Annette-- I never make assumptions about cultural knowledge. There is simply too much out there to know, and I can't see any reason why a person can say that it's important to know what fly fishing is, but not important to know what, say, the different types of manga are (which many of your students are likely to know more about than you). I think it's reasonable not to know what Head Start is, especially if you're 18 and no one in your family or neighborhood would qualify for it. I would also say that not knowing what fly fishing is is legitimate ... I had to look it up to be sure I knew, myself. I'm ichthyophobic, it doesn't come up much for me.
Vocabulary is different. I would always explain cultural references (had to tell one kid what "the society page" in a newspaper was, which also seems legit to me), but told students that if they didn't understand a word in the textbook, it was up to them to look it up. I'm not a dictionary. Any words on an exam that were related to the material (as "longevity" and "innate" would be in a dev. class) they needed to know going in. Anything that wasn't related to the material, I would explain on the day of an exam. Robin Robin Abrahams www.boston.com/missconduct Notices at the bottom of this e-mail do not reflect the opinions of the sender. I do not "yahoo" that I am aware of. ---
