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.

Taino

Posted on September 16, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Taino: Arawak Indians of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea. They also inhabited Puerto Rico and the eastern tip of Cuba. The grew cassava and corn, hunted birds and small animals, and fished. They were skillful at working stone and wood. Their society consisted of three tiers—nobles, commoners, and slaves—and they were ruled by hereditary chiefs and subchiefs. Their religious beliefs centered on a hierarchy of nature spirits and ancestors. They became extinct within 100 years of the Spanish conquest.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Cultural Literacy: Ponce de Leon

Posted on September 16, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is Cultural Literacy worksheet on Juan Ponce de Leon. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two sentences and three comprehension (two of them together on one line) questions. This is the conquistador who went to Florida in search of the (or a?) fountain of youth.

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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Term of Art: Teacher-Directed Classroom

Posted on September 9, 2022 | Leave a comment

“teacher-directed classroom: A classroom in which the teacher is in charge and makes all the important decisions about the content and pace of instruction; also known as the teacher-dominated classroom. The teacher-directed classroom is sometimes used as a derogatory term compared unfavorably with the learner-centered classroom, where students are in charge of their own learning. See also teacher-centered instruction. Contrast child-centered education; learner-centered classroom.”

Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.

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Dave Barry on Meetings

Posted on September 9, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Meetings are an addictive, highly self-indulgent activity that corporations and other large organizations habitually engage in only because they cannot actually masturbate.”

Dave Barry

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

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Cubism

Posted on September 9, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a reading on Cubism along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I can’t think of anything more to say about this–other than the audience for this, given the state of arts education in our schools these days, might end up being entirely self-selected.

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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Write It Right: Individual

Posted on September 9, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Individual. As a noun, this word means something that cannot be considered as divided, a unit. But it is incorrect to call a man, woman, or child an individual, except with reference to mankind, to society, or to a class of persons. It will not do to say ‘An individual stood in the street,’ when no mention of allusion has been made, nor is going to be made, to some aggregate of individuals considered as a whole.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. Write it Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2010.

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Cultural Literacy: John Calvin and Calvinism

Posted on September 9, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on John Calvin and his doctrine, Calvinism. This is a half-page worksheet that contains two readings from The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. They are separated. The first is on John Calvin the man, and is two-sentences; the second is on the doctrine of Calvinism, and is four-sentences long. Three comprehension questions follow both of these readings. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but a recent Secretary of Education of the United States apparently believed all that nonsense about predestination in Calvinist doctrine.

As with virtually everything on Mark’s Text Terminal, this is a Microsoft Word document, so you can manipulate it for the needs of your students. I thought these combine well, but they also might be better off separated into two separate documents. You can do with it as you wish.

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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Manifesto

Posted on September 2, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Manifesto: A term closely associated with the Avant-Garde Modernists and used primarily during the 20th century. Often the work of writers rather than artists, manifestos were published to proclaim new or revolutionary movements that spanned the arts, as in the Futurist and Surrealist manifestos.”

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

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Cultural Literacy: Blue-Collar

Posted on September 2, 2022 | Leave a comment

As I prepared this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of “blue-collar” work, it occurred to me that this is not an adjective I hear much used anymore. I certainly remember it well from my childhood and young adulthood, particularly the latter period, when I did quite a lot of blue-collar work myself.

Should your students stumble across Paul Schrader’s excellent film Blue Collar (as I did at age 19), this document may assist students in understanding its title. Otherwise, well, I’m not sure about this worksheet’s currency. If you use it, as always, I would be interested in hearing how.

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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The Weekly Text, 2 September 2022: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “The Big Bang”

Posted on September 2, 2022 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “The Big Bang.” This lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on dogma: it’s a half-page document with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. This is one of the better of these things I’ve produced over the years–it’s strength is clearly in its economy. Two sentences, it turns out, is all the subject needs if the writer is sufficiently concise.

You’ll need this PDF of the illustration and questions to use as evidence to investigate the offense against good order the case represents. To bring the alleged misdemeanant or felon to justice, you and your students will also need this typescript of the answer key.

That’s it. And by “that’s it,” I mean that this is the last of these lessons I have to publish here. That also means that there are 72 Crime and Puzzlement lessons on this blog now. Help yourself!

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

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