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.

Desist (vi)

You might find this context clues worksheet on the verb desist helpful in teaching kids a basic legal concept, i.e. cease and desist. It is a word–or at the very least, a concept–that students should understand. Either way, it is used only intransitively.

It might accompany nicely the “no means no” teaching on sexual encounters and consent.

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 Devil’s Dictionary: Optimism

“Optimism: The doctrine, or belief, that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong. It is held with greatest tenacity by those most accustomed to the mischance of falling into adversity, and is most acceptably expounded with the grin that apes a smile. Being a blind faith, it is inaccessible to the light of disproof—an intellectual disorder, yielding to no treatment but death. It is hereditary, but fortunately not contagious.”

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

Cultural Literacy: Narcissism

This Cultural Literacy worksheet on narcissism has been on my desktop as I await the right time to post it; I’m not sure when that will be, so now seems as good a time as any.

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.

Peace (n), Piece (n)

Can you, by any chance, use these five homophone worksheets on the nouns peace and piece? These are pretty commonly misused; if nothing else, these documents will clear up the use of these two nouns for English language learners.

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.

A Nineteenth-Century, British, View of Education from Thomas Hughes

“Life isn’t all beer and skittles, but beer and skittles, or something better of the same sort, must form a good part of every Englishman’s education.”

Thomas Hughes

Tom Brown’s Schooldays, Pt. I, Ch. 2 (1857)

Excerpted from: Shapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.

Decimate (vt)

Here is a context clues worksheet the verb decimate. It’s used transitively, and most frequently, strictly speaking, erroneously. It’s from the Latin (nota bene the Latin root dec, which means ten, and shows up in words like decade and decimal–a form of counting that proceeds in units of ten) and means, in its definition from Ancient Rome, where it was a means of disciplining Legions, “to select by lot and kill every tenth man of.” However, over time, it has come to mean “to reduce drastically especially in number” and “to cause great destruction or harm to.”

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.

Mannerism

“Style of art and architecture that emerged in the period from ca. 1520 to ca. 1590, characterized by a reaction to the harmony of the High Renaissance, an ideal of virtuosity for its own sake, and a concomitant preoccupation with the ambiguous and discordant. Exemplified in the works of El Greco, Pontormo, Parmigianino, and (late) Michelangelo.”

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

Independent Practice: Socrates

Here is an independent practice worksheet on Socrates. If you teach global studies, or whatever your school district calls it, this might be a document your students could use.

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.

Book of Answers: The Tenth Muse

“‘Whom did some classical writers call the ‘tenth muse?’ Sappho (b. 612 B.C.), a lyric poet whose work exists only in fragments. Married, she lived in Lesbos and led a group of women who were devoted to music and poetry.”

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

Cultural Literacy: Suburbanization

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on suburbanization, which is a concept that probably comes up at some point in the United States History curriculum.

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.