Tag Archives: argumentation

The Weekly Text, 2 September 2022: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “The Big Bang”

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “The Big Bang.” This lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on dogma: it’s a half-page document with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. This is one of the better of these things I’ve produced over the years–it’s strength is clearly in its economy. Two sentences, it turns out, is all the subject needs if the writer is sufficiently concise.

You’ll need this PDF of the illustration and questions to use as evidence to investigate the offense against good order the case represents. To bring the alleged misdemeanant or felon to justice, you and your students will also need this typescript of the answer key.

That’s it. And by “that’s it,” I mean that this is the last of these lessons I have to publish here. That also means that there are 72 Crime and Puzzlement lessons on this blog now. Help yourself!

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, 19 August 2022: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Idora Park”

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.

The Weekly Text, 12 August 2022: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “The Gentle Breezes”

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.

The Weekly Text, 1 July 2022: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “The Great Diamond Heist”

The Weekly Text from Mark’s Text Terminal for the first of July 2022 is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “The Great Diamond Heist.” I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on allusion (a half-page document with a three-sentence reading and three comprehension questions–just the basics). To conduct your investigation into this act of larceny, you will need the PDF of the illustration and questions that serve as the evidence in this case. Finally, for your students to bring the culprit or culprits to the bar of justice, here is the typescript of the answer key.

And that’s it for another week. I hope you are enjoying a relaxing summer.

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.

Rhetoric

Rhetoric (Greek, rhetor, “speaker in the assemby): Rhetoric is the art of using language for persuasion, in speaking and writing; especially in oratory. The Classical theoreticians codified rhetoric very thoroughly. A knowledge and command of it was regarded as essential. The major textbooks included Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria, Cicero’s De Inventione, De Optimo Genere Oratorium, and De Oratore. Cicero himself was an accomplished rhetorician. So great was the influence of these men (and, later, of Longinus in the work ascribed to him, On the Sublime) that in the Middle Ages rhetoric became part ot the trivium, along with logic and grammar.

The rules for oral and written composition (these rules altered little from Cicero’s day until well on in the 19th century) were divided into five processes in a logical order: invention, arrangement (or disposition), style, memory, and delivery (each had a number of sub-divisions). ‘Invention’ was the discovery of the relevant material; ‘arrangement’ was the organization of the material into sound structural form; under ‘style’ came the consideration of the appropriate manner for the matter and occasion (e.g. the grand style, the middle and the low and the plain); under ‘memory’ came guidance on how to memorize speeches; the section devoted to ‘delivery’ elaborated the technique for actually making a speech.”

Excerpted from: Cuddon, J.A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. New York: Penguin, 1992.

The Weekly Text, 2 July 2021: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “The Cider Booth”

This week’s text is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “The Cider Booth.” 

I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on dead languages. Incidentally, the short reading in this half-page document speaks specifically of Latin, ancient Greek, and Sanskrit. As a matter of routine in my classroom, I taught Greek and Latin word roots for vocabulary building. When one thinks about how often classical word roots turn up in English words, the idea under the circumstances that these languages are “dead” can make for interesting classroom discussions. Also, when one considers that Spanish, the first lingua franca of a wide swath of student I served over the years, is in some respect a modern version of Latin, the idea that the tongue of the Roman Empire is dead doesn’t quite make sense.

Anyway, to conduct your investigation into the case of “The Cider Booth,” you will need this PDF of the illustration and questions that both drive the investigation and serve as evidence in it. Finally, to identify a suspect and bring him or her to the bar of justice, here is the typescript of the answer key you will need.

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, June 4, 2021: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “The Cheater”

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “The Cheater.” I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Latinism mea culpa, which means, of course, “through my fault.” You see the root of the noun culpability there, I’m confident, which means “responsibility for for wrongdoing or failure” and “the quality or state of being culpable.” Translated into adolescent-speak, it means “my bad.” You and I might say it translates to “my fault.” Enough said.

To conduct your investigation into the case of “The Cheater,” you’ll need this scan of the illustration that presents the evidence in the case, which is attended by short narrative and questions to guide your inquiry. Finally, here is the typescript of the answers to help you conclude your investigation.

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.

Term of Art: Abstract

“Abstract, (noun) A text summarizing the matter or principal points of a book, article, record, or speech, especially of an official or technical document; abbreviated or concentrated version; condensation. Noun: abstractor; Verb: abstract.”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

The Weekly Text, January 8, 2021: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “International Crisis”

The first Weekly Text for 2021 is this lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “International Crisis.”

This lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy Cultural Literacy worksheet on the proverb “you can’t have your cake and eat it too. To conduct your investigation of the international crisis, you’ll need this PDF of the illustration and questions that serve as evidence in this case. Finally, here is the typescript of the answer key to assist you in bringing the culprit or culprits to justice.

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, November 13, 2020: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Seeing Double”

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Seeing Double.” Judging from my download statistics, these are always a crowd pleaser.

I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the idiom “Have. an ax to grind,” (which might also be usefully employed when introducing students to the methods of writing a research paper–especially scholarly disinterest). This PDF of the illustration and questions is the evidence you’ll need to conduct this investigation. Finally, here is the typescript of the answer key so that you may bring the culprit to the bar of justice.

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.