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.

Brewer’s Curious Titles: A Boy’s Own Story

Posted on July 20, 2018 | Leave a comment

“The first novel (1982) in a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels by the US novelist Edmund White (b. 1940). It charts a boy’s growing awareness of his homosexuality. The others are The Beautiful Room is Empty (1988) and Farewell Symphony (1997).

The title is an ironic echo of The Boy’s Own Paper (often referred to as ‘the BOP), a boy’s magazine published from 1879 to 1967, initially by the Religious Tract Society. The last issue of the BOP featured on its cover the 21-year-old Manchester United footballer George Best, described as a role model who ‘doesn’t smoke, drinks only occasionally, and restricts his card playing to sessions which ease the boredom of travelling.'”

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

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

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Cultural Literacy: Riot Act

Posted on July 20, 2018 | Leave a comment

If you want students to learn idioms, this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Riot Act, or more specifically being read the riot act, might help.

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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Sham (n/adj)

Posted on July 18, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here are two context clues worksheets on the word sham, used as both a noun and an adjective.

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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Brewer’s Curious Titles: Brave New World

Posted on July 18, 2018 | Leave a comment

“A dystopian novel (1932) by Aldous Huxley (1894-1963). Its portrayal of an imagined future state in which men and women are processed into standardized batches by genetic engineering and lifelong conditioning was originally conceived as a challenge to the claims of H.G. Wells (1866-1946) for the desirability of eugenics. The title derives from Miranda’s exclamation in Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1611):

‘O brave new world,

That has such people in’t!’

V.i”

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

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Independent Practice Worksheet: Peter the Great

Posted on July 18, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here is an independent practice worksheet on Peter the Great that I use in sophomore global studies classes. It’s a short reading with a few comprehension questions. Make sure to use it on days when you’re studying Russian history.

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 Four Hundred

Posted on July 17, 2018 | Leave a comment

“’The Four Hundred’ is the nickname for the social elite of New York, an alliance of old landed families, financial speculators, manufacturers and entrepreneurs who had assimilated European social manners and snobbery in the late nineteenth century. The overlooked the divisions of the Civil War, delighted in transatlantic marriages with the nobility of Europe, and guarded themselves from ‘new money’ coming in from the West, especially those who put too much crushed ice in their wine. The concept of the Four Hundred was popularized by Ward McAllister, the Beau Brummel of Manhattan, who coined the expression from the number who could be comfortably entertained, and felt at ease, in Mrs. Astor’s ballroom.”

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.

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

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Cultural Literacy: Rembrandt

Posted on July 17, 2018 | Leave a comment

A couple of days ago, on June 15th, Rembrandt’s birthday passed while I was away from my computer. Since the day gave me an opportunity to post this Cultural Literacy worksheet on Rembrandt, I observe it now both retrospectively and retroactively.

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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Brewer’s Curious Titles: Brooklyn Bridge

Posted on July 17, 2018 | Leave a comment

“A long poem (1930) by the US poet Hart Crane (1899-1932). The work is a Whitmanesque celebration of America, its culture and history, and the image of Brooklyn Bridge acts as a link between past and present, a symbol of imagination and striving:

‘O Sleepless as the river under thee,
Vaulting the sea, the prairies dreaming sod,
Unto us lowliest sometime sweep, descend
And of the curveship lend a myth to God.’
Hart Crane, The Bridge, proem ‘To Brooklyn Bridge’

Brooklyn Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River and so linking Brooklyn and Manhattan Island. It was built in 1869-83, and incorporates a number of impressive technical innovations. With its tough, angular, futuristic structure, it became something of an icon for American modernists, being the subject of semi-abstract paintings by, for example, John Marin (1910-1932) and Joseph Stella (1917-1918). More recently, David and Victoria (‘Posh Spice’) Beckham chose to call their son Brooklyn because he was conceived while they crossed the bridge.”

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

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Posted in English Language Arts, New York City, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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Word Root Exercise: Neo-

Posted on July 17, 2018 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the Greek word root neo-, which means new and recent. In fact, this is a root that is often simply attached to existing nouns, as in the au courant locution “neoliberal.”

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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On Education and Civil Society

Posted on July 16, 2018 | Leave a comment

“A liberal education is at the heart of civil society, and at the heart of a liberal education is the act of teaching.”

A. Bartlett Giamatti

“The American Teacher” in Harper’s (1980)

Excerpted from: Howe, Randy, ed. The Quotable Teacher. Guilford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2003.

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