Tag Archives: cultural literacy

Cultural Literacy: Munich Pact

Posted on July 18, 2020 | Leave a comment

Several years ago, during a round of professional development at the school in which I was serving, a group of social studies teachers reviewed the results of our students’ performance on the New York State Global Studies and Geography Regents Examination. They found a high incidence of error on questions related to Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Adolf Hitler in 1938. I took that as my cue to develop materials to address this issue–the first document was this context clues worksheet on the transitive verb appease.

This Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Munich Pact, which is a short and general introduction to Chamberlain’s pandering to Hitler may also be useful in ensuring students understand this key moment in global history.

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, July 17, 2020: A Lesson Plan on the Simple Future Tense of Verbs

Posted on July 17, 2020 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the simple future tense of verbs. I open this lesson with this worksheet on differentiating the homophones veracious and voracious, which are both adjectives. It always pays to prepare for a lesson to spill over into a second day. So here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of nuance, which is really something students ought to know before they graduate high school.

You’ll need the scaffolded worksheet that is the mainstay of this lesson to do its work. You might also find this learning support and word bank useful in presenting this lesson and completing its work. Finally, here is the teacher’s copy of the worksheet.

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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A Lesson Plan on Athens and Sparta’s Contest for Control of the Ancient World

Posted on July 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a lesson plan on the contest between Sparta and Athens for control of the ancient world, the penultimate lesson in the eleven-lesson unit I currently endeavor to get out for distribution on Mark’s Text Terminal. Because I anticipated this lesson enduring for two days, I included two Cultural Literacy worksheets in the folder, one on the Peloponnesian War and another on pantheism.

There are also two sets of readings and worksheets for this lesson, which means I needed at some point to differentiate of a student or even a whole class. In any case, here are the primary reading and its worksheet; and, finally, here are secondary reading (slightly shortened) and the second, differentiated worksheet.

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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A Lesson Plan on the Origins of Greece

Posted on July 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a lesson plan on the origins of Greece. Because (I must assume–again, it has been some time since I’ve used these documents) I included two do-now exercises in this lesson, I think this must be a two-day lesson. So, here are a pair of Cultural Literacy worksheets, the first on Alexander the Great and the second on Alexandria, the Egyptian city. Lastly, here is the worksheet with reading and comprehension questions on the origins of civilization on the Greek peninsula.

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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A Lesson Plan on the Phoenicians

Posted on July 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

Another day, back at it. Here is a lesson plan on the Phoenicians those (vanished) traders and explorers par excellence.

I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the verb accumulate, and N.B. that it is used both intransitively and transitively. In the event the lesson spills into a second day, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Carthage, the city of the Phoenicians, for round 2.

As in many of these global studies lesson, I accumulated at least a secondary worksheet for the lesson. So, here is the primary version of the worksheet and here is the secondary version, edited for length and complexity.

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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A Lesson Plan on the Characteristics of Empires

Posted on July 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

Moving right along, here is a lesson plan on identifying the characteristics of empires. I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet worksheet on the noun era. In the event the lesson goes into a second day, I use this this Cultural Literacy Worksheet on the Nile River. Finally, here is the worksheet that is the principal labor of this lesson.

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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The Second of Two Lesson Plans on Ancient Egypt

Posted on July 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

OK, here is the second of two lessons on ancient Egypt. I open this lesson with this worksheet on the noun diaspora; this is a very heavily used words in historical discourse, and I cannot tell you how many times students have asked me to define if for them over the years. If this lesson goes into a second day (I wrote this and the five lessons that precede it below to be taught over a two-day period, FYI), here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the grim reaper. It might not be the best choice for this lesson, but there are plenty of others elsewhere on this website–simply click on the “Cultural Literacy” tag in the word cloud. Finally, here is the worksheet at the center of this lesson with its reading and comprehension questions.

And that is it. In the the six documents posts below (with the interstitial quotes between them), you’ll find most of the rest of the lessons in this far-from-perfect 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.

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The First of Two Lesson Plans on Ancient Egypt

Posted on July 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here’s the first of two lesson plans on ancient Egypt. I open this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the noun empire. In the event that this lesson goes into a second day (and, as below, I’m fairly certain I wrote all of the preceding five lessons with this in mind, so if you teach this lesson over two days, you’ll need this second do-now exercise), here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta. Finally, here is the worksheet at the center of this lesson with its reading and comprehension questions.

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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A Lesson Plan on Technological Advancement in the Ages of Metals

Posted on July 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

Moving right along (see the documents posts below) with a specialized set of lesson plans on prehistory and ancient history, here is a lesson plan on the ages of metals. I opened this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the noun caravan. As the lesson goes into its second day (I’m fairly certain I intended to do that, again, as below, when I wrote it), here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Seven Wonders of the World. Finally, here is the worksheet with its reading and comprehension questions.

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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A Lesson Plan on the Earliest Civilizations: Asia

Posted on July 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

As below, here is a lesson plan on the earliest civilizations in Asia. Like the rest of the global studies lessons I will post here roughly seriatim (with the usual intervening quotes), this is one version of several lessons I wrote over the years with an eye toward best preparing the students I served to take the New York State Regents Examination in Global Studies and Geography. I forget now which year these lessons represent, but it was certainly a year in which the test was reportedly up for change.

I opened this lesson with this context clues worksheet on the verb banish. If the lesson goes into a second day–and as I unpack and take a second look at these lessons, I seem to recall deliberately writing them to extend over two days so that I could assess how ably students retained knowledge from the previous day–then here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Mesopotamia which you might consider using as an independent practice (i.e. homework) assignment. Finally, here is the in-class worksheet with a reading and comprehension questions.

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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