Tag Archives: united states history

Thorstein Veblen on Law Schools

Posted on October 29, 2020 | Leave a comment

“The law school belongs in the modern university no more than a school of fencing or dancing.”

Thorstein Veblen

The Higher Learning in America ch. 7 (1918)

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

Leave a comment

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

Tagged ,

Watergate

Posted on October 29, 2020 | Leave a comment

As I write this, the United States approaches one of the most consequential elections in its history. This is not a political blog, but I cannot help but reflect on the growth of cynicism in my lifetime. This reading on the Watergate scandal and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet narrate and record a scandal that, when I was a high school student myself, brought down a presidency. Compared to some of the conduct of the current administration, Watergate appears in retrospect a triviality.

And that is not a good thing.

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 , , , ,

Ernest Hemingway

Posted on October 29, 2020 | Leave a comment

If you’re teaching Hemingway’s fiction, this reading on Ernest Hemingway and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet might serve as an introduction to the author himself. I wrote it for that purpose, to support students who were about to start with The Old Man and the Sea–a novella which, despite its plaintive prose, can baffle struggling and emergent readers.

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 , , , ,

Central Park in New York City

Posted on October 27, 2020 | Leave a comment

OK, for my erstwhile and possibly future colleagues in New York City, or anyone with students interested in plants, gardening, landscape architecture, the history of leisure time, the concept of public goods or the philosophy of the commons–or any of the numerous areas of inquiry it might stimulate, here is a reading on Central Park and its attendant 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, New York City, Social Sciences, Worksheets

Tagged , , , , , ,

The Devil’s Dictionary: Corrupt

Posted on October 26, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Corrupt, adj. In politics, holding an office of trust or profit.”

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: Profit Motive

Posted on October 26, 2020 | Leave a comment

Although I’ve posted it elsewhere on this blog–along with context clues worksheet on the nouns motive and motivation–here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the profit motive. About five weeks ago I sorted through my library of Cultural Literacy worksheets and selected a group I thought it appropriate to post before the election. This is the penultimate document; I’ll post the final worksheet in the next couple of days.

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 , , , ,

Term of Art: Boycott

Posted on October 23, 2020 | Leave a comment

“boycott: Refusal by a body of people to have any dealings with a person or persons. The term is derived from Capt. C.C. Boycott (1832-97) who, having incurred hostility for a series of evictions, was made the victim of a conspiracy by the Irish Land League, preventing him from making any purchases or holding any social intercourse in his district.”

Excerpted from: Cook, Chris. Dictionary of Historical Terms. New York: Gramercy, 1998.

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , , ,

Cultural Literacy: Passive Resistance

Posted on October 22, 2020 | Leave a comment

This Cultural Literacy worksheet on passive resistance as a means of protest ought to have great currency at the moment, especially when elected officials imply they will not participate in a peaceful transfer of governmental authority. The reading in this short exercise mentions Gandhi, but I don’t think teachers should let the opportunity pass to invoke the name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., another practitioner of passive resistance who acknowledged his debt to Gandhi.

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 , , , , ,

Drag Racing

Posted on October 18, 2020 | Leave a comment

Last but not least today, here is a reading on drag racing and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I wrote this when I was working with a group of students in a rural high school who were interested in all manner of fast cars. It was high-interest material for those students, which leads me to suspect it will be of high-interest elsewhere as well. If that turns out to be the case in your classroom, could you leave a comment?

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, Worksheets

Tagged , , , , ,

Cultural Literacy: Liberalism

Posted on October 18, 2020 | Leave a comment

Because it presents an extremely narrow, time-bound (it restricts the refers to liberalism only in its manifestation in the twentieth century) definition of the ideology, I almost trashed this Cultural Literacy worksheet on liberalism.

Talk radio hosts and social media have reduced liberalism, a complicated political and moral philosophy to a caricature of itself. This worksheet, while narrowly useful, doesn’t generally help much in clearing up misconceptions about this Enlightenment ideology.

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 , , , ,