NES Elementary Professional Knowledge

What are some benefits of self-reflection regarding personal biases?

Beliefs and biases influence how we think and act in all situations. Awareness of personal biases can help prevent insensitive actions and help teachers readjust their expectations. It is imperative for teachers to engage in rigorous self-reflection regarding their own beliefs and biases in order to avoid misunderstandings, inappropriate expectations or responses, and avoidable problems in the classroom. Biases about race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, religion, disability, and ability to learn are just a few of the biases that merit self-reflection in order to minimize their potential impact on teachers, families, and students within a school environment.

Students in a fourth-grade class are studying different denominations of money and have learned what pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters are worth. As the students watch, the teacher places ten nickels in a stack and spreads another ten nickels all around on the floor. "Which set of nickels would you rather have—the ten nickels stacked up or the ten nickels spread apart?" Louise says she would rather have the ten nickels stacked up because there are more of them.

Not typical. Conservation of number — the ability to recognize that the lines have the same number of coins regardless of how they are stacked or spread — appears sometime around age 6 or 7, during what Piaget would call the early part of the concrete operations stage.

Roger, a fourth grader, gets visibly angry when he sees several "skinheads" taunt an African American classmate. "Racism is wrong," he says. "Everyone on this planet is equal. We are all entitled to human dignity and the respect of our fellow human beings."

Not typical. From the perspective of Kohlberg's theory, Roger shows postconventional moral reasoning, which is rare before college.

In a discussion of dinosaurs, a fifth-grade teacher shows his class a picture that illustrates what some paleontologists think a newly discovered dinosaur species probably looked like. Ten-year-old Kareem raises his hand and says, "That's only what some scientists think. I read in my dinosaur book at home that other scientists think it looked a lot different than that. I guess scientists will have to look harder and find more bones. Maybe they'll figure out how it really looked, and maybe they won't."

Not typical. Kareem's views of the nature of knowledge (i.e., his epistemological beliefs) are quite advanced for a 10-year-old. He acknowledges that differing viewpoints may have equal validity and that knowledge about a topic continues to evolve over time; such understandings are rare in elementary age students.

Marcus, a kindergartner, seems to have no trouble understanding what others say to him. He follows instructions well and seems attentive in class. His speech is comprehensible about 70% of the time, and he has particular difficulty producing certain consonant sounds, such as /r/ and /z/. He is reluctant to speak in class as a result.

Not typical. Marcus shows signs of an expressive speech delay. By age 4, most children have fully comprehensible speech and can easily retell stories or recount events and memories. However, note that difficulty producing a few consonants is not uncommon for children at this age, and these two sounds are typically late developing.

Marianthe is beginning third grade in the fall and shows a particular interest in problems and games involving numbers, but she hated math class in second grade. She rarely finished worksheets and earned only mediocre grades. Her teacher noted that Marianthe always wanted to know why her answers were correct or incorrect and sometimes stubbornly insisted that math class is boring.

Not typical. Marianthe's behavior suggests she's gifted in math and is not being challenged by the traditional curriculum.

When 12-year-old Rita reads a novel, she reads it very slowly, pointing at each word and stopping to sound out such words as enough, together, and potato.

Not typical. Most 12-year-olds have been reading for a few years and have automatized identification of most common words, and so they should be able to read such words quickly and effortlessly.

Six-year-old Marianne sees a mother rabbit run into its hole and thinks that because the mother no longer exists, her babies must now be orphans with no one to take care of them.

Not typical. Object permanence—recognizing that things continue to exist even when they disappear from sight—is acquired in infancy, during what Piaget identified as the sensorimotor stage.

Students in a second-grade class in Colorado take a field trip to the Denver Museum of Natural History, where the students see a large skeleton of a brontosaurus. Ophelia says to her teacher, "I know how we can remember that word. Brontosaurus sounds like the Denver Broncos [the local football team], and the Broncos are really big just like this dinosaur is!"

Not typical. Ophelia is demonstrating considerable elaboration: she is intentionally trying to embellish on information as a way of helping her learn it. Elaboration, when used intentionally as a learning strategy, rarely occurs before early adolescence.

A first-grade teacher creates weekly spelling lists for her students by choosing spelling words from narrative or expository books she reads students during the week. She believes that this will help build her students' vocabulary as well as expose them to meaningful spelling words. However, many students fail their Friday test even as she has students practice memorizing the spelling of each word during the week.

Not typical. While revisiting words from their listening experiences with narratives and expository text raises students' word consciousness, most beginning readers use their knowledge of the names of letters of the alphabet to spell phonetically or alphabetically. Spelling lessons are best based on developmental word patterns. Typically, many first graders are letter name-alphabetic spellers, i.e., use word patterns that are made up of initial consonants, digraphs, blends and short vowels in same-vowel word families. Spelling words with CVC patterns is appropriate as well as basic sight words from students' leveled readers.

