Tag Archives: cultural literacy

The Weekly Text, January 31, 2019: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Windy Beach”

This week’s Text is a complete lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Windy Beach.”

I begin this unit with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the American idiom “High Horse”–as in “Get off your high horse.” This scan of the illustration and questions about the case is really the center of the lesson. Finally, here is the typescript of the answer key to solve the 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: Tabula Rasa

On a chilly Wednesday morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on tabula rasa, which is an educational and epistemological concept from John Locke.

So I must ask: do students arrive in our classrooms as blank slates, as Locke claimed, or do they have basic cognitive frameworks for understanding the world? I imagine that entire academic careers may still depend on the discourses this question raises.

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: Algebra

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on algebra if you can use 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 “The Peek-a-Boo Girl”

Because I’ve been in the folder preparing some of them for a new job I am about to start, I’ll post this lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “The Peek-a-Boo Girl.”

I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Harlem Renaissance. This scan of the illustration and questions drives the lesson. 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.

A Short Lesson on the Neolithic Period

OK, here is a lesson plan on the Neolithic Period of human history. I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on carbon which serves to familiarize students with that element in preparation for a lesson on carbon dating organic material to establish its age. If this lesson goes into a second day, you might want this context clues worksheet on the noun mayhem. Finally, here is the short reading and comprehension 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: Acid Rain

You don’t hear much about it anymore–perhaps because we have much bigger, more threatening environmental catastrophes on our civilizational plate–but if you can use it, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on acid rain.

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: Act of God

Here’s a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the “act of god” as a legal concept. Since there is a pretty good chance that your students will purchase insurance some time in their lives, this is a term–and concept–they definitely should know.

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: Alien and Sedition Acts

Because it was an important topic, as I recall, in the United States History course I taught for a couple of years, I suspect this this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Alien and Sedition Acts will be useful to teachers of that subject. Indeed, when I briefly–but happily–co-taught United States History in Lower Manhattan, my esteemed colleague taught this with a thoroughness that persuades me this worksheet probably can only serve either as an introduction to the subject, or as an independent practice worksheet.

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: Zeitgeist

If there was ever a time for kids to learn this German noun, one of those abstractions that the Germans are good at contriving in compounds, it is now. To that end, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the word and concept zeitgeist.

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: Aborigines

This Cultural Literacy worksheet on aborigines probably ought to be paired with context clues worksheet on the adjective aboriginal so that students understand that these words are not isolated to the First Nation people of Australia, where this word is commonly used, but refers to the first inhabitants of any nation–be it the United States or Russia, or what have you….

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.