Pedagogy: Secondary Sample 2
An upcoming history project on World War II requires students to write and present a speech on a topic relevant to that period of time. Which of the following activities would best prepare students for this project? A. analyzing speeches given by notable historical figures that represent multiple perspectives on an issue. B. providing students with a step-by-step process for examining the components of effective speeches. C. allowing students to work in groups to identify topics for their speeches and techniques to incorporate. D. ensuring that students have ample time in the school library and access to wide variety of resources.
A. analyzing speeches given by notable historical figures that represent multiple perspectives on an issue. Engaging students in an analysis of notable speeches helps students identify effective rhetorical techniques. This process provides students with a model of what effective speeches look like, whether the perspective is one students share or not. This process helps students understand how different techniques and strategies can be used to convey a message.
A new high school mathematics teacher who has questions about the school's mathematics curriculum should consult which of the following individuals? A. department chairperson. B. assistant principal. C. library media specialist. D. guidance counselor.
A. department chairperson. Department chairpersons in a high school have several roles, one of which is curriculum leader. As a curriculum leader, the department chairperson oversees the alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment within an academic discipline. The department chairperson has in-depth knowledge and understanding of the curriculum's alignment with relevant academic standards and benchmarks.
A high school teacher is concerned that students in the teacher's second period class are increasingly contentious with one another. The teacher also senses heightened levels of tension between particular students. The teacher's most appropriate and effective first step in improving this situation is to: A. examine the problem critically to identify possible contributing factors. B. request that parents/guardians discuss the issue with their children. C. implement stricter consequences for rude comments and interactions. D. invite colleagues to help brainstorm ideas for solving the problem.
A. examine the problem critically to identify possible contributing factors. In this scenario, the teacher has already taken the first step in the problem-solving process, which is to identify the specific problem. Next, the teacher must critically examine information and factors related to the problem situation and identify possible root causes of the problem based on the information gathered. At that point, the teacher will be ready to systematically address or eliminate each possible root cause.
A new teacher makes video recordings of particular lessons and then reviews the recordings with a mentor teacher. This approach is likely to have the greatest positive effect on the new teacher's professional growth in which of the following areas? A. facilitating the teacher's ability to identify relative strengths and weaknesses in his or her teaching practices. B. enabling the teacher to be an active participant in collaborative planning efforts. C. improving the teacher's ability to apply various forms of feedback on his or her teaching practices. D. helping the teacher meet the requirements for becoming a highly qualified teacher.
A. facilitating the teacher's ability to identify relative strengths and weaknesses in his or her teaching practices. Video recordings provide a more comprehensive picture of classroom dynamics and teaching performance than other forms of assessment such as observations and journaling. For example, in viewing a video recording, the teacher can focus on a particular aspect of the classroom environment or examine questioning strategies. In addition, patterns in teacher and student behavior are more apparent because the teacher can view the lesson as an objective third party. A mentor teacher's assistance in the review can provide the new teacher with another viewpoint, constructive feedback, and suggestions about how to improve his or her performance.
A middle school teacher who is collaborating with a local historian on an upcoming unit about the Great Depression will be meeting with the historian to discuss several presentations the historian will be making to students. The teacher can best help ensure that the presentations are beneficial to students by discussing which of the following topics during the meeting? A. information about students' current level of background knowledge. B. follow-up activities planned for students after each presentation. C. classroom rules students are expected to adhere to during a presentation. D. an explanation of the range of students' performance capabilities.
A. information about students' current level of background knowledge. Information about what students already know about a topic would be helpful to the historian because the historian would be better able to plan presentations that relate new information to what students already know about a topic. Linking new information to students' current knowledge is an effective strategy for helping students comprehend and construct meaning from the new information. This in turn would increase the benefits of the presentations for student learning.
Which of the following explanations accurately describes the principle of reliability with regard to assessment? A. the consistency with which an assessment measures the targeted content. B. the degree to which an assessment accurately predicts an individual's future academic success. C. the accuracy with which an assessment measures the targeted content. D. the relationship between an individual's scores on two different kinds of assessments.
