Tag Archives: cultural literacy

Cultural Literacy: Free Will

Posted on August 10, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of free will. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and three comprehension questions.

In other words, it barely introduces, and in no way does justice to, one of the big, big questions in philosophy and religion. But as an adjunct to a fictional allegory on protagonists with circumscribed lives? This might be a useful document. In any case, it is formatted (like most of the things you’ll find on this blog) in Microsoft Word, so it is open source and therefore yours to do with as you need or wish.

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: Edwardian Period

Posted on August 9, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Edwardian Period in England, so named for King Edward VII, the eldest son of Queen Victoria.

This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two clauses, the second of which is a longish compound sentence. There are three comprehension questions. This worksheet may have greater or lesser utility, depending on how much you need or want students to know about this period in British history. This document if, of course, formatted in Microsoft Word, so you may manipulate it to your and your students’ needs.

Who knows, you might have someone in your class interested in the Teddy Boys, and this reading provides an entree into their fashion sense.

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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The Weekly Text, 6 August 2021: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Gambol”

Posted on August 6, 2021 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Gambol.” To open this lesson I use this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Latinism carpe diem (“seize the day”). This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and three questions.

To conduct your investigation into this crime, you’ll need this PDF of the illustration and questions that serve as the evidence of it. To bring the miscreant in this case to the bar of justice, you’ll need this typescript of the answer key.

Incidentally the first time I ever heard another person use the word gambol, it was the legendary Dummerston, Vermont farmer Dwight Miller, while tending one March afternoon to lambs recently born on his farm. Gambol, as a verb (used intransitively only) and a noun, mean, respectively, “to skip about in play” and “a skipping or leaping about in play.” If you’ve ever seen the way lambs move around when they’re excited, this word describes it. I wonder if a context clues worksheet on this word would serve better as a do-now exercise for this lesson.

Addendum, August 8, 2021: Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb gambol (as above) if you think it would make a better do-now for this lesson.

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: Ethics

Posted on August 5, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on ethics. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences.

I wrote two questions for comprehension. It’s worth mentioning, I think, that the first question, “What is ethics?”, looks a bit awkward because of the disjunct between singular verb (is) and plural predicate noun (ethics). Needless to say, I am treating ethics as a singular noun because it is a single field of inquiry and study.

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: Fiscal Policy

Posted on August 3, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on fiscal policy. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading comprising three long and fairly dense compound sentences, with three comprehension questions.

As I revised this document for posting, it occurred to me that it is probably inadequate to the task of assisting students in developing an understanding of fiscal policy. So this might be a seed document from which others could and probably should grow. Also, the reading might better serve English language learners and emergent readers if it were broken up, and two or three more comprehension questions added. As always, I would be very interested to hear what you have done with this.

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: Euthanasia

Posted on August 2, 2021 | Leave a comment

It’s not exactly the most pleasant topic, but here, nonetheless, is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on euthanasia. This is a half-page worksheet with a one sentence (a compound) reading with two questions.

One need look very carefully to see this is an obviously a word derived from ancient Greek (i.e. eu, “good, well,” than, “death,” etc.), so people have been thinking about this concept and act for a very long time. Nonetheless, this a high-school word, it seems to me, as it its verb form, euthanize.

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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The Weekly Text, 30 July 2021: A Lesson Plan on the Reflexive and Intensive Pronoun

Posted on July 30, 2021 | Leave a comment

This week’s text is a lesson plan on the reflexive and intensive pronouns–i.e. myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves–and their use in declarative sentences and expository prose.

I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the bibliography and its function in scholarly writing. In the event the lesson goes into a second day due to whatever classroom exigencies you encounter, you might want to use this Everyday Edit worksheet on Miranda rights (“You have the right to remain silent…” etc.) that the United States Constitution guarantees people when they are arrested. (Incidentally if you like Everyday Edit worksheets, don’t forget that the good people at Education World offer a year’s supply of them at no charge.)

Here is a learning support on reflexive and intensive pronouns that I distribute with this scaffolded worksheet that is the primary work of this lesson. Finally, here is the teacher’s copy of the worksheet that eases delivery of this material.

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.

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Cultural Literacy: Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining

Posted on July 29, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the proverb “every cloud has a silver lining.” This is a half-page worksheet with the barest of reading, one simple sentence, and three questions.

Two of the questions (namely two and three) ask students to apply their understanding of this expression by identifying an instance in their own life in which a cloud had a silver lining–or, as the reading as it, “Every misfortune has its positive aspect.” Then students are asked to compose a simple declarative sentence that includes this proverb.

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: Ego

Posted on July 28, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of ego. This is a half-page worksheet; the reading is three sentences, though two of them are longish compounds, and there are three comprehension questions.

This is a concept students should understand. The virtue of the reading in this document is that it situates the ego in Freud’s structural theory of mind, (without, interestingly, ever mentioning Sigmund Freud himself) so students will also learn about the id and the superego. This is a good general introduction to this subject. That said, there is clearly room to expand this document (easy for you to accomplish, since like everything on Mark’s Text Terminal, this is a Microsoft Word document) for further exploration or exposition of psychoanalytic theory. If I were to expand this in any way, I would make sure students walked away with a basic understanding of Freud’s biography and his ideas about the psyche.

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: Fiscal Year

Posted on July 26, 2021 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the fiscal year in both concept and practice. It’s a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences and three questions.

In other words, it’s a short, basic, but effective general introduction to the fiscal year. I wrote this because I worked in a economics-and-finance-themed high school in Lower Manhattan. But the truth of the matter is that I don’t think I ever had a need to use it. Maybe you will.

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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