Tag Archives: cultural literacy

Cultural Literacy: Selective Service System

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the United States Selective Service System. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. If you teach high school. this might be a quick introduction to a civic obligation–right or wrong–that young people must heed in order to receive a number of other rights.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Robespierre

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Maximilien Robespierre, one of the avatars of the French Revolution whose name has gathered increasing notoriety even in my relatively short lifetime. This is a full-page worksheet with a four-sentence reading and six comprehension questions. It is a basic, if tepid, introduction to a controversial historical figure. As such, it might be better augmented or used in tandem or combination with other documents. Since it is a Microsoft Word document (as are most things on Mark’s Text Terminal), you can adapt it to your needs.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Paraphrase

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the paraphrase as a means of recording information. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. I wrote this when I was serving in a school where students who had never had paraphrasing adequately explained to them were nonetheless asked to paraphrase passages from textbooks.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Nobel Prizes

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Nobel Prizes. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of three compound sentences and six comprehension questions. Unless students need a deeper dive into a specific prize category or laureate, I submit that this is a complete introduction to the topic of this global honor.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Mercantilism

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on mercantilism. This is a full-page worksheet with a four-sentence reading and five comprehension questions. In general, upon review, this worksheet’s reading wants a bit for an explanation and analysis of the trade strategies mercantilist states use to keep their treasuries full. If you want to take your students on a deeper dive into this essential topic in the social studies (yeesh to that term incidentally) curriculum, this lesson plan on mercantilism might be more useful.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Operating System

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the operating system found in the computer you are using. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. In other words, just the basics on this aspect of computer technology, and only the most general of introductions.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Defense Mechanism

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the defense mechanism as a psychological concept. This is a half-page worksheet with a three-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. The symmetry between reading and questions, if I say so myself, makes this a concise and therefore, I hope, effective document for building understanding of this simple but potent Freudian (the reading even mentions its origins in Freud’s work) concept.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Colosseum

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Colosseum in Rome. This is a half-page worksheet with a five-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. It’s a solid and concise introduction to the Colosseum and the spectacles that were staged in it. Perhaps three comprehension questions are insufficient; if so, this is (like almost everything that can be downloaded from this site) a Microsoft Word document which you can alter to you or your students’ needs.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Cyclops

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Cyclops. This is a half-page worksheet with a four-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. It covers the basics of this one-eyed, mythical creature, including Odysseus’s encounter with Polyphemus in The Odyssey.

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, 2 December 2021: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Westward Ho-Hum!”

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the the Crime and Puzzlement case “Westward Ho-Hum!” I open this lesson with this half-page Cultural Literacy worksheet (with a two-sentence reading and three comprehension questions) on the Gallicism esprit de corps. To fortify this document with a bit of context, Merriam-Webster defines this noun as denoting “the common spirit existing in the members of a group and inspiring enthusiasm, devotion, and strong regard for the honor of the group.”

To investigate this case, your students will need this PDF of the illustration and questions that serve as both evidence and procedure of inquiry into this heinous crime. Finally, to solve your case and apprehend a suspect, here is the typescript of the answer key.

And that’s it for this week. I hope you and yours enjoyed a relaxed and (if this is your bent), suitably gluttonous Thanksgiving.

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.