Tag Archives: readings/research

Amerigo Vespucci

Posted on August 27, 2022 | Leave a comment

“Amerigo Vespucci: (1454-1512 Italian-Spanish navigator and explorer of the New World. Born in Florence, he entered the Medici family business and in 1419 was sent to Seville, where he helped outfit the ships for Christopher Columbus’s expeditions. By 1496 he was manager of the Seville agency. He took part in (or four—the number is disputed) voyages to the New World; he was navigator on a Spanish expedition (1499-1500) that probably discovered the mouth of the Amazon River, and he led a Portuguese expedition (1501-2) that discovered Guanabara Bay (Rio de Janeiro) and the Rio de la Plata. In the accounts of they voyages (published 1507), the terms America and New World were used to describe the lands visited by Amerigo Vespucci (in Latin, Americus Vespucius). As chief navigator for the Seville-based Commercial House for the West Indies (from 1508), he prepared maps of newly discovered lands from data supplied by ships’ captains.”

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

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Pamela King and John Hunt’s Virtual Tour of New York State

Posted on August 27, 2022 | Leave a comment

One of the pleasures of my return to New York after an almost three-year absence has been renewing acquaintances–and even forming new friendships–with erstwhile colleagues. One of them, Pamela King, with whom I co-taught English in 2008 and 2009, is a hardworking teacher and writer. With one of her colleagues, John Hunt, she created this Virtual Tour of New York State. This 1,500-page Google document (be patient, it takes some time to load) is the fruit of these teachers’ labor during the pandemic lockdown. I haven’t had the time, for obvious reasons, to review fully this material. Nonetheless, I can vouch for it.

Mostly, I wanted to get this posted in the event any of us need it for another lock-down go-round–and I know: perish the thought! In any event, I hope (as do Pamela and John, I am confident) that you find this useful.

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Smithsonian Institution

Posted on August 26, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a reading on the Smithsonian Institution along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I can’t think of much to say about this: it’s a reading from the Intellectual Devotional series (of which you’ll find a great many on this website) with a basic vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet (which, like the reading itself, is in Microsoft Word, so you may revise and adapt it for your particular pedagogical circumstances and priorities) I prepared to accompany it.

And that is about 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.

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24 Angulas Make a Forearm…And 24 Palms Make a Man

Posted on August 26, 2022 | Leave a comment

“24 Angulas Make a Forearm…

“Twenty-four angulas make one hasta, which is one of the universal measurement units of mankind—the length of forearm measured out to the extended middle finger. The hasta is a unit of measurement devised by the Harappan (the most ancient of India’s urban civilizations along the Indus) and akin to the cubit used in Sumeria (the most ancient urban culture of Iraq) and ancient Egypt.

It seems that the basic Harappan unit was formed from the width of eight barley grains placed side by side, which was found to be equal to a finger’s width (roughly 1.76cm). Twelve of these finger-widths/barley rows made an angula, while a dhanus (the length of a bow) was assessed as 108 of these finger-width/barley rows. Anything with ‘108’ in it was deemed to be very propitious in India and the East and so it was a favorite unit in which to design a citadel or a wall.

The use of barley as the ultimate foundation stone of measurement appears to be another universal element (alongside the forearm, the foot, and the breadth of a finger), so that, for instance, you will find it underwriting the system of measurements used by the Vikings. But there has always been room for financial manipulation and speculation, especially from the great rival of barley, the slightly lighter wheat seed. Four wheat seeds equal three of barley, which are themselves considered to be on par with the seed from a carob tree.”

…And 24 Palms Make a Man

Four fingers make a palm, and six palms make a cubit, and four cubits make a man who should therefore be twenty-four palms in height. The other rule of male proportion is that, like the Emperor Charlemagne and King Edward I of England, we should stand six times the length of our foot. Half the length of the foot is also the extent of the average erect penis—which comes in at an average of just under six inches. A much greater mystery is whether the navel or the base of the penis is the center of a man.”

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: Teacher-Centered Instruction

Posted on August 19, 2022 | Leave a comment

“teacher-centered instruction: A pedagogical approach in which the teacher decides what and how to teach. See also teacher-directed classroom. Contrast child-centered education; learner-centered classroom.”

