Tag Archives: readings/research

4 Sufi Questions

Posted on April 26, 2019 | Leave a comment

“How did you spend your time on earth? * How did you earn your living? * How did you spend your youth? * What did you do with the knowledge I gave you?

This is a traditional Sufi teaching about the passage of the soul after death, which is ushered before the throne of God and asked just these four questions. I first saw it on a poster in the office of Moroccan travel agent in Tangiers, but having failed to remember it properly was delighted to stumble across it thirty years later in Elif Shafak’s novel Honour.

Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.

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The Clash

Posted on April 25, 2019 | Leave a comment

A couple of hundred years ago, when I was in my late teens and early twenties, The Clash liked to call themselves “the only band that matters“: indeed, it was emblazoned across the front of their towering record “London Calling.” Last week while on spring break, I listened to a podcast series on The Clash, hosted by Chuck D of pioneering Hip-Hop group Public Enemy (an inspired choice, by the way) on the streaming music service to which I subscribe. It brought back great memories of a very different time in this world of ours.

Here is a reading on The Clash and the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that accompanies it. When I’ve given this to alienated students to read, it has aroused, almost to a one, their interest. Whatever you think of punk rock and The Clash, there is no doubt that their music carries a message of rebellion and its concomitant, hope and action to create a better, more just world.

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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The Sun and Nuclear Fusion

Posted on April 24, 2019 | Leave a comment

A few minutes remain to me before I must leave for work, so I’ll use them to post this just-typed reading on the sun and nuclear fusion and the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that attends 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.

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Developmental Delay

Posted on April 23, 2019 | Leave a comment

In response to student demand, I’ve been producing a lot of new reading and comprehension worksheets on health-related topics. In the course of this work, I typed up this reading on developmental delay and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I haven’t had any specific requests for the topic. However, once I write one of these, a student, to my persistent surprise, will ask to read the text and complete the worksheet. Indeed, it never ceases to amaze me that kids will take an interest in the very last thing I expect them to.

In any case, this is also a potential topic for a professional development roundtable of some sort, so I tagged it accordingly.

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 Essays/Readings, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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The Weekly Text, April 19, 2019: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on John Steinbeck

Posted on April 19, 2019 | Leave a comment

OK, as we reach the end of spring break (boo hoo!) here is a short reading on John Steinbeck and the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that accompanies 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.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “The Van Bliven Necklace”

Posted on April 12, 2019 | Leave a comment

If the statistics module in the back room of this blog is accurate, there is a lot of interest, and therefore demand, for materials related to the Crime and Puzzlement series.

So, here is a complete lesson plan on “The Van Bliven Necklace“. I use short exercises to get students settled after a class change; for this lesson I chose this Cultural Literacy worksheet on persona non grata. Students and teacher will need this this scan of the picture from the book (the evidence) and the questions that drive the “investigation.” Finally, here is the answer key to solve the case.

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, Worksheets

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Metaphysical Art

Posted on April 12, 2019 | Leave a comment

“The movement pittura metafisica founded by Giorgio de Chirico, Carlo Carra, and F. de Pisis in 1917. Now seen as a bridge between certain forms of Romantic painting and Surrealism. Metaphysical painters created haunting images with dreamlike fusions of reality and unreality. The movement ended by 1920.

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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Magic Realism

Posted on April 11, 2019 | Leave a comment

Here are a reading on magic realism and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet if they are of any interest to your students or you.

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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Gravity

Posted on April 10, 2019 | Leave a comment

Here are a short reading on gravity and the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that accompanies 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.

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Psychiatrists and Psychologists

Posted on April 9, 2019 | Leave a comment

Health care has been something of a hot potato in the United States for a very long time; and certainly the debate around what looks to me like a basic human right has grown extremely contentious with the passage of the Affordable Care Act. I want the students I serve to know something about health care. And as many young people today require the services of mental health professionals, they should know what they’re looking for and buying.

So here is a short reading on the difference between psychiatrists and psychologists and 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.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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