Tag Archives: readings/research

Immanuel Kant

Here is a reading on Immanuel Kant along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Over the years, I’ve published a number of documents posts on various figures in western philosophy; at my first posting in New York City, at a school in the South Bronx, I found myself in the company of a student who had improbably–but certainly not implausibly, as he demonstrated with the skill and enthusiasm with which he dealt with these materials–conceived an interest in the major figures in continental philosophy.

In other words, I used these documents once, with one student. It was worth it. But I am under no illusions about the level of demand for this material, which will be low if it exists at all.

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.

Gordian Knot

“Gordian Knot: An intricate problem. Gordias, a peasant, was chosen king of Phyrgia, and dedicated his wagon to Zeus. The wagon yoke was fastened to a pole so cleverly that it was said that whoever undid the knot would reign over the empire or Asia. Alexander cut the know with a single stroke of his sword. Cutting the Gordian knot became proverbial for the decisive, bold completion of a complicated action.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

Casablanca

Do you have any cinephiles (or cineastes, if you prefer) on your hands this summer? Fans of Turner Classic Movies (which has been in the news lately), perhaps? If so, this reading on the film classic Casablanca and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet might be useful. This is a reading from the Intellectual Devotional series, so a full page of text, along with my standard configuration for the worksheet: eight vocabulary words to define, eight comprehension questions, and the usual one to three “Additional Facts” questions–in this reading, it is three questions under that heading.

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.

Metope

Metope: Rectangular panel found alternating with triglyphs on the frieze if a Greek Doric entablature.

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

Book of Answers: Christopher Isherwood and Cabaret

What work by Christopher Isherwood was the basis for the musical Cabaret (1968)? Cabaret was based on the play I Am a Camera (1951) by John Van Druten, which was in turn based on Isherwood’s “Sally Bowles,” a story appearing in Goodbye to Berlin. Isherwood lived in Berlin in the early 1930s.

Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

Robert De Niro

Here, on an oppressively humid Monday morning in Brooklyn, is a reading on Robert De Niro along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. This has tended to be high-interest material, especially among young men, so I have so tagged it.

Nota bene, please, that the reading cites “eight collaborations” between Mr. De Niro and Martin Scorsese. In fact, at least two more collaborations–The Irishman and the forthcoming Killers of the Flower Moon between these towering figures in American cinema have occurred since this reading was published. In other words, as film history continues to unfold where it concerns Scorsese and De Niro, this reading will need revision.

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, 30 June 2023: Free to Be You and Me

It seems to me that there are a lot of politicians in the United States, most if not all of them Republicans, who are belligerently opposed (I’m thinking of you, Ron DeSantis, above all others here) to the changing concepts of gender in our culture. Earlier in my life, these same troglodytes (is it fair to call them troglodytes? It seems to be a guy like DeSantis makes the average troglodyte look like Bertrand Russell) were exercised by Free to Be You and Me.  James Dobson, noted evangelist and right-wing scold, took particular offense and the changing gender roles in our society that this television show discussed–what a surprise!

This week’s Text is this short reading on Free To Be You and Me along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Nota bene, please, that the original sound recording for this television broadcast is available on the streaming music service I subscribe to, so I’ll bet it’s on yours as well.

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 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.

Czeslaw Milosz on the Intellectually Smug Comfort of Dialectics

“Paradoxical as it may seem, it is this subjective impotence that convinces the intellectual that the one method is right. Everything proves it is right. Dialectics: I predict that the house will burn; then I pour gas over the stove. The house burns; my prediction is fulfilled. Dialectics: I predict that a work of art incompatible with socialist realism will be worthless. Then I place the artist in conditions in which such work is worthless. My prediction is fulfilled.”

Excerpted from: Milosz, Czeslaw. Trans. Jane Zielonko. The Captive Mind. New York: Vintage, 1981.

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.