Tag Archives: cultural literacy

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Incident at the Ferry”

Here is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Incident at the Ferry.”

I use this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the American idiom “Every dog has his day” to open this lesson. You’ll need this PDF of the illustration and questions surrounding the case so that your students may conduct their investigation. Finally, here is the typescript of the answer key to solve this heinous crime.

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: Dogma

Moving right along, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of dogma. I can’t imagine a more important concept for students to understand clearly at this moment in 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.

Cultural Literacy: Dyslexia

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on dyslexia. I can think of several uses for this, including basic instruction in literacy. Your call.

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: Abraham Lincoln’s “A House Divided” Speech

Here’s a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech. I’ll proceed to my next post on the assumption I don’t need to belabor this high point in American rhetoric.

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: Hunting and Gathering Societies

OK. Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on hunting and gathering societies. I’m hard pressed to imagine that this doesn’t belong as a foundation stone in any social studies curriculum.

Hell, it may even arouse interest in building a cooperative society. Remember cooperation? I liked it.

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 “Buck Shot”

As I’ve previously mentioned, the Crime and Puzzlement material I post on this site quickly became, and remains, among the most popular and therefore heavily downloaded items here. So, here is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Buck Shot.”

This Cultural Literacy worksheet on the idiom “Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining” opens the lesson as a do-now exercise to get students settled, engaged, and thinking after a class change. You’ll need the PDF of the illustration and questions in order to conduct the investigation; to solve it, 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: Henry VIII

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Henry VIII, which seems timely. Can your students think of any other selfish, gluttonous, tyrannical rulers with multiple divorces to their, uh, credit?

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: Feudalism

OK, finally today, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on feudalism. It’s a convenient introduction to a complicated subject.

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: 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.