A. the consistency with which an assessment measures the targeted content. Reliability refers to how dependably or consistently a test measures a characteristic. A test that yields similar scores for a person who repeats the test is said to measure a characteristic reliably. Reliable assessment tools produce dependable, repeatable, and consistent information.
Teachers can promote students' ability to transfer learning to new situations most effectively by incorporating which of the following elements into instruction? A. many opportunities for students to apply new knowledge in real-world contexts. B. extended periods for students to practice new skills independently. C. regular reviews of new content with students in a small-group setting. D. frequent assessment of students' understanding of new content.
A. many opportunities for students to apply new knowledge in real-world contexts. Transfer of learning is the application of skills and knowledge learned in one context to another context. Transfer is best promoted by presenting students with tasks they are likely to encounter in a wide range of nonschool settings. This approach helps students understand how skills or problem-solving strategies can be generalized.
Which of the following assessment strategies is likely to be most effective in helping a mathematics teacher plan instruction that will promote all students' learning? A. pretesting students at the beginning of each new unit to determine their current knowledge and skills in the targeted area. B. including several different question formats (e.g., essay, true/false) on each classroom assessment. C. meeting regularly with individual students to help them evaluate their performance on class activities and assessments. D. applying a weighting system in calculating final grades (e.g., homework counts 10 percent, quizzes count 30 percent)
A. pretesting students at the beginning of each new unit to determine their current knowledge and skills in the targeted area. Classrooms are always diverse with regard to how students learn and how much they know. Teachers should not spend instructional time on topics that students already know well, nor should they assume that all students should be taught all standards with equal intensity or in the same manner. Pretests are given to students before a lesson or unit to assess what they do and do not know. Teachers can use pretest results to refine and differentiate instruction to address individual and group strengths and needs.
An eighth-grade teacher has a professional goal of further developing his knowledge of strategies for promoting students' critical-thinking skills. Which of the following steps is likely to be most effective in achieving this outcome? A. searching online clearinghouses maintained by educational organizations for information about teaching critical thinking. B. asking colleagues to review lesson plans prior to implementation and provide feedback on critical-thinking activities. C. reading recent issues of journals published by professional educational organizations to locate information about critical thinking. D. seeking recommendations from colleagues for high-quality commercial materials that can be used to teach critical thinking.
A. searching online clearinghouses maintained by educational organizations for information about teaching critical thinking. The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) maintains two highly recognized clearinghouses "What Works" and the Education Resource Information Center (ERIC). These clearinghouses provide information on and reviews of programs, products, practices, and policies in education. Their goal is to provide educators with the information they need to make evidence-based decisions. These clearinghouses are also searchable, allowing a teacher to focus on a particular topic.
Which of the following teacher actions is the best example of utilizing formative assessment in instruction? A. using the results of weekly quizzes, a mathematics teacher provides additional instruction to individual or small groups of students as needed. B. a social studies teacher compares students' performance on a pretest given at the beginning of an instructional unit with their performance on the same test at the end of the unit. C. when assigning grades, a science teacher averages each student's scores on the tests provided with the textbook used for instruction. D. a language arts teacher forms long-term instructional groups according to students' scores on a standardized reading test given at the end of the previous year.
A. using the results of weekly quizzes. a mathematics teacher provides additional instruction to individual or small groups of students asterm-4 needed. Assessment that is integrated into the instructional process provides the teacher with ongoing feedback and information about student understanding. Formative assessment that occurs throughout instruction provides this information at a time when adjustments to strategies, materials, or grouping practices can be made to address specific student needs and help ensure that all students achieve targeted objectives.
An eighth-grade science class is researching real-world problems related to the environment. During a scheduled workday in the school library, the teacher observes that many students are struggling with how to begin their projects and develop a plan for their research. Which of the following steps by the teacher would best address this issue? A. working with students to design a rubric that outlines the requirements and expectations for the project. B. encouraging students to consult their peers about how best to formulate their questions and strategies for information gathering. C. providing students with several different graphic organizers to use as they gather information on their topics. D. presenting students with a few exemplary projects to use as a guide as they develop their own projects.
