Tag Archives: questioning/inquiry

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Tragedy in the Bathroom”

Here, on this cool late spring morning, is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Tragedy in the Bathroom.”

I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the American idiom “Play Possum.” For the lesson itself, you’ll need this PDF scan of the illustration and questions from Crime and Puzzlement Volume 1. Finally, here is the answer key to “Tragedy in the Bathroom,” which I’ve rendered in typescript in the event that you need to adjust it for English language learners or struggling readers.

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.

Acne

Here is a reading on acne, the bane of every teenager’s social existence, and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I’ve tagged this as an item of social and emotional learning–acne can be tough on kids, and understanding its chemistry and physiology can help kids feel less alone.

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.

D-Day

I meant to post this reading on D-Day and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet last Thursday, on the 75th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Europe. In my end of the school-year haze, alas, I spaced it out, as we liked to say in the 1970s.

Better late than never, I guess.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Epicureanism

It’s time to get out for a walk, so I’ll wrap up this morning with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on epicureanism.

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.

War of the Worlds

The story of Orson Welles’ broadcast of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds fascinated me as a grade-schooler. I think I was first exposed to it in around fifth grade. But even at that tender age, I was surprised that people were taken in by it–but also sympathetic that they were. I remember trying to imagine myself in the place of the folks who thought Welles was delivering news, rather than a science-fiction story. I could, but only barely.

Any way, here is a reading on Orson Welles’ broadcast of War of the Worlds along with its attendant 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.

Cultural Literacy: Epic

Finally, on this warm and rainy Thursday morning in Springfield, Massachusetts, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the epic as a literary genre. If you’re teaching Homer, this might be just the squib for introducing the conceptual foundations of the epic genre.

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.

Independent Practice: The Hundred Years War

I’m not sure if it makes it into the social studies curriculum anywhere now, but if it does in your classroom, here is an independent practice worksheet on the Hundred Years War.

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.

Steroids

Here’s a reading on steroids and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet if you want them. I hope that there isn’t a real need for these documents–because that could mean kids are using steroids, a scary thought.

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.

Ty Cobb

He was a nasty and irredeemably racist piece of work, but he was also one of the greatest baseball players in the history of the game.

For that reason, Mark’s Text Terminal offers, with some trepidation, this reading on Ty Cobb and its accompanying worksheet for vocabulary building and comprehension.

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: Martin Luther

It’s just about time I left for work, so let me leave off, on the first day of the penultimate week of the school year, with this independent practice worksheet on Martin Luther.

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.