Tag Archives: readings/research

Cultural Literacy: The Dred Scott Decision

Posted on February 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

Until 1954 (i.e. Brown v. Board of Education), the United States Supreme Court was a reliable upholder of white supremacy. This Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Dred Scott decision helps students understand the precedent behind this illogical jurisprudence. It’s worth remembering that this was the case in which Chief Justice Roger Taney made some particularly trashy, racist comments in his decision.

For God’s sake….

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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A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Tread Lightly”

Posted on February 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

Since they are clearly popular, here is another  lesson plan from the pages of Crime and Puzzlement, this on on the case “Tread Lightly.”

I open this lesson on this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Josephine Baker–an exemplary American, by the way. The illustration and questions drive the lesson. Finally, here is 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.

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Karl Kraus on the Myth of the Enlightenment

Posted on February 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Progress celebrates Pyrrhic victories over nature and makes purses out of human skin.”

Karl Kraus

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

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Romanesque Art

Posted on February 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Romanesque Art: Art of the period ca. 1000 to ca. 1150 in the Ile-de-France, until the early 13th century elsewhere in Europe. Its chief creations were massive monastic churches built with stone vaults reminiscent of Roman architecture.”

 Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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Aesop’s Fables: “The Hare and the Tortoise”

Posted on February 10, 2020 | Leave a comment

Last week I started working on a unit on Aesop’s fables for some of the younger learners I currently serve. So here, hot off the press, is a lesson plan on the fable “The Hare and the Tortoise” along with the reading and worksheet that constitutes the work of the lesson.

I figured it wasn’t a bad idea to start with one of the chestnuts.

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 Milgram Studies: Lessons in Obedience

Posted on February 10, 2020 | Leave a comment

While I have found Stanley Milgram’s studies on obedience to authority fascinating (and the “lost letter experiment” is also interesting), I do understand that it isn’t exactly high school material. That said, I did, in 17 years of teaching now, have one kid ask about Milgram. Furthermore, I am aware that many of Milgram’s contemporaries and colleagues expressed serious ethical qualms about the methods Milgram used.

Nonetheless, here is a short reading on Dr. Milgram’s study along with its 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.

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Historical Term: Black Consciousness

Posted on February 10, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Black Consciousness: Movement in South Africa formed to reestablish black people’s confidence and pride. It was banned by the South African apartheid regime and its leader Steve Biko died under suspicious circumstances while in police detention on 12 September 1977 at the age of 30.”

Excerpted from: Cook, Chris. Dictionary of Historical Terms. New York: Gramercy, 1998.

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Term of Art: Bard

Posted on February 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Bard: (Welsh, bardd; Irish, bard) Amont the ancient Celts a bard was a sort of official poet whose task it was to celebrate national events—particularly heroic actions and victories. The bardic poets of Gaul and Britain were a distinct social class with special privileges. The “caste” continued to exist in Ireland and Scotland, but nowadays are more or less confined to Wales, where the poetry contests and festivals, known as the Eisteddfodau, were revived in 1822 (after a lapse since Elizabethan times). In modern Welsh a bardd is a poet who has taken part in an Eisteddfod. In more common parlance the term may be half seriously applied to a distinguished poet—especially Shakespeare.”

Excerpted from: Cuddon, J.A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. New York: Penguin, 1992.

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A Lesson Plan on Intelligence

Posted on February 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a lesson plan on intelligence. You’ll need this short reading and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. If you’d like slightly longer versions of these documents, click here.

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 Simpsons

Posted on February 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

It was the show that brought me back to television after swearing off the medium for over twenty years, so I tend to assume that this reading on “The Simpsons” and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension are high-interest materials. These days, I find, adolescents prefer the somewhat coarser, but often just as funny “Family Guy.”

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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