A. working with students to design a rubric that outlines the requirements and expectations for the project. A rubric serves as a blueprint for students in completing complex projects and research assignments. Rubrics outline the components of a project as well as the criteria for acceptable performance as it relates to each component. Students will be able to use a rubric to plan their strategies and monitor their own progress while working on the project.
Which of the following developments is most closely associated with the school accountability movement in the United States that began in the 1980s? A. an increase in recruitment efforts to diversify schools' faculty and staff. B. an emphasis on standards-based curricula and assessments to promote student achievement. C. a focus on collaborative action research to improve teaching performance. D. an effort to implement multi-tiered support systems to address student learning needs.
B. an emphasis on standards-based curricula and assessments to promote student achievement. School accountability is the process of evaluating school performance on the basis of student performance measures. Curriculum standards represent the criteria against which student performance is measured. A central component in school accountability is the assessment of students to ensure that they are meeting the expectations (i.e., standards) set for them and to identify schools that have students who are relatively successful or unsuccessful in meeting these standards.
Which of the following teacher practices is clearly a violation of the standards in the Code of Ethics for Minnesota Teachers? A, accepting donations of new books for the classroom library from students and their parents/guardians. B. delegating responsibility for instructing students with disabilities to a special education paraprofessional. C. seeking assistance from colleagues in identifying instructional interventions for a particular group of students. D. sending to students' families a request for donations of household materials for class projects.
B. delegating responsibility for instructing students with disabilities to a special education paraprofessional. The standards for professional conduct in the Code of Ethics for Minnesota Teachers state that a teacher shall provide professional education services in a nondiscriminatory manner and that a teacher shall delegate authority for teaching responsibilities only to licensed personnel. By not including students with disabilities in regular classroom instruction, the teacher is behaving in an exclusionary manner. Additionally, the appropriate role for a paraprofessional is to assist with instruction that has already been developed by licensed/certified professionals who are responsible for identifying learner needs and designing programs to meet those needs.
A fifth-grade teacher has been reassigned to teach seventh-grade science. The teacher immediately enrolls in a workshop on methods for teaching middle school science as well as a science course at a nearby college. These actions best demonstrate the teacher's understanding of how to: A. identify the important principles and concepts in a given discipline. B. expand content-area and pedagogical expertise through self-directed learning. C. locate training that is grounded in current research and best practice. D. utilize self-assessment strategies to identify professional development goals.
B. expand content-area and pedagogical expertise through self-directed learning. This teacher recognizes that a change in assignment will require different knowledge and expertise. A methods workshop will address the pedagogical knowledge needed to work effectively with middle school students while the college course will provide the required content-specific knowledge. This teacher is demonstrating self-direction by identifying professional needs and taking steps to address those needs independently.
An eighth-grade teacher plans to have students keep portfolios as one way to document their learning progress. Students will be able to select the work they want to include in their portfolios and will share them with parents/guardians during student-led conferences. The teacher can best enhance the effectiveness of the portfolios by taking which of the following actions? A. storing students' portfolios in an area where students have access to review their work at any time. B. having students reflect on and write a brief rationale for the inclusion of each piece of work they choose for their portfolios. C. allowing students to determine the format they will use when assembling their portfolios. D. encouraging students to discuss work they are considering for inclusion in their portfolios with a peer before making a final decision.
B. having students reflect on and write a brief rationale for the inclusion of each piece of work they choose for their portfolios. ortfolios are collections of work that students have done and are doing. They can be an assessment and evaluation tool, illuminating students' strengths, and can give information about students' needs, progress, and accomplishments. Reflection is a critical component of a good portfolio. Students miss significant benefits of the process if they do not reflect on the quality and growth of their work. Having students write a rationale for each piece of work they include in a portfolio is an effective method of prompting this reflection and enhancing students' involvement in the assessment process.
Which of the following pieces of information about the students in an eleventh-grade history class most clearly indicates a need for the teacher to modify his or her teaching practices? A. two of the students are taking the course as an elective credit. B. most students' independent reading levels fall between the eighth- and tenth-grade levels. C. some of the students have older siblings who have failed the course. D. a large number of the students participate in more than one extracurricular activity.
