Term of Art: Specific Learning Disability

“specific learning disability: A legal term that plays a central role legislation governing learning disabilities. As described in Public Law 94-142 (amended by PL 101-76), ‘specific learning disability’ means a disorder on one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using spoken or written language. This may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, spell, or do mathematical calculations.

The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children whose conditions are primarily caused by visual hearing, or motor problems; mental retardation; emotional disturbance; or due to environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

The Weekly Text, Friday 23 December 2022: History of Hip-Hop Lesson 3, The Medieval Troubadour

If there is a lesson that can be omitted from this unit–and I realized this the minute I began its preparation–it is this third lesson, on the Medieval Troubadours. Yes they are part of the global oral tradition, but in a highly peculiar way. For instance, they used the Occitan language, which is now endangered. Their songs were born of the chivalric tradition and celebrate courtly love. This is a long way of saying that this material may not be of surpassing interest to teenagers.

In any event, I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a capella singing. Here is the reading and questions on the troubadours themselves, which is the principal work of this lesson.

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.

Matt Ritchel and Michel Martin on the Adolescent Mental Health Crisis in the United States

[This post appears to have drawn a lot of attention, so I’m moving it to the top of the site for another week so it’s easy to find.]

Last Friday evening, as I am wont to do at the end of the week, I was watching the week’s YouTube clips on the shows I follow. I stumbled across this clip from Amanpour and Company featuring Michel Martin and Matt Richtel discussing the adolescent mental health crisis in the United States. It served as a bracing reminder to me (which I seriously needed) of what young people have endured, and continue to experience, during the pandemic and after. Mr. Richtel, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, has been researching and writing on the inner experiences of contemporary teenagers in a series in the The New York Times headlined “The Inner Pandemic.” If you’re dealing in any capacity with adolescents, I can say with considerable confidence that you won’t regret the twenty-minute or so investment of time this video requires.

Nietzsche on Convictions

“Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.”

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive: Agree

Here is a worksheet on the verb agree as it is used with gerund. I would happily agree to avoid wasting my time preparing subpar curricular materials.

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.

“Manner of,” “Style of”

“’Manner of,’ ‘Style of’: In describing a work of art, ‘in the manner/style of’ refers to stylistic similarity to the artist named, but not necessarily direct influence. Compare ‘follower of,’ ‘circle of,’ ‘school,’ ‘workshop.'”

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

Cultural Literacy: Lyric

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the lyric as a form in poetry–and by extension, then, lyrics in music. This is a half-page document with a reading of three short sentences followed by three comprehension questions. A short, symmetrical introduction to the lyric form and nothing more.

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.

The Doubter’s Companion: A Big Mac

“A Big Mac: The communion wafer of consumption. Not really food but the promise of food. Whatever it tastes like, whatever it is made of, once it touches lips A Big Mac is transubstantiated into the mythological hamburger.

It is, along with Perrier, one of the sacred objects of the leading philosophical school of the late-twentieth century public relations. Cynics often unjustly suggest that this school favors superficial appearances over content. Had this been the case, PR would have failed. Most people, after all, can easily recognize the difference between appearances and reality.

A Big Mac, for example, is not big. It doesn’t taste of much. It isn’t good for you. And it seems sweet. Why does it seem sweet if, as the company says, it isn’t laced with sugar?

What the philosophy of PR proposes is theoretical content (such as sex appeal, fun, individualism, sophistication, the rejection of sophistication) in the place of actual content (banal carbonated water and a mediocre hamburger). This is modern metaphysics.

Because public relations are built on illusion, they tend to eliminate choice. This is an important characteristic of contemporary capitalism. A Big Mac, like so many creations of PR, is a symbol of passive conformity. As Mac McDonald put it: ‘If you gave people a choice, there would be chaos.’”

Excerpted from: Saul, John Ralston. The Doubter’s Companion. New York: The Free Press, 1994.

The Weekly Text, Friday 16 December 2022: History of Hip-Hop Lesson 2, Homer–History’s First Hip-Hop Songwriter

Here is the second lesson plan from the History of Hip-Hop Unit. This lesson posits, proceeding from the previous two, that Home’s Odyssey and Iliad, composed to be read aloud and to glorify Greece, that these ancient epics are two of the world’s first Hip-Hop songs. I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Muses so that students understand the reference in the first stanza of the Iliad. Here is the worksheet with reading and comprehension questions that is the centerpiece of this lesson.

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.

Colette on the Pitfalls of a Happy Childhood

“A happy childhood is poor preparation for human contact.”

Colette

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.