when it is used with a gerund. I detest listening to gasbags on the radio.

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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