B. most students' independent reading levels fall between the eighth- and tenth-grade levels. Information about students' reading levels can indicate the potential need for extra scaffolding and support to comprehend content, particularly in a content area such as history. When students in a class read at different levels, the teacher may need to provide content in alternate formats, acquire materials written at lower reading levels, or otherwise adapt instructional approaches and activities to help ensure that students succeed as learners.
The primary goal of middle schools within the structure of U.S. public school systems is to: A. familiarize young adolescents with instructional methods used at the secondary level. B. provide learning experiences that are responsive to the unique developmental needs of young adolescents. C. help students develop positive relationships with peers and teachers by limiting class sizes. D. improve student achievement by extending basic skills instruction beyond the elementary level.
B. provide learning experiences that are responsive to the unique developmental needs of young adolescents. The middle school philosophy originated in the United States in the early 1970s and is based on the ideas that students in transition from childhood to adolescence are undergoing greater physiological, psychological, and social changes than at any other period and that they have unique developmental and learning needs. Middle schools are organized to avoid the specialization and departmentalization of the traditional junior high and high schools, using organizational structures that emphasize meaningful relationships within a student-centered program.
A sixth-grade language arts teacher wants to incorporate peer assessment activities as part of students' writing instruction. The teacher can promote the success of peer assessment activities most effectively by taking which of the following steps? A. allowing students to select their own partners for peer assessment activities. B. providing students with explicit instruction and practice in offering constructive feedback. C. assigning students permanent partners who will review their work throughout the school year. D. developing a script for students to follow during peer assessment activities
B. providing students with explicit instruction and practice in offering constructive feedback. The primary goal of peer assessment is for students to provide one another with valuable feedback, allowing them to learn from and support one another. It is easy to criticize without providing constructive suggestions and even easier to take criticism personally. Students do not automatically know how to provide constructive feedback; emotions and loyalties can intrude and teaching them how to deliver feedback in respectful language that is specific and relevant enhances the effectiveness of peer assessment activities in promoting students' growth and learning.
Several students in a seventh-grade class struggle with reading assignments. The teacher regularly pulls these students together in a small group to complete graphic organizers for their reading assignments. This practice is likely to benefit students primarily by: A. encouraging students to take risks in their learning. B. strengthening students' comprehension of the texts. C. improving students' sense of self-efficacy. D. modeling specific reading strategies for students.
B. strengthening students' comprehension of the texts. This practice enables the teacher to model and support students in using a tool to understand important concepts and relationships in the text. Working directly with students gives the teacher an opportunity to monitor their understanding and informally assess their progress.
An English teacher is reflecting on several in-class writing assignments students recently completed and thinking about whether to modify the assignments for future classes. The teacher can make this determination most effectively by placing the greatest emphasis on which of the following questions? A. do the writing assignments provide a comprehensive picture of students' writing abilities? B. to what extent did the writing assignments promote students' achievement of the desired learning outcomes? C. would the writing assignments be more appropriate for students if assigned as homework? D. are the topics of the writing assignments interesting to students with varied backgrounds and experiences?
B. to what extent did the writing assignments promote students' achievement of the desired learning outcomes? Reflection and evaluation are part of the instructional cycle that begins with defining the knowledge and skills students are expected to gain as well as specific learning goals. These areas are the criteria against which effective instruction is measured. When students achieve the desired outcomes, it can be assumed that instruction was effective and appropriate. If students do not achieve the desired outcomes, it can be assumed that one or more instructional strategies or assignments were ineffective and should be modified going forward.
One ninth-grade teacher relies primarily on report cards to communicate students' progress to parents/guardians. A second ninth-grade teacher prefers to hold regular conferences with parents/guardians. Which of the following is the most significant advantage of the second teacher's approach? A. motivating parents/guardians to become actively involved in supporting students' in-school learning at home. B. ensuring that the teacher informs parents/guardians about students' learning in a timely manner. C. allowing the teacher to provide parents/guardians with information about the relative strengths and weaknesses in students' learning. D. conveying to parents/guardians the teacher's commitment to enhancing student learning and achievement.
