Tag Archives: united states history

John D. Rockefeller

It’s nearly impossible, as awful as he may have been, to underestimate his influence on American industrial capitalism, so I think this reading on John D Rockefeller and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet are relevant in a number of places across the social sciences curriculum.

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.

Melba Patillo Beals on the Crucible of Her Youth

“But, because we dared to challenge the Southern tradition of segregation, this school became, instead, a furnace that consumed our youth and forged us into reluctant warriors.”

Melba Patillo Beals, on the Desegregation of Little Rock Schools, Warriors Don’t Cry(1994)

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

The Miracle on Ice

When I taught in Springfield, Massachusetts, (which hosts a minor league hockey team), a number of students in my literacy intervention class wanted to read about hockey. So I worked up this reading on the Miracle on Ice and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet for their consumption. If you’re not old enough to remember it, or are not a hockey or Olympics fan, the Miracle on Ice is the United States Olympic Hockey Team’s upset victory over the Russian team at the 1980 Olympics at Lake Placid, New York.

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.

Albert Jay Nock on Reading the Dictionary

“As sheer casual reading matter, I still find the English dictionary the most interesting book in the English language.”

Albert Jay Nock

Memoirs of a Superfluous Man ch. 1 (1943)

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

Georgian Style

“Georgian Style: Style of architecture, furniture, and interior decoration developed in the reigns of the four English King Georges (1714-1830). In England the three phases are Palladian, Neoclassical, and Regency. In the United States: Georgian, Federal, and Roman Classicism. All forms show classical inspiration and Renaissance spirit and motifs.”

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

Cotton Mather

OK, last but not least this humid morning, here is a reading on Cotton Mather and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. United States history teachers take note.

And I’ll keep my snarky comments about aggressively militant Calvinists to myself. Likewise Reverend Mather’s role in the Salem Witch Trials.

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: Joseph McCarthy

Alright, last but not least today, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose name you surely recognize as a blight on a period of United States history that in fact bears his name, the “McCarthy Era,” and describes a particular style of political paranoia, McCarthyism.

This is a full-page worksheet, so it has a number of uses, including independent practice (i.e. homework).

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: Industrial Revolution

Last but not least today, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Industrial Revolution which is pretty simple and speaks for itself, I guess.

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.

Rotten Rejections: The Clan of the Cave Bear

“We are very impressed with the depth and scope of your research and the quality of your prose. Nevertheless, the length presents a unique problem, for production costs are rising and the reading public are reluctant to buy expensive novels unless the author has an established reputation such as the one enjoyed by James Michener. In any case, we don’t thing we could distribute enough copies to satisfy you or ourselves.”

Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.

Provincetown

I worked part of a school year in Springfield, Massachusetts. The kids I served there–and this was more a function of social class and the dismal high school they were compelled to attend–had a vague knowledge of Cape Cod, but not really any understanding of its geography, history, or role in the origins of the United States. Others, alas, weren’t aware it was geographically and legally part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Since I was a “literacy interventionist” (whatever that is), without a set curriculum, I prepared this reading on Provincetown and its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet to foster understanding of the Cape and its history. The LGBTQ kids were pleased to get ahold of this information.

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.