Tag Archives: united states history

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.

Cultural Literacy: Korean War

Moving right along, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Korean War. This full-page document contains a reading of nine sentences–and the seventh of them is a compound separated by a semicolon, which may require editing for emergent and struggling readers–followed by eight comprehension questions. In other words, unlike a lot of the half-page, do-now length Cultural Literacy worksheets you’ll find on this blog, this document could be the mainstay of a lesson introducing a unit on the Korean War.

In any event, like most of what you’ll find on Mark’s Text Terminal, this is a Microsoft Word document that you can alter to suit the needs of your students.

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, 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.

Maxine Hong Kingston

“Maxine Hong Kingston originally Maxine Hong: (b.1940) U.S. writer. Born to an immigrant family in Stockton, California, she has taught at various schools and universities. Her novels and nonfiction works explore the myths, realities, and cultural identities of Chinese and American families and the role of women in Chinese culture. Her widely admired The Woman Warrior (1976) and China Men (1980) blend fact and fantasy to tell aspects of her family’s history; Tripmaster Monkey (1988) concerns a young Chinese-American man.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

Book of Answers: Tennessee Williams

“How long was the first run of Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)? The play opened in New York in 1947 and ran for 855 performances.”

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

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.

The Weekly Text, Friday 21 April 2023: History of Hip-Hop Lesson 11, Gil Scott-Heron: Black Power Griot of Harlem

This week’s Text, following in sequence, is the eleventh lesson plan of the History of Hip-Hop unit, this one on the late, great, Gil Scott-Heron. This lesson begins with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the National Association for the the Advancement of Colored People. The center of this lesson is this adapted reading on Gil Scott-Heron with its comprehension worksheet to accompany it.

This lesson also includes listening to two of Gil Scott-Heron’s songs, both of which are available on YouTube. Here are the lyrics to “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” and “The Bottle.”

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 14 April 2023: History of Hip-Hop Lesson 10, The Last Poets, Harlem Griots

Moving along with the History of Hip-Hop unit, this week’s Text is the tenth lesson plan, on The Last Poets. I open this lesson with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Malcolm X. From there we proceed to the mainstay of the lesson, this adapted reading on The Last Poets and its attendant comprehension-building worksheet.

Incidentally, if you’re interested in the full text from which the reading above was adapted, here is a PDF of the master of the reading. I snipped this from a copy of Uncut magazine back when the Hip-Hop fanzines were still published in paper and available at the Borders on Lower Broadway (very near Wall), near the school where I served at that time and where I would pick them up. So, we’re talking, basically, about pre-2008, which is when Borders ceased to exist, a casualty of the financial crisis that year. I had a hell of a time finding the citation, but I am relatively confident of 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.

Flagpole Sitting

If not for the one request over the years for this reading on the daredevil stunt of flagpole sitting that was somehow in vogue in the United States in the 1920s, supply would at present exceed demand. The reading, interestingly, makes the connection between this risky and arguable peculiar activity with the unusual form of monasticism of Simeon Stylites, a Christian ascetic who lived in the late-forth and early-fifth centuries CE. Anyway, here is the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that attends the reading.

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 7 April 2023: History of Hip-Hop Lesson 9, The Black Power Movement in the United States

This week’s Text is lesson plan nine of the History of Hip-Hop unit, on the rise of the Black Power movement in the United States. This lesson begins with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Black Panthers. The principal work for this lesson is this reading on the Black Power Movement with its accompanying comprehension worksheet.

And that’s it 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.