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.

Osiris’s Twin Symbols of Power

Posted on October 17, 2019 | Leave a comment

“Flail * Crook

The Flail and Crook of Osiris symbolize the two harvests achieved by the farmer and the shepherd and are one of the root sources for all symbols of power, notably the medieval orb and sceptre favored by European royalty. In southern Asia, this is mirrored by the ritual sceptre (the Rodge) held in the right hand and a bell (the Drilbu) in the left of Indian statues. In Buddhist depictions the left hand my hold a Buddhist jewel, whilst the right hand is open in a gesture of sending blessings to the earth.”

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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Term of Art: Orthography

Posted on October 16, 2019 | Leave a comment

“orthography: The formal name for spelling–the system for representing spoken language in written form. The spelling of English can be difficult to learn due to so many irregular spelling patterns. For example, ‘do,’ ‘due,’ and ‘dew’ are all pronounced the same way. English has 44 sounds, but it has only 26 letters.

The letter-sound correspondence is essential for reading, as is the sound-letter correspondence for correct spelling. Difficulties in these relationships can result in language disabilities.”

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

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The Trial by Franz Kafka

Posted on October 16, 2019 | Leave a comment

“The Trial (German title: Der Prozess): A posthumously published novel (1925; English translation 1937) by Franz Kafka (1883-1924). Set in a nightmarish, proto-totalitarian world, it concerns the tribulations of Josef K., who is arrested and brought before a court, but the charges against him are never stated. He is driven to find out what he is supposed to have done wrong, and to seek acquittal–which he never succeeds in doing, but is taken to the edge of the city and killed ‘like a dog.’

Orson Welles directed a haunting film version (1963). In the opera The Visitation (1966), the US composer Gunther Schuller (1925-2015) transfers Kafka’s The Trial to the Southern states of the USA and Josef K. becomes a black student called Carter Jones.”

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

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Rotten Rejections: Thomas Hardy

Posted on October 15, 2019 | Leave a comment

“…there crops up in parts a certain rawness of absurdity that’s very displeasing, and makes it read like some clever lad’s dream: the thing hangs too loosely together…half worthy of Balzac.”

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

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Altamira

Posted on October 15, 2019 | Leave a comment

“One of the finest painted caves, and also one of the first to be discovered (in 1879). The site is south of Santander, in northeast Spain, and is famous for its polychrome animals [40], which include deer, bison, and wild boar painted in red, black, and a range or earth colors. Most of the art in the caves was produced by Magdalenian peoples.”

Excerpted from: Bray, Warwick, and David Trump. The Penguin Dictionary of Archaeology. New York: Penguin, 1984.

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Aztecs

Posted on October 11, 2019 | Leave a comment

“Aztecs: A Nahuatl-speaking tribe of Indians who dominated much of Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest (1519-1521) under Hernan Cortez. In the 12th century, the Aztecs moved into the valley of Anahuac from the northwest and gradually subdued neighboring tribes, turning them into tribute-paying vassals. The “emperor” of the Aztecs was chosen by a supreme council, which represented the twenty clans that comprised the Aztec tribe.”

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

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Delmira Agustini

Posted on October 11, 2019 | Leave a comment

Delmira Agustini: (1886-1914) Uruguayan poet. Together with Gabriela Mistral, Juana de Ibarbourou, Alfonsina Storni, and Dulce Maria Loynaz, Agustini is one of the key voices in the rich tradition of Spanish American poetry by women. Influenced by Ruben Dario’s Modernismo, her poetry is marked by sensuality and eroticism. Agustini published three collections of poetry: El libro blanco (1907); Cantos de la manana (1910); and Los calices vacios (1913). At the time of her death, she was working on Los astros del abismo (1954). Agustini’s biography has drawn almost as much attention as her writing. She was raised in cultivated and conventional surroundings in Montevideo, but was murdered by her estranged husband less than a year after their marriage.

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

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Ten Days that Shook the World by John Reed

Posted on October 10, 2019 | Leave a comment

“Ten Days that Shook the World: A book (1919) by the US journalist John Reed (1887-1920), an eyewitness account of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917. Reed, who came from a wealthy background, was one of the leading radical figures in the USA, became a friend of Lenin and helped to found the US Communist Party. Accused of treason in the USA, he fled to Soviet Russia, where he died of typhus. After his death the US Communist Party established many ‘John Reed’ clubs for writers and artists in US cities. His life is the subject of the film Reds (1981), directed by and starring Warren Beatty.”

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

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Term of Art: Critical Thinking

Posted on October 10, 2019 | Leave a comment

“critical thinking: The trained ability to think clearly and dispassionately. Critical thinking is logical thinking based on sound evidence, involving the ability to gather and and analyze information and solve problems; it is the opposite of biased, sloppy thinking. A critical thinker can accurately and fairly explain a point of view that he or she does not agree with. Critical thinking requires close attention to facts, evidence, knowledge, and how knowledge is used, particularly in situations in which the facts are in conflict or the evidence permits more than one interpretation. This kind of reasoning is especially relevant for democratic life. Critics of the term think that educators have turned it into an empty cliche, since there is a tendency to refer to any sort of thinking as critical thinking.”

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

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Rotten Rejections: The Chosen

Posted on October 9, 2019 | Leave a comment

“…too long, too static, too repetitious, too ponderous and a long list of other negative ‘toos’…he has no novelistic sense whatever; he just tells you every blessed thing the characters said and did and thought in the the order in which it occurred…most of the time it is solidly, monumentally boring.”

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

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