“Canard (noun): A groundless and hence false report, especially one deliberately fabricated and spread; specious anecdote; rumor or hoax.”
Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.
It’s Friday again, so that means it’s time for the Weekly Text: here is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Idora Park.” This lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on nuance: it’s half-page document with a single-sentence reading and three comprehension questions, one of which calls upon students to think of some nuances.
To investigate whatever unlawful act occurred at Idora Park, you’ll need this PDF of the illustration and questions that serve as evidence against the alleged perpetrator. To bring charges and secure a conviction, you’ll need this typescript of the answer key.
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.
[In general, I eschew the inclusion of biographies like the one below for a variety of reasons, but primarily because of Mark’s Text Terminal’s commitment to raising underrepresented and unheard voices–and white supremacists, especially as of this writing, are neither underrepresented or unheard in American society. I post this because I lived for nine years in a coop apartment building in the North Bronx named for Wade Hampton–i.e. the Wade Hampton Apartments. The building went up in 1930, and I think its safe to assume that the choice of place name for this apartment house stemmed from its owners’ desire to signal unequivocally to American citizens of African descent that they were unwelcome there. At the time the building opened for tenancy, the Great Migration from the South (and for more on that, I cannot extol highly enough Isabel Wilkerson’s magisterial history of the period The Warmth of Other Suns) was gathering steam, provoking a housing crisis in the cities, including New York, to which Black people migrated to escape the racist exploitation and brutality of the Jim Crow South–something Wade Hampton himself (and the developers of Wade Hampton apartments, arguably) undeniably worked to perpetuate. My one regret about all of this is that I didn’t insist, while serving on the coop board, that the name of the corporation and the real property it fronted change to something less odious. If anyone from Wade Hampton happens to see this post, consider a change, won’t you please?]
“Wade Hampton: (1818-1902) U.S. military leader. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, he managed his family’s plantations and served in the state legislature (1852-61). In the Civil War he organized and led ‘Hampton’s Legion‘ of South Carolina troops, fighting at Bull Run and Gettysburg and serving as second in command under J.E.B. Stuart. After Stuart died, he was promoted to major general and led the cavalry (1864). After the war he sought reconciliation but opposed the policies of Reconstruction, and as governor of South Carolina (1876-79) he led the fight to restore white supremacy. He served in the U.S. Senate 1879-91.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
He came up in conversation with a couple of friends after an evening at Jazzmobile in Harlem the other night, so here is a reading on Archie Bunker along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I remember All in the Family when it was in broadcast–I was 11 when it started its run; I was not, alas, old enough to understand, let alone appreciate, the bitter irony of the superb writing and acting. I hadn’t realized the show ran until 1979. I stopped watching television in 1975. preferring to run the streets of Madison, Wisconsin with my friends in search of the sort of kicks that Archie Bunker would have frowned upon.
Now is a good time to congratulate All in the Family’s legendary producer, Norman Lear, on his centenary birthday. He turned 100 on July 27 of this year.
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.
“Chess is seldom found above the upper-middle class; it’s too hard.”
Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged humor, literary oddities, united states history
“spatial ability: The ability to imagine objects or symbols in space.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Battle of Britain. This is a half-page document with a reading of three relatively involved compound sentences and three comprehension questions. It explains the Battle well, and so is a good general introduction to this epochal event in World War II.
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.
“Calumny (noun): A deliberate or malicious false statement injurious to another’s reputation; defamatory report or accusation; slander. Adj. calumnious; adv. calumniously; n. calumniator; v. calumniate.”
Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.
This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “The Gentle Breezes.” I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on motif; it’s a half-pager with a three-sentence reading and three comprehension questions in what looks to me like a nice symmetry. To investigate the wrongdoing in this case, you will need this PDF of the illustration and questions that serve as evidence of the crime. Finally, to apprehend and charge a suspect, you and your students will need this typescript of the answer key.
And that’s it for another week. I hope yours was pleasant and fulfilling.
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.
“Meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything.”
Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged humor, literary oddities, united states history
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