Cultural Literacy: Pun

This Cultural Literacy worksheet on the pun as a literary device seems to me particularly useful if one is writing about literature, but may apply to other cultural forms as well–e.g. song lyrics and titles. This is a half-page document with a reading of four sentences and two comprehension questions.

A word about the reading: these sentences are long and complicated and may present significant challenges to struggling or emergent readers. I think you’ll see what I mean when you look at it. In fact, for the students I have historically served, this document is probably inappropriate; in the event that I wanted to teach kids about puns (and incidentally, here in New York City, I’ve never seen this done for the simple reason that knowledge of puns isn’t something that Regents Examinations test for; and yes, this is how idiotic this has become), I would probably significantly rewrite this is I were planning to administer it to struggling or emergent readers, or for students for whom English is a second language.

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.

Warsaw Uprising

“Warsaw Uprising: (August-October 1944) Insurrection in Warsaw in World War II that failed to prevent the pro-Soviet Polish administration from gaining control of Poland. In July 1944, as Soviet troops approached Warsaw, the Polish underground was encouraged to stage an uprising against the Germans. Though wary of Soviet promises of self-government, the Polish home army of 50,000 troops attacked the weakened German force and gained control of most of Warsaw in four days. German reinforcements then bombarded the city with air and artillery attacks for 63 days, The approaching Red Army halted, and the Soviets refused to allow aid from the Allies to the beleaguered Poles, who were forced to surrender when their supplies ran out in October; the Germans then deported the rest of the city’s population and destroyed most of the city itself. By allowing the Polish home army to be eliminated, the Soviets diminished potential resistance to their establishing political domination for Poland in 1945.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Cultural Literacy: Plagiarism

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on plagiarism. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three simple sentences and three comprehension questions. I think it judicious, particularly now that we’ve entered the age of artificial intelligence, to remind students regularly of their obligation not to plagiarize.

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: Biographical Films

“Biographical Films: Since attention to historical detail ruins filmed drama, the essential property of biographical cinema is that it improves in quality by not telling the truth.

These films, whether describing the lives of American presidents or criminals, French generals or Russian kings, are among the beneficiaries of the ‘big lie’ idea. As a result they have helped to create a modern mythology which erases the Western idea of intellectual inquiry and returns to the pre-intellectual tradition of mythological gods and heroes. This is the context in which the portraits of John Kennedy, James Hoffa, Napoleon and so on can most easily be understood.”

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

The Weekly Text, 1 August 2025: Lesson Six of a Unit on Writing Reviews

Here, in this Weekly Text, is sixth lesson plan, the penultimate lesson of the a seven-lesson unit on writing reviews. This lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on cliche, the utility of which in a lesson on writing reviews I’ll assume needs no explanation. There are two worksheets for this lesson: the first is a mentor text on outlining; the second is a structured outlining worksheet.

And that it’s for this week. Come back next week for the final lesson in this unit.

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.

Museum without Walls

“Museum without Walls: Phrase describing the illustrations and reproductions that today make works of art widely available. Introduced by Andre Malraux in his book The Voices of Silence, 1954.”

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

Cultural Literacy: Parody

OK, moving right along this morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on parody. This is a half-page worksheet with a one-sentence reading and one comprehension question. A spare, useful definition of this literary concept–and a word that might appear in reviews of a great deal of comedy.

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.

Term of Art: Student Study Team

“student study team: A team of educators, convened at the request of classroom teacher, parent, or counselor, that designs in-class intervention techniques to discuss the needs of a particular student. The team may consist of the primary teacher; the parent or guardian of the student; two specialists (for example, in speech therapy, psychology, or counseling); a teacher who does not teach the student in any class; and the principal. Six weeks after implementing a program for the student, the team reconvenes to determine whether further steps, including a transfer to special education classes, are necessary.”

Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.

Cultural Literacy: Narrator

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the narrator in storytelling. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences and three comprehension questions. This is a relatively straightforward exercise, but I can’t help wonder if it doesn’t offer a possibility for instantiation: What is a movie, TV show, or story that you like? Who is the narrator?

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.

50 Argonauts

Jason * Orpheus (the lyre-playing musician) * Mopsus the seer * Heracles and his male love of the moment, the handsome young Hylas (who gets kidnapped by water nymphs) * Pollux the champion boxer who kills the king of the Bebyrycians * Shape-shifting Periclymenus * Fast-footed Euphemus * Winged Calais and Zetes (sons of the North Wind who repel the Harpies) * and 40 more

The Argo, which had a magical keel crafted out of a sacred oak from the oracle of Dodona, was crewed by fifty heroes of ancient Greece—the Argonauts. Jason was the leader of this warrior band (sometimes referred to as the ‘Minyans’) sent on what was presumed to be a suicidal quest by King Pelias, his usurping half-uncle. Their mission was to sail to Colchis (Georgia) and seize possession of the Golden Fleece of a divine ram what hung from a tree in a grove sacred to Ares, god of war, guarded by a sleepless dragon.

Every city in Greece liked to imagine that they contributed a hero to this mythical band, which means that the list has had to grow in number, though if you examine the text of Apollonius of Rhodes, written in third-century Alexandria, it is easy enough to identify all the named Argonauts. Even this cast, however, numbers fifty-five, though by juggling who comes on, as others go off, the good ship Argo, it is just about possible to keep to fifty.

If you add other famous names and such ubiquitous heroes such as Bellerophon, Nestor, Perseus, Atalanta, and Theseus, you can grow the crew to eighty, which has a hidden harmony with the text of Apollonius, who has embedded eighty aitia in his epic. These are short verse sequences which give the mythical origins or such curious things as the sacred water-carrying race held on the island of Aegina or how the island of Thira is linked with Libya. The final text comprise 6,000 lines, which can be recited in one day to reasonably alert ancient theater audience.”

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.