C. allowing the teacher to provide parents/guardians with information about the relative strengths and weaknesses in students' learning. Conferences with parents/guardians expand on the information provided in a report card. While the report card provides a summary of the student's performance in each subject area, conferences enable the teacher to discuss with parents/guardians the more detailed strengths and needs of their children and provide feedback on the student's progress and growth. Conferences may also include discussions of behavioral and/or social issues that are not covered by a report card.
A high school physics teacher wants to assess students' perceptions and attitudes about physics learning. Which of the following assessments would provide the teacher with the most useful information in this area? A. individual behavior checklist. B. academic aptitude test. C. anonymous self-report inventory. D. task-specific rubric.
C. anonymous self-report inventory. Self-report inventories are typically affective assessments, used to gather information about attitudes, interests, or values. Self-report inventories usually involve filling out a survey or questionnaire, and anonymity encourages those completing the inventory to be honest in their responses. In a classroom context, the results of a self-report inventory can help a teacher detect and positively influence a student's feelings about learning.
As part of a unit on job skills, a twelfth-grade English teacher partners with a local employment center to provide guest speakers on a variety of work-related topics. Which of the following additional uses of this community resource would likely be most effective in supporting student learning during the unit? A. creating a file of various business cards available at the employment center to provide students with contacts for job interviews. B. having staff members at the employment center proofread the final drafts of students' résumés. C. arranging for students to use the employment center's resources to practice job search strategies. D. developing a temporary program that allows students to serve as volunteers at the employment center
C. arranging for students to use the employment center's resources to practice job search strategies. Allowing students to use the resources at the employment center to practice job search strategies gives them an opportunity to apply what they are learning in a real-world setting and helps provide a foundation for making the transition from school to work when they are ready. This type of hands-on practice has been shown to be effective in helping students internalize learned content and skills.
During a goal-setting meeting, a team of fifth-grade teachers has identified content-area writing as a major focus for the upcoming school year. Incorporating which of the following student activities into instruction would best support this area of focus? A. implementing journal writing as part of daily classroom instruction in the content areas. B. interacting with peers on classroom blogs that focus on specific content topics. C. contributing articles related to content topics to the school's newspaper or website. D. completing various types of graphic organizers for assigned content-area reading.
C. contributing articles related to content topics to the school's newspaper or website. Contributing articles to the school's newspaper or website is one way for students to write for an authentic purpose. Motivation tends to increase when students have a choice in their learning and perceive their writing to serve a real purpose, whether it is informing others or providing an opinion on a specific topic related to content-area topics.
A social studies teacher wants to provide additional support to students who are having difficulty interpreting text features in the textbook. Which of the following approaches would be most effective for this purpose? A. constructing flashcards of text features that students can use for independent practice. B. presenting a weekly large-group mini-lesson for the class on text features. C. creating anchor charts related to various text features for the students to reference. D. developing a textbook scavenger hunt for students to locate specific text features.
C. creating anchor charts related to various text features for the students to reference. Anchor charts are co-created with students, handwritten in large print, and displayed in easily visible areas of the classroom. They anchor whole-group instruction and provide a scaffold during guided practice and independent work.
A fifth-grade teacher encounters a student's parent in the local grocery store. As they engage in friendly conversation, the parent raises an issue about a problem the student is having with another student in the class. In this situation, it would be most appropriate and professional for the teacher to respond by: A. avoiding a discussion of the student's situation and bringing the conversation politely and quickly to a close. B. acknowledging that the parent has a legitimate concern and describing the strategies the teacher is using to address the situation. C. explaining that they should discuss the situation in private and offering to meet at the parent's convenience. D. saying that students typically experience some interpersonal conflict and suggesting ways to help the student address the situation on his or her own.
C. explaining that they should discuss the situation in private and offering to meet at the parent's convenience. The teacher's response to the parent communicates a willingness to listen to concerns while reinforcing the need to maintain confidentiality when discussing incidents that involve other students. A later meeting at the parent's convenience achieves several goals. It acknowledges the parent's concerns, places the discussion in a setting that provides privacy, and allows the teacher to review any notes in his or her files that may be related to the students' relationship.
