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.

7 Supreme Works of Shakespeare

Posted on March 20, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Henry IV * Hamlet * Measure for Measure * Othello * King Lear * Macbeth * Antony and Cleopatra

‘Just as there are seven wonders of the world and seven deadly sins, so there are (in my opinion) seven supreme peaks achieved by Shakespeare,’ wrote Giuseppi de Lampedusa, author of The Leopard. He also added that, ‘If I was told all the works of Shakespeare had to perish except one that I could select, I would first try to kill the monster who made the suggestion; if I failed, I would then try and kill myself: and if I could not manage even this, well then I would choose Measure for Measure,’”

Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , ,

The Weekly Text, March 20, 2020, Women’s History Month 2020 Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on the Flappers

Posted on March 20, 2020 | Leave a comment

Alright, I do want to remember that March is Women’s History Month. This week’s Text, in observation of the month, is a reading on flappers along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. The reading is short, but it allows for the possibility of asking a critical question about them: were they avatars of female agency, and thus an early paradigm of feminism?

This post on the cartoon character Betty Boop, which I posted almost exactly a year ago, might complement today’s Text, depending on how far you want to go with this. I can tell you that the Betty Boop material has been of relatively high interest to the students I’ve served over the years.

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.

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , , , , , ,

Word Root Exercise: Mar, Mari

Posted on March 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the Latin word roots mar and mari. They mean sea. These are very productive roots in English that yield commonly used words like maritime and mariner, to name just two. If you live near water of any kind, chances are good you have a marina offering its goods and services in your community.

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.

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , , , ,

Sandy Koufax

Posted on March 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

By now, as most people who care surely–and sadly–know, the opening day of Major League Baseball has been pushed out to mid-May at least. Sniff. Team owners hope for a full schedule, but that seems optimistic at best.

In the meantime, for kids at home as the COVID19 pandemic runs its course, here is a reading on Sandy Koufax and its attendant 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.

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , , , , ,

The Devil’s Dictionary: Monarch

Posted on March 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Monarch, n. A person engaged in reigning. Formerly the monarch ruled, as the derivation of the word attests, and as many subjects have had occasion to learn. In Russia and the Orient the monarch has still a considerable influence in public affairs and in the disposition of the human head, but in western Europe political administration is mostly entrusted to his ministers, he being somewhat preoccupied with reflections relating to the status of his own head.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. David E. Schultz and S.J. Joshi, eds. The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2000. 

Leave a comment

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

Tagged ,

Can Wisdom Be Taught?

Posted on March 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Teachers…are particularly beset by the temptation to tell what they know…. Yet no amount of information, whether of theory or fact, in itself improves insight and judgment or increases ability to act wisely.”

 Charles I. Gragg

Because Wisdom Can’t Be Told

 Excerpted from: Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 1998.

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , ,

A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case: “A Comedy of Errors”

Posted on March 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is yet Crime and Puzzlement lesson plan, this one on “A Comedy of Errors.” I open this lesson, in order to get students settled after a class transition, with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the expression “Touch and Go.” Here is the scan of the illustrations and questions needed to conduct the investigation–and here is the typescript of the answer key.

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.

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , , , , , ,

The American Mercury

Posted on March 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

“The American Mercury: An iconoclastic magazine founded in 1924 and edited by H.L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan. Among its contributors were Lewis Mumford, Sinclair Lewis, Carl Sandburg, and Vachel Lindsay. After Mencken’s retirement in 1933, it was published as a pocket-sized miscellany of conservative tendencies by Lawrence E. Spivak. It eventually became a rightist organ of limited circulation owned by millionaire J. Russell Maguire.”

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

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , ,

Term of Art: Cognitive Theory

Posted on March 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Cognitive Theory: A major cluster of theories in social psychology, which focus upon the links between mental processes (such as perception, memory, attitudes, or decision making), and social behavior. At a general level such theories are opposed to behaviorism, and suggest that human beings are active in selecting stimuli, constructing meanings, and making sense of their worlds. There are many branches of cognitive theory, including Fritz Heider’s cognitive balance theory, Leon Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory, George Kelly’s personal construct theory, and attribution theory. (See J.R. Eiser, Cognitive Social Psychology, 1980).”

Excerpted from: Marshall, Gordon, ed. Oxford Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Leave a comment

Posted in Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

Tagged , , ,

Virus

Posted on March 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is an extremely timely reading on viruses along with its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Enough said.

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.

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , , , , , ,