Tag Archives: questioning/inquiry

The Weekly Text, Friday 23 June 2023: History of Hip-Hop Lesson 16, Concluding Assessment and Reflection

Alright, here, finally, is the sixteenth and final lesson plan of the History of Hip-Hop Unit. I use this Cultural Literacy worksheet on racism as a do-now exercise. The work of this lesson, which I have allowed to play out over two or three days, is this concluding assessment and reflection and this metacognitive assessment worksheet.

And that, gentle reader, is that. There are now sixteen lessons available on the History of Hip-Hop at Mark’s Text Terminal.

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: Emancipation Proclamation

For Juneteenth 2023, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Emancipation Proclamation. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences, each of them longish compounds, and four comprehension questions. Like so many of these Cultural Literacy squibs, this one’s brevity does not attenuate its thoroughness. Indeed, it notes, with historical accuracy, that “In itself, the Emancipation Proclamation did not free any slaves, because it applied only to rebellious areas that the federal government did not then control.” That is an important fact to keep in mind when analyzing this document. Put another way, the Emancipation Proclamation was in some measure a symbolic gesture.

By 19 July 1865, now known as Juneteenth, however, the Confederacy was vanquished and the Emancipation Proclamation carried the force of law.

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.

The Weekly Text, Friday 16 June 2023: History of Hip-Hop Lesson 15, Public Enemy Picks up the Baton

This week’s Text offers the fifteenth lesson plan of the History of Hip-Hop Unit, this one on one of the seminal groups in the genre, Public Enemy. The lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Marcus Garvey. This is a full-page document with a reading of four sentences, two of them relatively simple compounds, and seven comprehension questions. A bit longer, in other words, than the typical do-now exercise.

Because of Public Enemy’s importance to the genre, there are an inordinate number of materials to use with this lesson. I’ve tended to use them all, but obviously you can pick and choose. So, for starters, here is a reading on Public Enemy along with its comprehension worksheet. Secondarily–or primarily, if you prefer–here are the lyrics to “Fight the Power”, one of the group’s best known songs and the opening theme to Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing, along with the analytical reflection worksheet that accompanies it.

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.

The Weekly Text, Friday 9 June 2023: History of Hip-Hop Lesson 14, The Message: Hip-Hop as Political and Social Manifesto

Don’t worry, after this, only two lessons remain to post in the History of Hip-Hop Unit. This week’s Text is lesson plan fourteen of the unit, on Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s seminal Hip-Hop recording, “The Message.” This lesson begins, after your class change, with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a manifesto. The central work of this lesson is a reading, and a listening, for which I use this Official Video of the song on YouTube, and the lyrics to the song, to guide students toward completing these comprehension and analytical questions on these verses.

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.

The Weekly Text, Friday 2 June 2023: History of Hip-Hop Lesson 13, Breaking into the Charts: Hip-Hop as Party Music

This week’s Text offers the thirteenth lesson plan of the History of Hip-Hop Unit. This lesson opens, after a class change, with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Nation of Islam. The principal work of this lesson are the lyrics to “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang and “The Breaks” by Kurtis Blow, and the comprehension and analytical questions about those lyrics. You can find both of these songs on YouTube–and in the case of “The Breaks” a live performance by Kurtis Blow on Soul Train. I’ve shown parts of both–and nota bene, please, that “Rapper’s Delight,” depending on which version you land on, can be a long song.

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.

The Weekly Text, 26 May 2023, Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Week IV: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Kemal Ataturk

Alright, for the final Friday of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2023, here is a reading on Kemal Ataturk along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension 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.

The Weekly Text, 19 May 2023, Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Iwo Jima

Here is a reading on Iwo Jima along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet in observance of Week III of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2023. This is of course, a topic in United States history as well. The battle fought on the island of Iwo Jima produced one of the most iconic war photographs, that of the United States flag being raised there, of the Second World War–and perhaps ever. That photograph inspired the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.

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.

The Weekly Text, 12 May 2023, Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Week II: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on the Gulf War

On week II of Asian American Pacific Islander Month 2023, here is reading on the Gulf War along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Nota bene, please, that these documents deal with the first Gulf War, which effectively began when Iraq invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990. The war itself, or at least the 39-country military coalition’s (which, as the Wikipedia page accurately points out, was “spearheaded by the United States”) involvement, began in 17 January 1991 and was over by 28 February in that year.

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.

The Weekly Text, 5 May 2023, Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Week I: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Mencius

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. For the next four Fridays, Mark’s Text Terminal will feature Weekly Texts, documents posts, and quotes that call attention to the numerous contributions that the part of the world the Ancient Greeks, specifically Herodotus, named Asia.

So, let’s begin the month with this reading on Mencius along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension 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.

The Weekly Text, Friday 28 April 2023: History of Hip-Hop Lesson 12, DJ Kool Herc Steps Forward to Sample in The Bronx

Continuing with the History of Hip-Hop Unit, here is lesson plan twelve, on Clive Campbell, aka DJ Kool Herc. This Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) begins the lesson. The centerpiece of this lesson is this reading on Clive Campbell  with its accompanying comprehension worksheet.

And that is that for another week.

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.