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 Short Exercise on the Greek Word Root Rhod/o

Here is a word root worksheet on the Greek root rhod/o. It means red. Now you know why, even though they are often purple, those beautiful plants are called rhododendrons.

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.

Myth

Traditionally, a story belonging to any culture that is derived from primitive beliefs, presenting supernatural episodes to explain cosmic forces and the natural order. Regardless of the culture in which they originate, myths are generally concerned with the same themes and motifs: creation, divinity, the significance of life and death, natural phenomena, and the adventures of mythical heroes.”

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

The Weekly Text, June 1, 2018: A Lesson Plan on the Latin Word Roots Ann and Enn

The end of the school year is right around the corner, and it couldn’t come a moment too soon for me. After next week, we here in New York City (and the state as well, I guess) are looking at two weeks of high-stakes testing, which is akin to slow-motion nightmare.

Anyway, one of the things I’ve noticed when I analyze the page-view statistics here at Mark’s Text Terminal is that people fairly heavily traffic the word root worksheets I have posted over the past three years. As it happens, last summer, after several months of deliberation, I took some of those worksheets and formed them into a year-long, one-instructional-period-per-week unit for building basic academic vocabulary in the students it is my privilege to serve.

So, here is the lesson plan that accompanies this worksheet on the Latin word roots ann and enn–they mean year. Finally, here is a context clues worksheet on the adverb yearly. One of the things you’ll notice about these word root lessons, if you choose to use the do-now exercise to start the lesson, is that the do-now worksheets contain a hint to the meaning of the root. I wrote all the context clues worksheets for these lessons specifically for them, to show students, even within the confines of a 44-minute long class period, that prior knowledge (i.e. that gained from work on the do-now exercise) is useful in understanding the mainstay of the lesson (i.e. the word root worksheet itself).

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.

Cultural Literacy: Mao Zedong

On the final day of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month for 2018, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Mao Zedong (aka Mao Tse-Tung).

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.

Cultural Literacy: The Ganges River

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Ganges River. Any study of or discussion of India or Indian culture would by definition require, I would think, knowledge of this river that is sacred to Hindus.

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.

Yukio Mishima (1925-1970)

“Japanese novelist, playwright, and essayist. Mishima elicits very strong reactions among Japanese, for whom his celebrated ritual suicide has raised very large and troubling questions that remain unanswered.

As a young author, Mishima quickly earned a reputation for intellectual and artistic genius. As revealed in his essay Taiyo to tetsu (1968; tr Sun and Steel, 1970), he was deeply troubled about the dichotomy between mind and body that afflicted modern civilization. This and other philosophical concerns are treated in works such as Kamen no kokuhaku (1949; tr Confessions of a Mask, 1958), which is also noteworthy as Japan’s first homosexual autobiography, and Hojo no umi (1965-71; tr The Sea of Fertility, 1971-74). The latter, Mishima’s final work, is a tetralogy of daunting intellectual density. Perhaps his best-known work is Kinkakuji (1956; tr The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, 1959), a brilliant philosophical novel.

Yet this is the same author who wrote reams of cheap fiction, starred in gangster movies, and was a fixture of the popular press, where he even appeared seminude in photos. Mishima’s narcissism was a match for his genius. His was not an ordinary literary career: Mishima lived the life of a jet-set socialite and achieved an international celebrity status unheard of in the context of a traditionally inward looking and self-effacing Japanese literary community.

Like many post war Japanese writers and intellectuals, Mishima was deeply concerned about modern Japan as a spiritual wasteland. But unlike his contemporaries, Mishima did not only express his concerns in writing. He also acted upon his beliefs, launching a personal crusade to restore traditional Bushido values and imperial majesty to what he felt had become a nation of drones.

In a feat of self-dramatization that some called inspired and others spurned as madness, Mishima became commander of a small, ultrarightist organization, the Tatenokai (Shield Society). Then, on November 25, 1970, in one of the defining moments of modern Japanese history, Mishima and several of his lieutenants occupied the Japanese Self-Defense Force headquarters in Tokyo. And in full view of a stunned nation and the world, Japan’s greatest living writer disemboweled himself. This single stroke, whose meaning has been endlessly debated, instantly elevated Yukio Mishima to a mythic stature.”

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

Independent Practice Worksheet: Animism

Because Shinto is a Japanese religion that is essentially a form of animism, I think I can offer, as part of Mark’s Text Terminal’s observation of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, this Cultural Literacy worksheet on animism.

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.

Independent Practice Worksheet: The Maurya Empire

Since I know I’m not going to want to be anywhere near a computer on Memorial Day, I’ll post this independent practice worksheet on the Maurya Empire for your 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.

The Weekly Text, May 25, 2018, Asian Pacific American History Month 2018 Week IV: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Ho Chi Minh

Here, for the final Friday of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month of 2018, is a reading on Ho Chi Minh along with this reading comprehension worksheet that accompanies it.

It’s Memorial Day Weekend! I hope you have fun plans with your friends and loved ones. Don’t forget to remember ancestors as well as good and just people we’ve lost in the past year.

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.

Cultural Literacy: The My Lai Massacre

Several times I have hesitated to post this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the My Lai Massacre. However, at the end of this work week, for the final Friday of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I’m planning to post a reading and comprehension worksheet on Ho Chi Minh, so now is a good time to get this short exercise out into the ether.

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.