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

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Static Electricity

Posted on August 19, 2022 | Leave a comment

Some years ago, I worked with a student who lived on one of those apartments where every time he touched something or someone, he received a mild electric shock. He didn’t much like this, and wanted to find a way to stop it. I don’t know if this reading on static electricity and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet, which I prepared for him, helped with reducing shocks, but he was quite interested in the subject.

Otherwise, I am not sure why this document exists or what possible utility it might have. If you use it, I sure would appreciated hearing how and why.

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.

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Cultural Literacy: Battle of Hastings

Posted on August 19, 2022 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Battle of Hastings in 1066. This is a half-page worksheet with a three-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. In other words, a concise introduction to what is a seminal event in the history of Western Europe (and the basis for the hilarious 1066 and All That by W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman).

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.

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The Weekly Text, 19 August 2022: A Lesson Plan on the Crime and Puzzlement Case “Idora Park”

Posted on August 19, 2022 | Leave a comment

It’s Friday again, so that means it’s time for the Weekly Text: here is a lesson plan on the Crime and Puzzlement case “Idora Park.” This lesson opens with this Cultural Literacy worksheet on nuance: it’s half-page document with a single-sentence reading and three comprehension questions, one of which calls upon students to think of some nuances.

To investigate whatever unlawful act occurred at Idora Park, you’ll need this PDF of the illustration and questions that serve as evidence against the alleged perpetrator. To bring charges and secure a conviction, you’ll need this typescript of the answer key.

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.

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Wade Hampton

Posted on August 15, 2022 | Leave a comment

[In general, I eschew the inclusion of biographies like the one below for a variety of reasons, but primarily because of Mark’s Text Terminal’s commitment to raising underrepresented and unheard voices–and white supremacists, especially as of this writing, are neither underrepresented or unheard in American society. I post this because I lived for nine years in a coop apartment building in the North Bronx named for Wade Hampton–i.e. the Wade Hampton Apartments. The building went up in 1930, and I think its safe to assume that the choice of place name for this apartment house stemmed from its owners’ desire to signal unequivocally to American citizens of African descent that they were unwelcome there. At the time the building opened for tenancy, the Great Migration from the South (and for more on that, I cannot extol highly enough Isabel Wilkerson’s magisterial history of the period The Warmth of Other Suns) was gathering steam, provoking a housing crisis in the cities, including New York, to which Black people migrated to escape the racist exploitation and brutality of the Jim Crow South–something Wade Hampton himself (and the developers of Wade Hampton apartments, arguably) undeniably worked to perpetuate. My one regret about all of this is that I didn’t insist, while serving on the coop board, that the name of the corporation and the real property it fronted change to something less odious. If anyone from Wade Hampton happens to see this post, consider a change, won’t you please?]

“Wade Hampton: (1818-1902) U.S. military leader. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, he managed his family’s plantations and served in the state legislature (1852-61). In the Civil War he organized and led ‘Hampton’s Legion‘ of South Carolina troops, fighting at Bull Run and Gettysburg and serving as second in command under J.E.B. Stuart. After Stuart died, he was promoted to major general and led the cavalry (1864). After the war he sought reconciliation but opposed the policies of Reconstruction, and as governor of South Carolina (1876-79) he led the fight to restore white supremacy. He served in the U.S. Senate 1879-91.”

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

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Posted in English Language Arts, Essays/Readings, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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Archie Bunker

Posted on August 15, 2022 | Leave a comment

He came up in conversation with a couple of friends after an evening at Jazzmobile in Harlem the other night, so here is a reading on Archie Bunker along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I remember All in the Family when it was in broadcast–I was 11 when it started its run; I was not, alas, old enough to understand, let alone appreciate, the bitter irony of the superb writing and acting. I hadn’t realized the show ran until 1979. I stopped watching television in 1975. preferring to run the streets of Madison, Wisconsin with my friends in search of the sort of kicks that Archie Bunker would have frowned upon.

Now is a good time to congratulate All in the Family’s legendary producer, Norman Lear, on his centenary birthday. He turned 100 on July 27 of this year.

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.

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