“Jose (Raul) Capablanca: (1888-1942) Cuban chess master. He learned chess from his father at 4 and beat Cuba’s best player at 12. He defeated Emanuel Lasker to become world champion in 1921; in 1927 he was defeated by Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946). From 1916 to 1924 he did not lose a game. In 1921 he published an instruction manual, Chess Fundamentals.“
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
Tagged hispanic history, readings/research, sports
[My good pal Steve lives in Salisbury, Massachusetts, which is in the far northeastern corner of Massachusetts; indeed, Seabrook, New Hampshire is the next town north. I received this text from him this morning with the announcement that he plans, in his retirement, to o become a Bike Guide author. Here’s an excerpt from his upcoming article, “Salisbury on a Bike?” He asked me to read and critique the piece. I laughed out loud, then knew right away that I wanted to pin it to the top of this blog. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
Riding the Trash Trail from the back door.
This short transit to the real bike trail gains a pathetic 20 feet of elevation over 1/8 mile cresting atop Garbage Truck Heights. A sassy eight foot section of single track along the way up will keep the short attention span crowd occupied for about 2 seconds.
The descent down Cemetery Ridge to the crossing of Route 1 should be uneventful save for Halloween and when the biker gangs are in town (no, not mountain bikers). Once across Route 1 ride south against traffic 100 yards or so and try not to get hit by someone texting in a car or pickup.
A left onto the dirt road known as Murderer’s Meander (M.M.) promises a thrilling 1/2 mile descent on dirt and gravel to one of the most scenic ambush locations on the North Shore.
You are now on The Eastern Marsh Bike Path
Something to look forward to coming back home? When you are huffing back up M.M. after a 16 mile ride heading home…don’t mind the 300 lb bearded gent with the giant German Shepard if he’s around.
He’s friendly. I promise the encounter will make you go faster up that last 70 feet of vertical than you thought possible.
The Weekly Text on this Tax Day (actually, Tax Day this year is on Monday, 18 April) is the penultimate lesson, a sentence writing review, of seven-lesson unit on the use of prepositions. Without further ado, then, here is the lesson plan.
I open this lesson with this Everyday Edit worksheet on author Yoshiko Uchida; in the event the lesson stretches into a second day, here is another on Basketball’s Beginnings. (And to give credit where it is so deservedly due, the good people at Education World allow access at no cost to a calendar year’s worth of Everyday Edit worksheets, should you find these useful documents work well for your students.) Here is the sentence-writing review worksheet. If you need it, here is the learning support for commonly used prepositions that I work to keep by students’ sides throughout this unit. Finally, here is the teacher’s copy of the worksheet.
Next week I’ll publish as the Weekly Text the assessment lesson for this unit. Then Mark’s Text Terminal will be able to offer a complete seven-lesson unit on using prepositions in prose.
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.
The Weekly Text for 18 February 2022, observing week III of Black History Month 2022, is a reading on Magic Johnson along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. This material has been of sufficiently high interest to students I have served over the years that I have tagged it as such.
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.
Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem originally Ferdinand Lew(is) Alcindor: (b.1947) basketball player. Born in New York City, he reached a height of seven feet, one-and-three-eighths inches (two meters seventeen centimeters). During his college career at UCLA, the team lost only two games, and he led it to three national championships (1966-68). He then joined the Milwaukee Bucks; in 1975 he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. The dominant center of his time, in 1984 he surpassed Wilt Chamberlain’s career scoring total of 31,419 points. He also holds the record for the most field goals (15,837), ranks second for the most blocked shots (3,189) and games played (1,560), and ranks third for rebounds (17,440). He was voted Most Valuable Player a record six times.
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
“If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts.”
Satchel Paige, “How to Keep Young,” Colliers, 13 June 1953
Excerpted from: Shapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
Tagged black history, health, sports, united states history
OK, I just finished writing these 14 reading comprehension worksheets on Kobe Bryant. These follow very closely the Wikipedia article on Mr. Bryant. In fact, each worksheet is named for the sub-heading in the reading about which it asks questions. If you want to make your own worksheets, here is the worksheet template.
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
“Aaron, Hank: (orig. Henry Louis) (1934-2021) U.S. baseball player. Born in Mobile, Alabama, he played briefly in the Negro and minor leagues before joining the Milwaukee Braves in 1954. He would play outfield most of his career. By the time the Braves moved to Atlanta in 1965, he had hit 398 career home runs; in 1974 he hit his 715th, breaking Babe Ruth’s record. He played his final two seasons (1975-76) with the Milwaukee Brewers. His records for career home runs (755), extra-base hits (1,477), and runs batted in (2,297) remain unbroken, and only Ty Cobb and Pete Rose exceeded him in career hits (3,771). He is renowned as one of the greatest hitters of all time.”
Excerpted/Adapted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
Here is Cultural Literacy worksheet on Muhammad Ali. He was the greatest, you know? This is a full-page worksheet that can be used as independent practice.
Muhammad Ali really requires (or I hope he doesn’t) much explanation or amplification. He was ubiquitous in the media in my childhood, meeting with The Beatles and appearing in a series of photographs with them, and writing a poem with Marianne Moore in addition to his public and principled refusal to fight in the Vietnam War (even as a little kid, this thrilled me). So when an actor friend argued that Ali was one of the most exposed figures in the history of media, I had to agree. My friend’s point, though, was this: it took real courage for Canadian actor Eli Goree to take on the role of Ali; how does one portray such a profound, well-known, and ultimately sui generis personality? If you want to see, take a look at Regina King’s great new film, One Night in Miami on Amazon.
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.
“Go very lightly on the vices, such as carrying on in society. The social ramble ain’t restful.”
“How to Keep Young,” Colliers, 13 June 1953
Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
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