A high school teacher is developing professional goals for the upcoming school year. Which of the following information would be most helpful in guiding this process? A. a district catalog of professional workshops provided for teachers. B. results of the school's most recent family survey related to teacher performance. C. feedback from formal evaluations conducted by administrators. D. performance data for the teacher's students from the previous school year.
C. feedback from formal evaluations conducted by administrators. Because formal teacher evaluations are divided into distinct components (e.g., instruction, differentiation, use of resources), the information in the completed evaluations enables the teacher to identify and target specific areas of need. Administrators provide summary feedback that directs the teacher's attention to areas of accomplishment as well as needs. These areas of need form an appropriate basis for professional goals that are designed to help the teacher improve pedagogical knowledge and skills and ultimately teaching effectiveness.
A sixth-grade teacher is teaching a geometry lesson on angles. Previously, students identified and classified angles in the classroom and learned how to use a protractor. In the current lesson, students had little difficulty completing an exercise in which they measured and classified angles in letters of the alphabet. The teacher is now beginning an activity in which the students fold a piece of paper to form and then measure various angles, but many of the students are not paying attention and seem bored. Which of the following steps would be most appropriate to take in this situation? A. stopping the lesson to give students a break and explaining that they will complete the activity the next day. B. reminding students that they will receive a grade for the activity and then proceeding with the activity as planned. C. giving a brief informal assessment to verify students' understanding of key concepts and transitioning to new, more advanced concepts. D. pausing the lesson to restate the classroom rules for students and then continuing the activity at a faster pace.
C. giving a brief informal assessment to verify students' understanding of key concepts and transitioning to new, more advanced concepts. The concept of pacing applies not only to individual lessons but also to a particular curriculum or instructional program. It is important to match the pace of learning to students' abilities. Adjusting the pace of a lesson or unit in response to student performance helps prevent boredom and maximizes engagement by keeping instruction at an appropriately challenging level.
Ninth-grade students will be participating in a culture fair. The students will select a culturally related topic and create a display and presentation of their research. The ninth-grade teachers are interested in providing students with an authentic audience to provide helpful feedback on their projects. Which of the following approaches would best help the teachers achieve this outcome? A. having students present their projects to students in middle school social studies classes with a follow-up survey for feedback on their performance. B. arranging for students' projects to be displayed at cultural centers throughout the community for a few months following their presentations. C. recruiting members of cultural groups in the community to engage students in a discussion of their projects and provide evaluative feedback. D. seeking permission for the students to share their projects in an open-house format following a meeting of the school's parent organization.
C. recruiting members of cultural groups in the community to engage students in a discussion of their projects and provide evaluative feedback. Members of cultural groups in the community have personal knowledge of many of the topics students are likely to cover in their projects. Direct discussions with these individuals will enable students to gain a deeper understanding of the research they have done, and the feedback provided by these individuals is likely to be more relevant and meaningful than other options.
Which of the following activities during an introductory lesson would best support a teacher's ability to identify student misconceptions about the lesson topic? A. allowing students to review a variety of resources on the lesson topic and having them share one thing they learned from their review. B. asking students to brainstorm a list of things they want to learn about the lesson topic. C. showing students a series of statements about the lesson topic and having them rate each statement as true or false. D. preassessing students' knowledge of academic vocabulary related to the lesson topic.
C. showing students a series of statements about the lesson topic and having them rate each statement as true or false. Misconceptions are not unusual and, in fact, are a normal part of the learning process. Student knowledge can be erroneous, illogical, or misinformed. Having students rate statements about the lesson topic is known as a quick inventory. A quick inventory is easy to create, and response data is easy to analyze. While most useful for comprehension-level understanding, a quick inventory can serve as an effective method for quickly identifying misconceptions at the outset of a lesson or unit.
