Category Archives: Reference

These are materials for teachers and parents, and you’ll find, in this category, teachers copies and answer keys for worksheets, quotes related to domain-specific knowledge in English Language Arts and social studies, and quotes on issues of professional concern. See the Taxonomies page for more about this category.

Persian Language or Farsi Language

Posted on May 9, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Persian language or Farsi Language: Iranian language spoken by more than 25 million people as a first language, and by millions more as a second. Modern Persian is a koine developed from southwestern dialects in the 7th-9th centuries, after the introduction of Islam brought a massive infusion of loanwords from Arabic. Its standardization and literary cultivation took place in northeastern Persia and Central Asia in the 11th-12th centuries. Polities outside Persia itself (e.g. Mughal India, Ottoman Turkey) have at times been major literary centers. Its status in those countries led to a very strong Persian influence on Urdu and Ottoman Turkish. Other Turkic and Indo-Aryan languages, Caucasian languages, and Iranian languages have also borrowed heavily from Persian. Like other Modern Iranian languages, Persian shows marked changes in sound structure from Old Iranian, as well as a drastic reduction in the repertoire of verbal forms and complete loss of case inflections for nouns and adjectives. It is written in a slightly modified form of the Arabic alphabet.”

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

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Assassins

Posted on May 2, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Assassins: A small Islamic sect. For two hundred years,  it terrified Europe with its secret murders. It was founded by Hassan-i-Sabbah near the end of the 11th century. From the impregnable mountain stronghold of Alamut in Persia and later from the Syrian stronghold of Masyad, the Assassins harried the Crusaders and their rival Islamic sects, remaining unbroken in power even by the great Saladin. They were finally destroyed in the 13th century by the Tatar prince Hulagu and, somewhat later, in Syria, by the Egyptian Sultan Baybars.

The name Assassins is derived from hashish, a drug made from hemp, with which, according to tradition, the victorious Assassins were rewarded upon their return from successful depredations. The secret of their long reign of terror was the absolute obedience that the young men of the sect were required to give to their leaders. The name of the sect soon came into the language of Europe as a synonym for murder.”

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

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Shah Wali Allah

Posted on May 2, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Shah Wali Allah: (1702/3-1762) Indian Islamic theologian. He received a traditional Islamic education, and after a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1732 he remained in the Hejaz to study theology. Living in a time of disillusionment following the death of Aurangzeb, he believed that Muslim polity could be restored only though religious reform that would harmonize Islam with Indian’s changing social and economic conditions. He was steadfastly monotheistic but otherwise much more liberal than most Islamic theologians that had preceded him. His best-known work is The Secrets of Belief. His synthesis of theology, philosophy, and mysticism so reinvigorated Islam that it became prevalent among Islamic scholars in India until the 20th century.”

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

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Agastya

Posted on May 2, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Agastya: In Hindu mythology, the legendary sage and pioneer in the epic age of the Aryanization of south India. Supposed to have been born in a jar, Agastya is also known as Kumbhayoni, or ‘jar-born.’ Legend says that he presented to his pupil Ram the invincible bow and inexhaustible quiver of Vishnu. According to another legend, as he was walking one day with Vishnu, the insolent ocean asked the god who the pygmy (the ‘jar-born’ dwarf) was that strutted by his side. When Vishnu replied that it was the patriarch Agastya, who would restore earth to its true balance, the ocean contemptuously spat its spray in Agastya’s face. Agastya, in revenge, drank it dry.”

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

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Achievement Motivation

Posted on April 25, 2025 | Leave a comment

“achievement motivation: The need to perform well, or achievement motivation, significantly determines a person’s effort and persistence in reaching some given standard of excellence, or in comparison with competitors, and the level of aspiration that is involved in that standard or competition. This motivation is seen by psychologist D.C. McClelland (1961;1971) as a major determinant of entrepreneurial activity and as a cause of rapid economic growth when widely dispersed in a society. Many managerial roles are also said to require individuals with a high need for achievement if they are to be performed well. McClelland believes that such needs are learned in childhood, when individuals are socialized into the culture of their societies, rather than being innate. Other needs that may be learned are the needs for power, affiliation and autonomy.”

Excerpted from: Abercrombie, Nicholas, Stephen Hill, and Bryan S. Turner. Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Penguin, 2006.

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Acropolis

Posted on April 25, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Acropolis: (Gr, ‘high city’) The citadel of a Greek city, generally situated on a hill. The Acropolis at Athens, a rocky plateau about two hundred feet high, was the site of the ancient town. It was surrounded by walls, which were destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC, and later rebuilt by Themistocles. The Acropolis was the center of religious activity; many temples and statues of Athene were located there. The Erechtheum, the Parthenon, and the Propylaea are among the best known of its monuments. The acropolis at Thebes was the Cadmeia; that of Corinth, the Acrocorinth.”

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

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Montage

Posted on April 17, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Montage: A picture formed by applying separate images in parts or layers to form a total image. Similar to collage. In photomontage, photographs, often incongruous, are juxtaposed.”

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

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Term of Art: Sensory Impairment

Posted on April 17, 2025 | Leave a comment

“sensory impairment: Any impairment of the sensory system; the most prominent and predominant forms of sensory impairment are hearing and visual problems. All standard and legal definitions of learning disability rule out sensory impairment as a contributing cause because those sensory impairments are classified separately in their own handicap categories. However, it is possible for a child with sensory impairment also to also have a learning disability. It is also difficult to tell the difference between the effects of a sensory impairment on learning and those effects that may be associated with a learning disability. It is likely that children with significant sensory problems who also have learning disabilities may generally be underdiagnosed and largely overlooked.”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.

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Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky

Posted on April 17, 2025 | Leave a comment

“L(ev) S(emyonovich) Vygotsky: (1896-1934) Soviet psychologist. He studied linguistics and philosophy at the University of Moscow before becoming involved in psychological research. While working at Moscow’s Institute of Psychology 1924-34, he became a major figure in post-revolutionary Soviet psychology. He studied the role of social and cultural factors in the making of human consciousness; his theory of signs and their relationship to the development of speech influences such psychologists as A.R. Luria and Jean Piaget. His best-known work, Thought and Language (1934) was briefly suppressed as a threat to Stalinism. He died of tuberculosis at 38.”

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

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Credo

Posted on April 11, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Credo (noun): A statement of belief, faith or doctrine; a religious, social, political or artistic principle or body of principles; dictum.”

Excerpted from: Grambs, David. The Random House Dictionary for Writers and Readers. New York: Random House, 1990.

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