Tag Archives: high-interest materials

Muhammad Ali on Maintaining His Busy Schedule

Posted on January 31, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Not only do I knock ‘em out, I pick the round.”

Muhammad Ali

Quoted in N.Y. Times, 9 December 1962

Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

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Johnny Cash

Posted on January 23, 2020 | Leave a comment

For a student with certain interests, e.g. the kid I had in mind when I put this together, this reading on the late, great Johnny Cash and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet are high-interest materials.

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, Essays/Readings, Independent Practice, Worksheets

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Historical Term: Rastafarianism

Posted on January 23, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Rastafarianism: Movement originating in the West Indies which takes its name from Ras (a term of respect in Africa) Tafari Makonnen (1892-1975) crowned Emperor of Ethiopia with the title Haile Selassie in 1930. Haile Selassie has a mystical role in the cult as has Ethiopia itself: as the one part of African that was never colonized, it is seen as the spiritual home of the black man. Life in the West Indies or in Britain is seen as time in Babylon by analogy with the sufferings of the Israelites as slaves in exile.”

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

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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Quotes, Reference

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A Lesson Plan on Birth Control

Posted on January 23, 2020 | Leave a comment

OK, moving right along, here is a lesson plan on birth control. You’ll need its short reading and its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet to conduct the lesson. If you want slightly longer versions of the reading and worksheet, they’re under that hyperlink.

These materials have been of high interest to the high school students I’ve served over the years.

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, Worksheets

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Friends (The Television Show)

Posted on January 22, 2020 | Leave a comment

Like the show itself, this short reading on the television show Friends and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet have, over time, been consistently high-interest materials in my classroom. Do your students watch the show?

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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Al Capone

Posted on January 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

Alright, let’s finish out the day with this high-interest reading on Al Capone and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. When I hand out my list of high-interest readings to students, this is one of the first things many of the boys choose.

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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Oddball Place Names

Posted on January 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

This list of oddball place names never failed to bring laughter to my classroom when I taught an advisory at a middle school in the North Bronx.

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, Quotes, Reference

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A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Stradegy”

Posted on January 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

One way to introduce students to Antonio Stradivari and his prized musical instruments would be by way of this lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Stradegy.”

I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the idiom “Hit Below the Belt.” Here is the PDF of the illustration and questions that drive the investigation. Finally, here is the typescript of the answer key.

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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John Gotti

Posted on January 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

Over the time I’ve offered them, I’ve found this reading on John Gotti and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet to be relatively high-interest material among the students I serve.

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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Tycho Brahe

Posted on January 10, 2020 | Leave a comment

This reading on Tycho Brahe and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet have turned out, to my surprise, to be surprisingly high-interest materials for a certain kind of student I have served over the years. If you can persuade students that Brahe, like Galileo and Johannes Kepler, was in rebellion against the established authorities (church, but also, where they were closely aligned, state as well) of his time, well, what adolescent isn’t interested in acts of rebellion?

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, Worksheets

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