Category Archives: Social Sciences

You’ll find domain-specific material designed to meet Common Core Standards in social studies, along with adapted and differentiated materials that deal with a broad array of conceptual knowledge in the social sciences. See the Taxonomies page for more about this category.

Term of Art: Social Studies

Posted on March 27, 2026 | Leave a comment

“social studies: A broad conglomeration of school studies that includes history, economics, geography, government, civics, and sociology, as well as consumer education, personal decision making, current events, global studies, environmental studies, ethnic studies, gender studies, and other nondisciplinary studies related to contemporary issues and the social sciences.”

Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.

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Posted in Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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Cultural Literacy: Role Model

Posted on March 27, 2026 | Leave a comment

As I have always thought role modeling is an important element of any teaching practice, I think this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a role model is a bit overdue. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of four straightforward sentences and three comprehension questions.

This document might be modified into a full-page worksheet with some critical questions about who might best be characterized as role model. In terms of design, the worksheet looks a bit crowded to me. It is, like just about everything on Mark’s Text Terminal, formatted in Microsoft Word for ease of adaptation, editing, or whatever else you might want to do with it for benefit 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.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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Bella Abzug

Posted on March 27, 2026 | Leave a comment

“Bella Abzug originally Bella Savitsky: (1920-1998) U.S. lawyer and politician. Born in New York City, she studied law at Columbia University and subsequently took on numerous union, civil-liberties, and civil-right cases, representing several people charged by Senator Joseph McCarthy. She founded and chaired (1961-70) the antiwar Women Strike for Peace and later the National Women’s Political Caucus. In the House of Representatives (1971-77), she was known for her flamboyant style and outspoken support for the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion rights, and child-care legislation and opposition to the Vietnam War.”

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

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Posted in Independent Practice, New York City, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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The Weekly Text, 27 March 2026, Women’s History Month Week IV: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Agrippina

Posted on March 27, 2026 | Leave a comment

For the final Friday of Women’s History Month 2026, here is a reading on Agrippina with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. She probably doesn’t figure in curricula anywhere, but I can imagine that she must–because she was a real piece of work–be of interest to students of certain intellectual proclivities.

Because she did murder her husband, the Emperor Claudius.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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The Weekly Text, 20 March 2026, Women’s History Month Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Madonna

Posted on March 18, 2026 | Leave a comment

For a variety of reasons I have resisted posting, especially during Women’s History Month, this reading on Madonna and its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Why? I don’t know: maybe simple sexism? There is something about her that has always annoyed me. Maybe her apparent vanity? Maybe her ubiquity over a long span of time?

The fact remains that during the early 1990s, when I was an undergraduate at Hampshire College, a number of critics and scholars touted Madonna as a feminist icon. That’s not what I see when I look at her, but what do I know? In any case, Madonna at this point is unarguably a part of women’s history (however we all feel about that).

Does anyone still pay attention to her? On the chance that she still has an audience, I have tagged this as a high-interest item.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, New York City, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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Cultural Literacy: Mary Baker Eddy

Posted on March 13, 2026 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Mary Baker Eddy. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences and three comprehension questions on the founder of Christian Science.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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The Weekly Text, 13 March 2026, Women’s History Month Week II: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Anne Hutchinson

Posted on March 13, 2026 | Leave a comment

For the second Friday of Women’s History Month 2026, here is a reading on Anne Hutchinson along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

She wasn’t exactly the Gloria Steinem of her day, but Puritan officials did bounce her out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony because she would not stop holding religious meetings in her home.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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Cultural Literacy: National Organization for Women

Posted on March 6, 2026 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the National Organization for Women. This is a somewhat crowded half-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences and three comprehension questions. This might be better, if for no other reason than clean design, as a one-page worksheet: I notice I wrote the questions in such a way that they would fit into a half page. The reading supports more than three questions–and that’s without asking critical questions about the material.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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Audre Lorde

Posted on March 6, 2026 | Leave a comment

“Audre (Geraldine) Lorde: (1934-1992) U.S. poet and essayist. Born in New York City to West Indian parents, she worked as a librarian until 1968, when he began to write full-time. She is best known for her passionate writing on lesbian feminism and racial issues, including Cables to Rage (1970), New York Head Shop and Museum (1974), and The Black Unicorn (1978), often called her finest work. Her battle with cancer inspired The Cancer Journals (1980) and A Burst of Light (1988, National Book Award).”

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

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Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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The Weekly Text, 6 March 2026, Women’s History Month Week I: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Zora Neale Hurston

Posted on March 6, 2026 | Leave a comment

We’ve now turned the corner into Women’s History Month 2026. Mark’s Text Terminal opens its observance of this month with this reading on Zora Neale Hurston along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet.

Whether or not one teaches Hurston’s novels, it seems to me that students, by the time they graduate high school, ought to know about this important figure in United States cultural and intellectual history.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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