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.

John Dewey on Teaching, Learning, and Thinking

Posted on March 21, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Because of the importance of attitudes, ability to train thought is not achieved merely by knowledge of the best forms of thought. Moreover, there are no set exercises in correct thinking whose repeated performance will cause one to be a good thinker…. Knowledge of the methods alone will not suffice; there must be the desire, the will to employ them. This desire is an affair of personal disposition.”

John Dewey

How We Think: A Restatement of the Relation of Reflective Thinking to the Educative Process

Excerpted from: Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 1998.

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Term of Art: Reciprocal Learning

Posted on March 21, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Reciprocal learning: A pedagogical strategy in which students help one another to master skills or concepts presented by the teacher. Generally, students work in pairs or take turns acting as coach.”

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

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Book of Answers: John Dos Passos

Posted on March 20, 2020 | Leave a comment

“What are the books in John Dos Passos’ U.S.A. trilogy? They are: The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936). The three were first published together in 1937).”

Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

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School

Posted on March 20, 2020 | Leave a comment

“School: A group of artists working under the same influence—whether a single master, a local style, or a regional style—whose work shows a general stylistic similarity, e.g. Rubens school, Barbizon school, Tuscan school.”

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

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Term of Art: Culture Shock

Posted on March 20, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Culture Shock: A term coined in the 1960s to refer to an occupational disease suffered by those suddenly immersed in a culture very different than their own. The term generally implies a negative reaction (physical, cognitive, and psychological) to moving within or between societies, but some authors have suggested it may have benefits for the individual concerned. Those who become partially, or fully, immersed in a new culture may suffer culture shock when re-entering their own society.”

Excerpted from: Marshall, Gordon, ed. Oxford Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

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Rotten Rejections: Black Oxen by Gertrude Atherton

Posted on March 20, 2020 | Leave a comment

“I have no hesitation. In advising you to decline Mrs. Atherton’s novel…principally for the reason that it is an apology for adultery…besides this radical immorality, the novel contains many passages of pseudo-philosophy which would give offense to religious persons.”

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

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Term of Art: The Big Lie

Posted on March 20, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Big Lie, (The): Untruth on a large, shameless scale, such as a bold falsehood generated and propagated by an unscrupulous government when a less monumental lie might be less believable propaganda; deceit on a grand scale.

‘There has been going about what Editor & Publisher, the frightened handmaiden of the newspaper industry, calls a Big Lie, to the effect that retail sales held up during the blackout better that anybody could have expected; the Big Lie is a product, A&P, things, of a cabal of salesmen of television and radio time.’ A.J. Liebling, The Press“

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

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7 Supreme Works of Shakespeare

Posted on March 20, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Henry IV * Hamlet * Measure for Measure * Othello * King Lear * Macbeth * Antony and Cleopatra

‘Just as there are seven wonders of the world and seven deadly sins, so there are (in my opinion) seven supreme peaks achieved by Shakespeare,’ wrote Giuseppi de Lampedusa, author of The Leopard. He also added that, ‘If I was told all the works of Shakespeare had to perish except one that I could select, I would first try to kill the monster who made the suggestion; if I failed, I would then try and kill myself: and if I could not manage even this, well then I would choose Measure for Measure,’”

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.

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The Algonquin Wits: Beatrice Kaufman Attends a Concert at Carnegie Hall

Posted on March 20, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Beatrice Kaufman, who held little appreciation for music of any sort, once accompanied Oscar Levant to Carnegie Hall to hear Stokowski conduct Bach’s B Minor Mass. While en route to the theater Beatrice realized they were going to be late and urged her escort, ‘In heaven’s name let’s hurry or we’ll miss the intermission.’”

Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.

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Systemic Painting

Posted on March 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Systemic Painting: Described as a branch of Minimal Art and sometimes expanded to incorporate Color-Field Painting, it is a special form of abstract painting based on an organization—or system—of images, e.g., a painting which is a pure, single field of color, or a series of such paintings; or a painting based on the repetition of a single visual motif, such as a circle, chevron, etc. The term describes certain works by Kenneth Noland and Frank Stella. Closely related to, but not identical with, Serial Art.”

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

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