Tag Archives: cultural literacy

Cultural Literacy: The Hapsburgs

Moving right along, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Hapsburgs.

Incidentally, if you are interested in turning this into high-interest material, you might note for students the infamous “Habsburg Jaw” (the dynasty’s name, I discover in researching this post, is spelled with both a p and a b), a visual metaphor for the inbreeding that occurred in this family. In fact, this family’s incestuous relationships are so well known that even the brilliant hit comedy series “30 Rock” wrote them into an episode starring, as Gerhardt Hapsburg, the great Paul Reubens (a.k.a. “Peewee Herman“).

I’ve never announced this fact about the Hapsburgs and have this material fall flat. Once students get beyond the obvious gross-out dimension of this story, there is a lot of room for a discussion of both literal and figurative incest in ruling-class families and how this affected and continues to affect sovereignty and power in nation-states.

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.

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Missy Takes a Walk”

Let’s start out today with this lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Missy Takes a Walk.”

I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of “The Ugly American” which is common enough locution in English, and worth knowing if students are planning to travel abroad. This PDF of the illustration and questions that drive this investigation. And here, finally, is the typescript of the answers to the investigative questions of this case.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Shylock and The Merchant of Venice

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Shakespearean character Shylock, from The Merchant of Venice. This is a Shakespearean character, like many, who has been the subject of a great deal of critical inquiry and discourse.

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: Tour de Force

Alright, I’ve run out of steam for today. I’ll return here tomorrow with another raft of documents that will, I fervently hope, keep young, homebound minds engaged in something other than anxiety about our current dystopian state. So here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept tour de force.

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.

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case: “A Comedy of Errors”

Here is yet Crime and Puzzlement lesson plan, this one on “A Comedy of Errors.” I open this lesson, in order to get students settled after a class transition, with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the expression “Touch and Go.” Here is the scan of the illustrations and questions needed to conduct the investigation–and here is the typescript of the answer key.

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.

A Lesson Plan on Nouns as the Subjects of Sentences

OK, I need to go to the laundromat at some point today, but first I’ll post this lesson plan on nouns as the subjects of sentences. I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on subject as a grammatical term. Finally, here is the scaffolded worksheet at the center 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.

Cultural Literacy: Stereotype

OK, another day arrives. Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of stereotype and stereotyping, which seems timely to me.

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.

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Casey at the Plate”

Here is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Casey at the Plate.”

I open this investigation with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a “significant other” as a do-now exercise. Here is a scan of the illustrations and questions that drive the case; finally, here is the typescript of the answer key.

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.

Cultural Literacy: Strike While the Iron Is Hot

OK, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the idiom “strike while iron is hot.” Since blacksmiths aren’t really front-and-center participants in our modern industrial economy, this idiom may well be on its way to extinction. Nonetheless, I still hear it invoked from time to time.

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.

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Of Ghouls and Goblins”

Moving right along this morning, here is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Of Ghouls and Goblins.”

I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of the role model. Finally, to execute this lesson, you’ll need the PDF of the illustration and questions and the typescript of the answer key.

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.