A high school civics teacher makes an effort to establish collaborative partnerships with representatives from local cultural organizations. Which of the following statements provides the most important rationale for this approach? A. such partnerships provide students with models of respectful interactions. B. students will understand the relationships between diverse groups in the community. C. such partnerships facilitate students' examination of diverse views and ideas. D. students will participate more frequently in enrichment opportunities in the community.
C. such partnerships facilitate students' examination of diverse views and ideas. It is important that students learn that there is more than one way to interpret an event, action, or statement. Cultural organizations within the community can provide support in building this understanding. The members of these organizations can serve as primary sources and enhance students' understanding of other perspectives by making presentations, providing field trip opportunities, relating background information on cultural artifacts, and participating in question-and-answer sessions on a range of instructional topics.
A tenth-grade history teacher is planning to assign an independent research paper on the Prohibition era. The teacher is aware that students in the class have a wide range of reading abilities. Which of the following adjustments to this planned assignment would most effectively accommodate the less proficient readers in the class? A. limiting the scope of the research assignment for less proficient readers to tasks that require primarily lower-order thinking skills, such as fact gathering. B. permitting students to choose for themselves the number of resources they wish to use for their research. C. having students complete the task in mixed-ability groups so less proficient readers can benefit from the research gathered by more proficient readers. D. allowing students to make extensive use of nonprint resources, such as videos, to conduct their research.
D. allowing students to make extensive use of nonprint resources, such as videos, to conduct their research. It can be difficult to locate information resources about desired topics that are written at lower reading levels. Broadening the scope of resources to allow nonprint information sources helps students who are less proficient readers gather high-quality information in a format that is comprehensible to them. The use of videos and other visual resources helps reduce the overall reading load, supporting students who are less proficient readers in their ability to complete the project independently.
A new teacher has a goal of engaging in ethical practice. In reflecting on progress toward achieving this goal, the teacher should give the greatest consideration to which of the following questions? A. is my personal teaching philosophy aligned with parents'/guardians' goals for their children? B. do all students view school as a welcome and encouraging place? C. have I established a classroom environment that is businesslike and rule-oriented? D. am I treating all students in a fair and nondiscriminatory manner?
D. am I treating all students in a fair and nondiscriminatory manner? Ethics for teachers can be defined as a collection of moral standards by which teachers should be guided in their professional behavior. The foundation for ethical practice with regard to students is the belief that every student has worth and dignity and is entitled to equal educational opportunity. Therefore, it is incumbent on teachers to refrain from demonstrating discrimination or favoritism because of a student's race or any other personal characteristics.
A fifth-grade teacher's class includes many types of learners, such as English language learners and students with disabilities. Which of the following teacher strategies is likely to be most effective in helping all students progress? A. relying primarily on hands-on and technology-based resources to present lesson content. B. administering frequent criterion-referenced assessments to determine the extent to which students are achieving lesson goals and objectives. C. creating long-term homogeneous student groups for lessons based on students' backgrounds and abilities. D. consulting regularly with specialist staff about strategies for differentiating lessons to meet the learning needs of individual students
D. consulting regularly with specialist staff about strategies for differentiating lessons to meet the learning needs of individual students. Specialist staff, such as special education teachers, ESL teachers, and reading specialists, have expertise in research-based strategies for supporting the learning needs of particular student populations. While the general education teacher has pedagogical and content knowledge needed to plan and implement effective instruction, planning with specialist teachers will support the teacher in adjusting instruction and materials in ways that will promote all students' success.
A seventh-grade teacher's homeroom class includes a student who has recently been placed in foster care. In addition to establishing a relationship with the student's foster parents, the teacher can serve the student most effectively by taking which of the following actions? A. asking the school counselor to evaluate the student's emotional state. B. visiting a social service agency to learn more about the foster care system. C. making several unscheduled visits to the student's foster home. D. establishing regular communication with the student's social worker.
D. establishing regular communication with the student's social worker. Social workers in the foster care system serve as liaisons between students, homes, courts, family services and other contacts for the purpose of ensuring that students in foster care achieve their full academic and personal potential. The social worker is equipped with the training and resources to address issues that can block academic progress as well as to link students, families, and teachers to needed community resources. Regular communication between teacher and social worker is a proactive approach to meeting a student's specific needs.
