“On two occasions I have been asked—‘Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine the wrong figures, will the right answers come out?’ In one case a member of the Upper, and in another a member of the Lower, House put this question. I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that would provoke such a question.”
Passages from the Life of a Philosopher ch. 5 (1864)
Excerpted from: Shapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
As students head off to college, teachers probably should explain to them the cognitive science research on “cramming” as a method of studying, i.e. that it is basically useless and mostly exhausting. Perhaps this Cultural Literacy worksheet on the idiom burn the midnight oil would serve as an elegant way to kill two birds with one stone: teach students a new idiomatic expression, and urge them to pace themselves when studying.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“’Saint John saw the beast ‘rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy,’ which seems to fit temptingly close to the old Phoenician-Canaanite myth of a sea monster Lord of Caos (Yam/Lotan) coming up out of the deep to do battle with a hero god like Baal/Hadad. In amongst the complex imagery of John’s Book of Revelations, some commentators have argued that the seven-headed beast also represents the seven Roman emperors who had been responsible for the degradation of the Temple, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the persecution of Judaism and its heretical offshoot—early Christianity. Counting back from John’s contemporary, Domitian, these seven emperors would be Titus, Vespasian, Nero, Claudius, Caligula, Tiberius, and Augustus.
But it is the 666 number that most resonates, the numerical value John ascribes as the mark of the beast: ‘Here is wisdom. Let him that have understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred, three-score-and-six.’ This hint at numerological coding allows (with different values given to each letter) that 666 would seem to identify ‘Nero Caesar’ when written in Hebrew (it was Nero who organized the first popular pogrom against the Christians after the great fire of Rome). 666 is also the number created when you list—or add—the first six symbols of the Roman numeral notation together, as in D (500), C (100), L (50), X (10), V (5), and I (1).
In Chinese, 666 is a tonal equivalent for ‘things go smoothly’ and a favored number. It also has an alliance with the roulette table, as the sum of all the numbers on the wheel.”
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.
OK, moving right along, here are a reading on graphic novels and its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Kids in my classrooms over the years have always asked for these documents, so I think based on my experience with them, I’ll designate this high interest material.
If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“adjective phrase Latin. Of its own kind; peculiar, unique.
1996 Spectator Major’s rhinocerine obstinacy in putting his personal political survival before any other consideration is sui generis…”
Excerpted from: Speake, Jennifer. The Oxford Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
While I understand that an essential element of adolescence is thinking one is the center of the universe, I hold that this independent practice worksheet on Copernicus possesses utility in both the middle and high school classroom–if only to remind teenagers that the sun, not they, stands at the center of our universe. Also, Copernicus is a key figure in the history of science.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
“Phonics taught as a supplemental learning aid rather than as an integral part of the program of reading instruction, often in separate workshops during special time periods.”
Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
“No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library.”
Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged humor, literary oddities
“Shallow, violent, and scurrilous.”
William Edward Hartpole Lecky, A History of England in the 18th Century 1882
Excerpted from: Bernard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged humor, literary oddities, united states history
If you’re looking for a short text on smoking that doesn’t in any way equivocate, than this short reading on that deadly habit should be more than adequate; here is the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet than accompanies it.
If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
 | A Measurement Conver… on An Elegantly Simple Cooking Co… |
| A Measurement Conver… on The Weekly Text, October 25, 2… |
 | markstextterminal on Cree |
 | panzer046a139293db on Cree |
| markstextterminal on Cree |
Mark's Text Terminal 
You must be logged in to post a comment.