Three of the following describe environmental factors that contribute to gender differences we see in school-age children. Which statement is not an accurate description of how the environment contributes to gender differences?

Parents have higher expectations for their daughters regarding acceptable levels of educational achievement.

What can teachers do to help students overcome culture shock?

Students who enroll in a school where the culture differs from their personal experience need to feel understood and accepted. It is important to create situations where they can learn new norms of interaction without pressure or embarrassment. Teachers can help by learning about the diverse cultures and languages of the students in their class and using that knowledge to create understanding among all class members. They can also share their own stories, as appropriate, and help the students believe that they will eventually be more comfortable and at ease in their new environment.

Explain each of the following situations in terms of attribution theory. After a history of school failures, Marcus eventually stops trying to do well. A fifth-grade teacher gives her class a difficult mathematics test, and many of her students fail it. She tells her class that she will give them a different test over the same material tomorrow. Many of the boys in the class say they will go home and study again. Some of the girls say that they already studied once, but it didn't do much good, so why bother? Samantha's mother helps her study for a spelling test on Tuesday and a vocabulary test on Thursday. Samantha passes the spelling test and is quite proud of herself. She fails the vocabulary test and blames her mother for not helping her enough.

Students with a history of failure are likely to develop the belief that success is beyond their control—for instance, that they lack the necessary innate ability. Marcus is beginning to show signs of learned helplessness. Males tend to attribute their failures to a lack of effort; therefore, they will be relatively optimistic about their chances for future success. In contrast, females tend to attribute their failures to a lack of ability; therefore, they will be relatively pessimistic about their chances for future success. This gender difference is most often observed for traditionally "male" subject areas such as mathematics. Students have a tendency to attribute their successes to internal causes and their failures to external causes. Samantha's reactions (pride and blame) are consistent with how people tend to react when they attribute their successes to their own efforts and believe that their failures are due to outside factors.

Which one of the following examples best describes differences between students with a mastery orientation and students with learned helplessness?

Students with a mastery orientation set high goals and seek challenges. Students with learned helplessness underestimate their ability and set low goals.

"To understand learning, we must consider not only the learner but also the social, cultural, and historical contexts in which that learner lives."

This statement would likely be made by a theorist from the sociocultural perspective on learning. According to this theory, learners encounter culturally appropriate ways of thinking in social interactions within their communities.

"Students won't learn to follow rules unless they are punished for misbehavior."

This statement would most likely be made by a strict behaviorist who focuses on operant conditioning. Operant conditioning suggests that behaviors that are punished will decline or disappear.

Students in an early elementary class are completing a unit about their community. Which of the following teacher questions related to the unit would best promote the students' use of divergent thinking?

What are some things you can do on your own to keep your community clean and attractive?

A teacher is planning lessons for a new instructional unit. The teacher can best ensure the effectiveness of these lessons by considering which of the following questions first?

What background knowledge and experience do students already have with regard to the unit topic?

How did the teacher in the video describe her use of differentiation of instruction to support successful learning of the context clues strategy by all learners?

When engaging in direct instruction of reading strategies, differentiation of instruction can be achieved using small-group exploration and practice.Groupings can be structured to support students who struggle with the prerequisite skills needed to support the new concept and acquire the new skill being taught. For example, students who are challenged by decoding, who might otherwise struggle to access the vocabulary necessary to use context clues for meaning, can be grouped with students who decode easily, thereby providing the struggling students with the basic support needed to practice using context for meaning.

In what ways might cultural differences affect behavior in the classroom?

When students have difficulty understanding what is going on and are frustrated by their inability to communicate, their ability to interact with teachers and other children is affected. Nonverbal behaviors may increase, including pushing or hitting. Students may also withdraw from academic or social situations and not interact fully with their environment as a result of culture shock.

A significant challenge for teachers in using essay tests to assess student learning is that such tests:

are difficult to score fairly and objectively.

