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.

Albion

“Albion: An ancient and poetical name for Great Britain. It is thought to have been so called from the white (Lat, albus) cliffs that face Gaul, but possibly from the Celtic ailp, “rock; cliff; mountain.” It was Napoleon who called England Albion Perfide (Perfidious Albion).”

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

Disinformation

 “Disinformation (noun): False or misleading information or documentation contrived to deceive or subvert, especially deliberate fabrication by an intelligence agency. Verb: disinform.

‘If I say the US is intervening in El Salvador to help a gang of nun-raping cutthroats with no popular support, I may be misinformed, or I may be disinformed.’ Alexander Cockburn, Village Voice

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

Heptameter

“Heptameter: In prosody, a line of verse containing seven metrical feet in any meter. It is usually identified together with the name of the meter: for example, iambic heptameter.

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

Term of Art: Reliability

“reliability: A statistical term that refers to the consistency of test scores in different contexts or with different populations. A judgment of a high degree of reliability indicates that a test is dependable and relatively free from random errors of measurement.”

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

Word Origins: Barbecue

“barbecue: [M17th] This word comes from Spanish barbacoa, perhaps from Arawak (West Indies) barbacoa which was a ‘wooden frame on posts.’ Barbecue is used in space in the phrases barbecue mode and barbecue maneuver describing the rotation of a spacecraft to allow the heat of the sun to fall on all sides.”

Excerpted from: Creswell, Julia. Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Academic Art

“Academic Art: Art created in the prevailing styles of the European and American art academies. By the late 19th century the avant-garde looked on academic art as a moribund style being practiced in isolation from current styles—a view now under reconsideration.”

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

Discourse

“Discourse (noun): Verbal expression or interchange of ideas; discussion or conversation; a formal address or paper on a subject. Adjective: discoursive; adverb: discoursively; noun: discoursiveness; verb: discourse.

‘He is not so amused, however, at the disclosure of my having temporarily “lost” my papers in the forest. He gives me a discourse on carelessness. It is a short discourse, but it weighs about four tons.’ Tom Robbins, Another Roadside Attraction”

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

Term of Art: Socratic Seminar

“Socratic seminar: A class discussion in which the teacher advances a lesson on a specific topic or text by interacting with students, continually asking challenging questions about an assigned reading and responding to the students’ answers by posing more questions. This method, proposed by Mortimer Adler in the Paideia, is intended to encourage students to think rather than just look for the ‘right’ answer. Socratic seminars are based on primary-source works of literature, philosophy, and history instead of textbooks. See also developmental lesson; Paideia Program.”

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

Concepts in Economics: Command Economy

“Command economy: An economy operated by central planning.”

Excerpted from: Black, John, Nigar Hashimzade, and Gareth Miles. Oxford Dictionary of Economics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Annotation

“annotation: Textual comment in a book. It may consist of a reader’s comment in the margin, hence the term marginalia (q.v.), or printed explanatory notes provided by an editor. See also ADVERSARIA.”

Excerpted from: Cuddon, J.A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. New York: Penguin, 1992.