“Abstraction-Creation: A group of abstract artists gathered in Paris in the 1930s—some of them exiles from Nazi Germany—which attracted representatives of all currents of Abstract Art, from Constructivism to Suprematism. The group issued an annual periodical by the same name.”
Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.
Posted in Independent Practice, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
“banana: [L16th] Africa is the original home of the banana. The word traveled to English through Portuguese and Spanish from Mande, a language group of West Africa, arriving in the 16th century. In the 20th century slang expressions began to appear. American people began to go bananas with excitement, anger, or frustration in the 1950s. The top banana, ‘the most important person in an organization,’ derives from US theatrical slang. It referred to the comedian with top billing in a show, a use first recorded in 1953 from a US newspaper, which also mentions second and third bananas. People have been slipping on a banana skin since the beginning of the 20th century: the comic writer P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) referred in 1934 to “Treading upon Life’s banana skins.” The banana republic, a small state, especially in Central America, whose economy is almost entirely dependent on its fruit-exporting trade, was referred to as early as 1904.”
Excerpted from: Creswell, Julia. Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
This week’s Text is the fifth lesson plan (of 17 lessons) of the Introduction to Writing Sentences Unit, this one on writing compound sentences. This lesson begins with a do-now, if you’re so inclined, this one a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the compound sentence; this is a half-page worksheet with a reading of one longish sentence and two comprehension questions.
This scaffolded worksheet is the primary work of this lesson. Here is a learning support on coordinating conjunctions to help students understand their use in compound sentences.
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.
“socioeconomic status: A term used to describe the home backgrounds of individuals or groups, taking into account such elements as family income and education attainment.”
Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.
Now seems like a good time to publish this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the political doctrine of internationalism. This is a half-page worksheet with a one-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. A bare-bones but effective introduction to a concept that, were it ever to catch on with any permanence, might just make the world a better place.
Really.
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.
“circular flow of income: The reciprocal flow of income between consumers and producers: consumers earn income from employment and profit, and spend this income on the products of firms. If there were neither injections of new purchasing power into this flow nor leakages out of it, total income in each period would be equal to the spending arising from incomes in the period, and total income would remain constant over time. Injections of new purchasing power not derived from income can be made by investment, government spending, or exports. Leakages from the circular flow are caused by saving, tax payments, or imports. If injections and leakages are equal, incomes will be constant; if injections exceed leakages, incomes rise over time; and if leakages exceed injections, incomes fall.”
Excerpted from: Black, John, Nigar Hashimzade, and Gareth Miles. Oxford Dictionary of Economics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
“receptive language: The forms of language that are received as input from listening and reading. Listening and reading are receptive skills that involve feeding information into the brain, as opposed to speaking and writing, which are the expressive forms of language. Most individuals maintain a fairly similar set of receptive and expressive, oral and written language function, but those with learning problems may have specific deficits in one or more of these areas.
Individuals with dyslexia or specific reading disabilities have problems with receptive language, involving deficits with both oral language and processing sounds (phonological processing), and significant problems in decoding and understanding texts. Some individuals with these problems still have relatively strong oral expression, although most will have problems with written expression due to problems with reading written language.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
When I taught or co-taught global studies, it was a topic that the curricula, unlike the often superficial passes through other important historical processes, focused on at relatively inordinate length, so this Cultural Literacy on the concept of an indulgence, at three sentences and three questions on a half-page document, was insufficient.
Still, it opens the door to discuss this weird medieval financial instrument–swapping earthly gains (often obtained through exploitative and violent means) for heavenly salvation. As the reading observes, indulgences were one of the things that infuriated Martin Luther and therefore began The Reformation. They also demonstrate, should anyone care to take a discussion in this direction, the apparently bottomless human capacity for self-delusion, corruption, and folly.
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.
“achievement motivation: The need to perform well, or achievement motivation, significantly determines a person’s effort and persistence in reaching some given standard of excellence, or in comparison with competitors, and the level of aspiration that is involved in that standard or competition. This motivation is seen by psychologist D.C. McClelland (1961;1971) as a major determinant of entrepreneurial activity and as a cause of rapid economic growth when widely dispersed in a society. Many managerial roles are also said to require individuals with a high need for achievement if they are to be performed well. McClelland believes that such needs are learned in childhood, when individuals are socialized into the culture of their societies, rather than being innate. Other needs that may be learned are the needs for power, affiliation and autonomy.”
Excerpted from: Abercrombie, Nicholas, Stephen Hill, and Bryan S. Turner. Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Penguin, 2006.
As I prepared to publish this Cultural Literacy worksheet on hedonism, I found myself thinking that most high school students, most adolescents, do understand that the pursuit of pleasure and happiness is, if not the highest good in life, is close enough. I certainly did as a teenager. This short reading does a nice job connecting the concept of hedonism to the Epicureans.
In any case, this is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and three 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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