An upper elementary teacher holds regular class meetings with students. The teacher always begins these meetings by giving individual students an opportunity to recognize the efforts or achievement of a classmate or to thank a classmate for assistance with a difficult or challenging task. Beginning class meetings in this way is most likely to have which of the following outcomes?

building a supportive and caring classroom community

withitness

communicating general awareness of the classroom to students; identifying and correcting misbehavior promptly and correctly

encouraging accountability

communicating to students that their participation will be observed and evaluated

Morris is trying to remember how to spell the word broccoli. He retrieves the first three letters (B R O) and the last three (O L I), then assumes that the "kuh" sound in the middle of the word must be a K. He writes "brokoli" on his paper. Morris' process of remembering how to spell the word (in this case, incorrectly) illustrates the use of: a. a retrieval cue b. construction in retrieval c. verbal mediation d.a script

construction in retrieval

According to the theoretical framework developed by Lev Vygotsky, a young child's cognitive development is most strongly influenced by which of the following factors?

conversations and other interactions with adults or more able peers

Momentum

keeping lessons moving briskly; planning carefully to avoid slowdowns

Which of the following strategies by a fifth-grade teacher is most likely to promote students' intrinsic motivation to learn?

meeting regularly with individual students to set short-term goals and helping them track their own progress in achieving these goals

Which of the following is an important implication for teaching and learning of Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences?

prompting schools and teachers to recognize the benefits of broadening the types of learning experiences offered to students

A third-grade teacher wants students to be able to identify the main idea and supporting details in informative texts. Which of the following methods of organizing instruction would be the best first step in helping students develop this skill?

providing ample opportunities for students to practice the targeted skill with teacher feedback

Which of the following strategies would likely be most effective in improving the quality and effectiveness of cooperative learning experiences for elementary students?

providing students with direct instruction and guided practice in group-process skills

Under what circumstances should teachers confer with parents about a student's misbehavior?

when a chronic problem has implications for a student's success over the long run

In this lesson, a first-grade teacher helps her students make better sense of a children's storybook, The Bear's Toothache, by reviewing some of the vocabulary words it introduces, asking children to identify key characters, and having three children role-play the story. Watch the video clip and then answer the questions that follow. Does the lesson focus more heavily on concrete objects and events or abstract ideas?

Early in the lesson, the teacher brings in some relatively abstract concepts, such as root word and main character, which she asks the students to relate to specific, concrete examples (e.g., examine is the root word of examined, and the bear is the main character in the story). Once the three children begin to act out the story, the lesson becomes very concrete because the children can directly participate in events in the story.

What is low-profile classroom management?

Low-profile classroom management is the use of strategies and systems that extinguish or diminish misbehavior without disrupting the flow of the class.

How do accommodations and adaptations for students with disabilities fit into the concept of differentiated instruction?

Modifications usually involve changes in process and products, and adaptations usually involve changes in content. According to Professor Smith in the video, accommodations and adaptations are a part of differentiating instruction; they provide opportunities for learning to students with varied learning styles and needs. He believes that accommodations and adaptations are just a part of good teaching.

Many of the second-grade boys at Sunrise Elementary School have begun to wear the same style of clothing (white T-shirts, tight-fitting black jeans, and hooded sweatshirts) and to use distinctive words (e.g., dude, bodacious, bogus) frequently in their speech.

Not typical. Affiliation with a particular subculture is most common in adolescence.

When Mr. Mellon tells 8-year-old Jessica that he feels "sad" today, she has no idea why he should feel sad when she herself feels happy.

Not typical. By age 4 or 5, children have some understanding that other people are apt to have thoughts and feelings different from their own.

Some motivation theorists believe that in order to be intrinsically motivated, students must have both a sense of competence and a sense of self-determination. Briefly describe these two concepts, illustrating each with a concrete example. With the two concepts in mind, describe four strategies for promoting intrinsic motivation in a classroom setting.

A sense of competence is a belief that one can deal effectively with the environment. A sense of self-determination is a belief that one is in control of one's destiny and can make choices regarding the direction that one's life will take. (The response should include a concrete example of each of these concepts.) A number of possible strategies should foster either a sense of competence or a sense of self-determination. The response should include at least four of these or reasonable facsimiles: Help students achieve success, especially on challenging tasks. Provide mechanisms that enable students to track their progress. Minimize competition and other situations in which students might judge themselves unfavorably in comparison with peers. Create an environment in which students feel comfortable taking risks and making mistakes. Give larger rewards for accomplishing challenging tasks than for accomplishing easy ones. Provide opportunities for independent work and decision making. Present rules and instructions in an informational rather than controlling manner. Provide opportunities for students to make choices. Evaluate students' performance in a noncontrolling fashion. Be selective about when and how to use extrinsic reinforcers. Help students keep externally imposed constraints in proper perspective. Give credit for other strategies that are equally plausible as means of enhancing self-efficacy.

What are some of the techniques teachers use in low-profile classroom management?

Address inattentive behavior quietly without drawing attention to the misbehaving student. Bring disruptive students into the activity as subtly as possible, by focusing on the task or activity, rather than the distraction. Demonstrate that you enforce rules by asking the offending child to repeat the rule, and then return to instruction as soon as possible. Make eye contact with the misbehaving student. Gently touching an off-task student can refocus their attention. Use traditional behavior modification techniques that focus on appropriate behavior rather than on the misbehaving student. Physically manipulate (remove or add) materials that are distracting an individual either without comment or with a quiet comment under your breath.

