Tag Archives: cultural literacy

Cultural Literacy: Malcolm X

Posted on February 11, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Malcolm X. This is a very short introduction to Malcolm–a half-page worksheet with a three-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. The document is comprehensive enough to mention The Autobiography of Malcolm X  as it was told to Alex Haley. That’s where any study of Malcolm X should probably lead. Short as this worksheet is, it serves its modest purpose: to introduce Malcolm and his story to young readers.

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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Cultural Literacy: Ralph Bunche

Posted on February 4, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Ralph Bunche. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. In other words, thin gruel for a diplomat of Mr. Bunche’s stature; he did, after all, win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. In the course of preparing this post I learned that he was present at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Furthermore, he was also deeply involved in the global decolonization movement after World War II.

So, this sparse introduction serves the barest of purposes in familiarizing students with Ralph Bunche and his accomplishments. Still, unless a social studies teacher works Mr. Bunche into a unit on decolonization, students may never hear his name. So, if this modest document resolves that, perhaps it is useful after all.

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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Cultural Literacy: Burkina Faso

Posted on February 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Burkina Faso. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences, the first of which is a long compound, and eight comprehension questions. The reading focuses on the geography of this West African nation, as do the comprehension questions. This might be solid material for emergent readers and users of English as a second language: the material calls upon students to pay close attention to some finely parsed details about the nations adjacent to Burkina Faso, then record them in response to targeted comprehension questions.

Incidentally, Burkina Faso, like Chad, Mali, Guinea, and Sudan, recently suffered a coup d’etat. If one searches the topic, the pattern that emerges in reporting on these coups is that “Africa is suffering a wave of coups.” That may be true, but authoritarianism around the world is on the rise, not just in Africa. If a civil society remains most salubrious for everyday human life and interaction, a military coup is never good news. On a somewhat happier note, the Burkina Faso National Football Team is on a winning streak.

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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Cultural Literacy: Marcus Garvey

Posted on February 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Marcus Garvey. This is a full-page worksheet with a four-sentence reading–all compounds–and seven comprehension questions. This is a good general introduction to this important–if controversial in some quarters–leader. I can tell you that the reading honestly states that the United States government deported Mr. Garvey to Jamaica because it feared his influence over Black people in the United States.

So there’s that, at least. Here is a connection worth exploring: are you aware that Malcolm X’s parents were Garveyites? There remains some reason to believe that Malcolm’s father, Earl Little, was murdered because of his involvement with Marcus Garvey’s United Negro Improvement Association.

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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Cultural Literacy: Straw Man

Posted on January 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a straw man in argumentation. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading (the second of them a long compound) and two comprehension questions. This is a cogent introduction to the topic of the straw man. However, it presupposes an prior understanding of argumentation (and its rules) that some students may not possess. But in our current discursive culture, understanding the straw man, a favorite tool of demagogues, strikes me as vital for the development of critical awareness in students.

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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Cultural Literacy: Progressive Education

Posted on January 17, 2022 | Leave a comment

Should you be using progressive methods in your teaching practice, you might find this Cultural Literacy worksheet on progressive education useful. If nothing else, it will help your students understand the way their class operates.

This is a full-page worksheet with a six-sentence (a full paragraph) reading and six comprehension questions. Once again, the editors of The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy have done an admirable job of summarizing a series of concepts, complicated when taken together, into a short but thoroughly informative reading.

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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Cultural Literacy: Tip of the Iceberg

Posted on January 6, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the idiom “tip of the iceberg.” This metaphor remains in sufficiently common use, I think, that students, especially students for whom English is a second language, might want to learn it at some point. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two compound sentences and three comprehension questions. With characteristic brevity, the authors of the passaage (i.e., the authors and editors of the The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy) convey that this idiom indicates “Only a hint or suggestion of a much larger or more complex issue or problem.”

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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Cultural Literacy: Socioeconomic Status

Posted on January 4, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on socioeconomic status. This is a half-page worksheet with a three-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. For a document this concise, this is a thorough introduction to the topic. A good start on a complex, entrenched, sociological phenomenon.

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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Cultural Literacy: Steve Jobs

Posted on January 4, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Steve Jobs. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. It is the barest of introductions to the late tech entrepreneur. In fact, I would hazard a guess that students already know more about Mr. Jobs than this worksheet reports.

Nonetheless, I have tagged this document as high interest material? Why? Well, with two feature films about him, the first in 2013, and the second in 2015, written by the estimable Aaron Sorkin and based on the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, it is clear that in addition to his skills as a tech entrepreneur, Mr. Jobs has become a pop culture icon. I expect he will continue to be of interest for years to come.

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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Cultural Literacy: Revolutionary War

Posted on January 3, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the American Revolutionary War. This is a one-worksheet with a six-sentence reading and seven comprehension questions. It is an adequate general introduction to the topic. In the United States, this period of our history is taught thoroughly, so I doubt this document would be of much use beyond, perhaps, an independent practice (i.e. homework) assignment to start a much broader unit on the American Revolution.

However, if you’re one of the growing number of international users of this blog, this document might have greater utility. This material isn’t part, frankly, of your mythology. All you need are the basic facts, which this short reading supplies.

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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