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.

A Trio of Rotten Reviews: George Bernard Shaw

Posted on January 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

George Bernard Shaw I, Arms and the Man

“Shaw may one day write a serious and even an artistic play, if he will only repress his irreverent whimsicality, try to clothe his character conceptions in flesh and blood, and realize the difference between knowingness and knowledge.”

William Archer, World

George Bernard Shaw II, Major Barbara

“There are no human beings in Major Barbara: only animated points of view.

William Archer, World

George Bernard Shaw III, Man and Superman

“I think Shaw, on the whole, is more bounder than genius…I couldn’t get on with Man and Superman: it disgusted me.”

Bertrand Russell, letter to G.L. Dickinson

Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998. 

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , ,

Leonardo Pisano AKA Fibonacci

Posted on January 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

OK, math teachers, here is a reading on Fibonacci and its accompanying 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 , , , ,

Book of Answers: Philip Freneau

Posted on January 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Who is known as the “poet of the American Revolution”? Philip Freneau (1752-1832), whose poems include “American Liberty” (1775) and “The Indian Burying Ground” (1788). He was a favorite of Thomas Jefferson’s.”

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

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , ,

A Lesson Plan on Bullying

Posted on January 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here’s a lesson plan on bullying with the short reading and vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that comprise the lesson’s work. If you’d like a slightly longer version of the reading and worksheet, you can find them here.

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 Devil’s Dictionary: Benevolence

Posted on January 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Benevolence, n. Subscribing five dollars towards the relief of one’s aged grandfather in the alms house, and publishing it in the newspaper.” 

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 , ,

Cultural Literacy: White Elephant

Posted on January 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here’s a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the idiom “white elephant” if you think you’re students need to know the concept. With Tag Sale Season fast approaching in Vermont, this might be a useful piece of vocabulary for kids in this part of the world.

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 , , , ,

Romanticism

Posted on January 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Romanticism: (romantic art): A style prevalent in the first half of the 19th century, particularly in painting, in which imagination played the dominant role. Referring more to a state of mind then to a style, romanticism was a marked reaction against the rationalism associated with Neoclassicism. One of the chief concerns of the romantic artist was the illustration of literary themes, often derived from contemporary romantic writings. Leading romantic artists included Eugene Delacroix, William Turner, and Caspar David Friedrich.”

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

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , , ,

Russell Baker on Progress

Posted on January 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things.”

Russell Baker

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , ,

A Lesson Plan on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Posted on January 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

Here is a lesson plan on post-traumatic stress disorder along with the short reading and the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that comprise the work of this lesson. If you’d like a slightly longer version of the reading and worksheet, you can find that here.

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 , , , , ,

Ralph Tyler on Organizing Curricula

Posted on January 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

“In identifying important organizing principles, it is necessary to note that the criteria, continuity, sequence, and integration apply to the experiences of the learner and not to the way in which these matters may be viewed by someone already in command of the elements to be learned. Thus, continuity involves the recurring emphasis in the learner’s experience upon these particular elements; sequence refers to the increasing breadth and depth of the learner’s development; and integration refers to the learner’s increased unity of behavior in relating to the elements involved.”

Ralph W. Tyler

Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction

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

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , ,