“In the classical world, it was the three white-robed Fates who spun, measured out, and cut the thread of life: Clotho spins, Lachesis measures and Atropos cuts. They were known as the Moirai to the Greeks–those who ‘apportion’ your time–and by the superstitious Romans by the euphemism of Parcae, ‘the sparing ones.'”
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.
“Sophisticated cognitive ability, including the ability to understand complex concepts, to compare and contrast different opinions, or to apply conflicting information to the solution of a problem that has more than one answer. Although such skills are highly praised today—and indeed, often prized above content knowledge—they cannot be attained without also gaining mastery of a significant amount of knowledge to think critically about.”
Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.
“A literary work, usually a story that is not true, creeping through several issues of a newspaper or magazine. Frequently appended to each installment is a ‘synopsis of preceding chapters’ for those who have not read them, but a direr need is a synopsis of succeeding chapters for those who do not intend to read them. A synopsis of the entire work would be still better.
The late James F. Bowman was writing a serial tale for a weekly paper in collaboration with a genius whose name has not come down to us. They wrote, not jointly but alternately, Bowman supplying the instalment for one week, his friend for the next, and so on, world without end, they hoped. Unfortunately they quarreled, and one Monday morning when Bowman read the paper to prepare himself for his task, he found the work cut out for him in a way to surprise and pain him. His collaborator had embarked every character of the narrative on a ship and sunk them all in the deepest part of the Atlantic.”
Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. David E. Schultz and S.J. Joshi, eds. The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2000.
Posted in English Language Arts, Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference
Tagged humor, literary oddities
“Cabala (or kabbalah; fr Heb qabbalah, ‘tradition’) The oral traditions of the Jews, said to have been delivered by Moses to the rabbis and handed down through the centuries by word of mouth. In the Middle Ages, the word was a popular term for the Jewish theosophy describing the World of Souls. The rabbis, or cabalists, who were the guardians of the cabala were feared as possessing secrets of magical powers.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged philosophy/religion, readings/research
“In English history, an influential clique of ministers at the court of Charles II from 1667 to 1674. The group derived its name from the initials of its members (Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale), who were notorious for their intrigues and corruption. The word cabal, which is now used to signify a body of political intriguers, was probably popularized by the activities of the English cabal, but it had long been associated with secrecy and magic, See CABALA.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged readings/research
“Anachronism (noun): A chronological error; a person, thing, word, or idiom inappropriate to the time of a literary work, especially something placed or assumed too early; specific temporal or historical error. Adj. anachronistic, anachronic, anachronous, anachronical; adv. Anachronistically, anachronically, anachronously. Also: METACHRONISM.
‘Of course, the deep south holds on by main strength to it regional expressions, just as it holds and treasures some other anachronisms, but no region can hold out for long against the highway, the high-tension line, and the national television.” John Steinbeck Travels with Charley'”
Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.
“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology. This is clearly a prescription for disaster.”
Excerpted from: Grothe, Dr. Marty. Metaphors Be with You. New York: Harper, 2016.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged readings/research, science literacy
“Memory for figures, spatial relationships, and so on. Nonverbal memory is assumed to be based in the deep structures of the right temporal lobe.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
“Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing.”
Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.
Posted in English Language Arts, New York City, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged humor, literary oddities
FINAL THOUGHTS: LIMITATIONS OF RESEARCH
“The scope of what researchers can accomplish is limited in many ways…. Though ideally researchers would assess the learning and cognition of a representative sample of people, meaning one that best captures the breadth and diversity of humanity, in practice this is hardly ever the case. Furthermore, most if not all brain and cognitive researchers conduct their analyses in laboratory settings, where as many variables are identified and controlled as possible. Compared to the control of a laboratory, a classroom is filthy with variables of many types.
Why should the distinction between the control of variables and other factors in laboratories and classrooms matter? Put simply, it matters because ‘evidence-based’ is often mistakenly interpreted as meaning the same thing as ‘field-tested.’ To say that a particular teaching strategy or curricular initiative is ‘evidence-based’ can indicate many things. It certainly may mean, as most assume, that the phenomenon has been studied in classroom settings by educational researchers and teachers and has been found to work. And it this latter situation is the case, great! However, more often than not this label means that a particular educational strategy or initiative is based on evidence that has emerged from research studies conducted in laboratories, or it is based in evidence.
There is certainly nothing wrong with this other definition and I also do not believe that it is intentionally used to deceive. Indeed, many of the strategies proposed in this text represent exactly this type of research-based practice, namely those that have yet to be tested in classroom settings. However, any time you come across something that is research-based rather than research-validated (or field-tested), remember that the minimum threshold for this label is that the strategy is based on a review of the existing literature. Thus it is ‘field-tested’ or ‘research-validated’ and not ‘evidence-based” that should be seen as the educational equivalent of the ‘Good Housekeeping’ stamp of approval.”
Excerpted from: Rekart, Jerome L. The Cognitive Classroom: Using Brain and Cognitive Science to Optimize Student Success. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2013.
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