Screening assessments are most appropriately used for which of the following purposes? A. organizing students into groups for classroom instruction. B. developing intervention plans to address students' specific learning needs. C. determining the correct point for beginning instruction on a topic. D. identifying students who may require additional evaluation or intervention.
D. identifying students who may require additional evaluation or intervention. Screening assessments are used to determine whether students may need specialized assistance or services, or whether they are ready to begin a course, grade level, or academic program. Screening assessments may take a wide variety of forms in educational settings, and they may be developmental, physical, cognitive, or academic. A preschool screening test, for example, may be used to determine whether a young child is physically, emotionally, socially, and intellectually ready to begin preschool.
A middle school mathematics teacher's classes include a number of English language learners. When creating tests, the teacher makes a special effort to use simple, straightforward language in directions and word problems. When administering class tests, the teacher gives English language learners extra testing time and allows them to use a bilingual dictionary. These actions demonstrate the teacher's understanding of how to: A. integrate assessment with instruction to promote English language learners' access to authentic learning opportunities. B. use classroom assessment to facilitate students' development of English language proficiency. C. employ a variety of assessment methods to obtain an accurate measure of English language learners' academic progress. D. minimize the effect of students' limited English language proficiency on their assessment performance.
D. minimize the effect of students' limited English language proficiency on their assessment performance. Teacher-created tests may not measure the learning of English language learners accurately unless the test directions and questions are comprehensible. If students are not proficient in English, they may answer questions incorrectly due to misunderstanding of language used in the questions, a situation that reduces the overall accuracy and validity of the assessment. English language learners' understanding of academic subjects must be assessed in a way that allows them to demonstrate their knowledge independent of their fluency in English.
A sixth-grade class includes students who are new to the United States and who have limited English proficiency. Which of the following approaches would be most effective in helping these students acquire content knowledge? A. pairing the students with high-achieving classmates during classroom activities. B. sending classwork home ahead of time so that the students can preview materials before class. C. offering students a bilingual dictionary to use while reading and discussing lesson topics. D. providing students with a vocabulary guide that includes pictures and words related to lesson topics.
D. providing students with a vocabulary guide that includes pictures and words related to lesson topics. Visual supports are an important tool for supporting language development and content acquisition for English learners. This technique can help English learners acquire content-specific vocabulary and participate more fully in classroom activities.
In which of the following situations is using differentiated instruction likely to be the most effective method of promoting all students' learning? A. preassessment results indicate that students as a group show similar gaps in their content-area learning. B. students' active engagement in learning is most pronounced during small-group activities. C. as a group, students have limited background knowledge about the topic of an upcoming unit. D. students demonstrate a wide range of interests and abilities within a given content area.
D. students demonstrate a wide range of interests and abilities within a given content area. At its most basic level, differentiation consists of the efforts of teachers to respond to variance among learners in the classroom. In situations where students demonstrate a wide range of interests and abilities, differentiation is needed to provide meaningful learning opportunities for each student, taking into consideration factors that make the student unique. Effective differentiation requires a teacher to provide age-appropriate, culturally relevant, learning-style appropriate, cognitively challenging, and comprehensible input for each student in an environment that respects a range of physical abilities.
A team of sixth-grade teachers is planning an interdisciplinary unit that will integrate English, social studies, science, and fine arts. They are meeting with the school librarian to discuss information resources for the unit. The teachers can best promote a productive meeting by sharing which of the following information with the school librarian prior to the meeting? A. a list of the academic standards that will be addressed by the unit. B. a schedule for classes to conduct library research on unit topics. C. the instructional methods that will be used during the unit. D. the overarching theme and guiding questions for the unit.
D. the overarching theme and guiding questions for the unit. The overarching theme and guiding questions for an interdisciplinary unit provide the focus for instruction across content areas. This information will enable the librarian to gather materials from the different content areas that are likely to be most relevant and helpful to the teachers. The opportunity for the librarian to consider the overarching theme and guiding questions prior to meeting with the teachers will promote efficient use of meeting time and help facilitate discussions that lead to productive outcomes.
