“The eye of the trilobite tells us that the sun shone on the beach where he lived; for there is nothing in nature without a purpose, and when so complicated an organ was made to receive the light, there must have been light to enter it.”
Geological Sketches (1866)
Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
“Who is known as the “poet of the American Revolution”? Philip Freneau (1752-1832), whose poems include “American Liberty” (1775) and “The Indian Burying Ground” (1788). He was a favorite of Thomas Jefferson’s.”
Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged poetry, readings/research, united states history
Over the time I’ve offered them, I’ve found this reading on John Gotti and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet to be relatively high-interest material among the students I serve.
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.
“Addams, Jane: (1860-1935) Addams was an American sociologist of central importance to the work of the Chicago School in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A powerful influence on many other women in sociology, such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Emily Greene Balch, in 1889 she set up a social settlement in Chicago, Hull House, which was partly inspired by London’s Toynbee Hall, but more woman-influenced, more egalitarian, and less religious. She argued that one of the main problems for women was trying to manage the conflicting demands of family and society, and believed social settlements were one way to resolve the problem. Hull House was an important sociological center for the University of Chicago, and also attracted other leading social theorists, Marxists, anarchists, and socialists of the time. A spokeswoman for women and working-class immigrants in particular, Addams was a cultural feminist who believed female values were inherently superior to those of men, and argued that a more productive and more peaceful society could be built by drawing on, and integrating, such values. Her commitment to pacifism made her a social pariah during the First World War, although in 1931 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Excerpted from: Marshall, Gordon, ed. Oxford Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Before I walk out the door on this gray Monday afternoon, here is a reading on Mark Spitz and its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Only one student–for whom I produced it–asked for it in 18 years of teaching. Still, Mr. Spitz remains a swimming and Olympic legend, and I suspect somewhere there is still demand for these materials. For my needs, at the moment, supply exceeds demand.
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.
“Bierce, Ambrose [Gwinett] (1843-1914?) American journalist, short-story writer, and poet. Emerging from a sternly religious Ohio family, Bierce fought with distinction in the Civil War, then settled in San Francisco, where he became writer-editor of the San Francisco News-Letter and made his reputation as a scathing satirist who could make or break a writer with his acid comments. He began publishing stories of his own and, with his friends Joaquin Miller, Bret Harte, and Mark Twain, formed an important literary circle. Following marriage to a wealthy miner’s daughter, Bierce took his bride to England, where they stayed for four years. There Bierce published Cobwebs from an Empty Skull (1874), Back in San Francisco with a freshly polished wit, he began to write his famous column “The Prattler” (1887-1906). a mixture of literary gossip, epigrams, and stories. Later, as Washington correspondent for the Hearst newspapers, he also wrote for Cosmopolitan and prepared his collected works (12 vols, 1909-12). Divorced in 1904, he broke completely with his family and gradually lost touch with his friends. In 1913, he disappeared into Mexico. His fate remains unknown.
Bierce’s fame rests on three volumes: In the Midst of Life, Can Such Things Be (1893), and The Devil’s Dictionary (1911; first published as The Cynic’s Word Book, 1906). He had a peculiar knack for establishing an atmosphere of horror. His wit was sardonic, cruel, and brilliant; his style crisp and incisive. He was a clever epigrammist and a forerunner of such American realists as Stephen Crane. His contemporaries felt in him a force of genius that was never fully realized.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
“Impeachment: (ME, deriv. Lat., to catch) In England, special arraignment, usually before parliament or some other high tribunal, of a person charged with offenses against the state. Customarily, impeachment was made in the Commons and the trial occurred in the Lords. The first impeachment was that of Lord Latimer in 1376; others were those of Francis Bacon, the Lord High Chancellor in 1621, the Earl of Stafford in 1641, Archbishop Laud in 1645 and Warren Hastings in 1788. Lord Melville was the last person to be impeached in 1805. In the USA, impeachment is initiated by the House of Representatives and tried by the Senate. The most famous impeachment was that of President Andrew Johnson for dismissing his Secretary of War in May 1868.
Excerpted from: Cook, Chris. Dictionary of Historical Terms. New York: Gramercy, 1998.
Here is a reading on “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” which, in the opinion of many, apparently, was the December 1958 contest in Yankee Stadium between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants. This vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet accompanies the reading. This short reading characterizes this football game as the birth of the modern NFL.
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.
“Yippie: Close contemporary of the hippy, but more actively involved in political action, particularly in protests against American involvement in Vietnam and the methods of US police. The term was coined by one of the movement’s leaders, Jerry Reuben [sic], and is derived from the initials of the Youth International Party and hippy. The Yippie movement faded in the early 1970s, possible because of the cessation of US involvement in Vietnam. ”
Excerpted from: Cook, Chris. Dictionary of Historical Terms. New York: Gramercy, 1998.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences
Tagged readings/research, term of art, united states history
Monday morning again, and here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Rip Van Winkle. This character, from the pen of Washington Irving, is an essential piece of American mythology.
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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