What ideas from Vygotsky's theory are evident in this activity?

Amaryth uses strategies and concepts that her teacher has taught her—for instance, systematically recording observations, identifying patterns in data using a stem-and-leaf plot, and thinking about the reliability of the methodology—reflecting Vygotsky's idea that teachers pass along cognitive tools that enhance children's thinking and reasoning.

overlapping

Attending to and supervising more than one thing at a time

As a teacher, you may find that some of your students have exceptional gifts or talents in the subject matter you are teaching. Describe three behaviors that may lead you to believe that one or more of your students is potentially eligible for special services for the gifted. Identify three different strategies you might use to provide educational experiences suitable for students who are gifted. For each strategy, describe what you might do in specific, concrete terms.

Exceptionally high achievement in one or more domains (as reflected in test scores, classroom assignments, outside accomplishments, etc.) Creativity, originality, resourcefulness Large vocabulary Exceptional communication skills Extensive knowledge about the world in general Ability to learn things quickly and independently More advanced cognitive and/or metacognitive skills Greater flexibility in thinking and behavior Unusually high standards for performance (possibly to the point of unhealthy perfectionism) High motivation to achieve on challenging tasks Boredom for easy tasks Positive self-concept related to academic tasks Above-average social development and emotional adjustment

Ginger Kelly's second graders have finished subtraction of one-digit from two-digit numbers without regrouping and are now working on subtraction of one-digit from two-digit numbers with regrouping. Her goal is for them to be skilled at identifying and solving problems that do and do not require regrouping. She has four students working problems at the board while the others do the same problems at their seats. "Now let's try one more," she directs, seeing that the four students have gotten the problem right. She then gives the class another problem. As they work, she notices Erin gazing out the window instead of working. She goes to Erin's desk and, to her delight, finds that Erin has already correctly finished the problem. "Good work, Erin!" she exclaims after seeing Erin's paper. "They've got it," she says to herself, seeing that the students at the board have again done the problem correctly. Ginger then tells her students they will have a quiz the next day on problems similar to these. The next day, Ginger gives her students a 10-problem quiz involving subtraction of one-digit from two-digit numbers, 7 of which require regrouping. The students are told to show all their work on the worksheet. Identify at least two examples of informal assessment in the case study.

Ginger was using informal assessment when she watched the students doing the practice problems at the board. She was not getting the same information from all the students under the same conditions, so they were informal. She was also making an informal assessment when she noticed that Erin was gazing out the window rather than working. The quiz was an example of a formal assessment.

In the United States today, a growing number of elementary-aged girls are entering puberty, showing physical changes that are more typically associated with teen girls (e.g., breast development). First, explain how these physical changes may affect social, emotional, and cognitive skills for these girls. Then, describe at least one way that a fourth-grade teacher might support an early-developing girl.

Girls who mature early may be embarrassed or in some cases confused about the changes in their bodies. Early-maturing girls often experience teasing by peers, and research suggests they are at greater risk of depression and social withdrawal as they enter their teens. In the classroom, early-maturing girls may seem to lose interest in class work and their grades may fall. Teachers can support early-developing girls by creating a supportive classroom environment that accepts diversity and does not tolerate teasing, by offering feedback for accomplishments rather than physical appearance, by being open to talk with students about their concerns or fears, and by communicating with parents/guardians or other specialists as needed.

b. Strategies for addressing the needs of gifted students include these (the response should identify at least three strategies and explain each one in concrete terms):

Individualize instruction. Form study groups (these might study topics more quickly or in greater depth). Teach complex cognitive skills within the context of specific topics. Provide opportunities for independent study. Encourage students to set high goals. Seek outside resources (e.g., mentors) through which students can develop special talents.

Three of the following are true statements about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Which one is false?

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are mutually exclusive: Students who have one are highly unlikely to have the other.

Awareness is the key to eliminating discriminatory practices. What are some types of biases students, families, and teachers might bring with them into the school environment?

People have many levels and types of bias. It is inevitable that biases from outside the classroom will come into the classroom. When these biases are consciously or unconsciously brought into the school environment, unpleasant incidences that disrupt learning can occur. Racism, stereotyping, and discrimination are mentioned in the video.

Practicality

Practicality refers, broadly, to ease of use. For example, when evaluating practicality, teachers may ask, "Is the measure affordable given the budget?" "Can it be administered by current staff, or with little training?" "Is special equipment needed?" "Can it be completed in the time allotted?" Sometimes, measures that are standardized, reliable, and valid are simply impractical in given circumstances (e.g., a 2-day achievement test that must be sent to the test creator for scoring).

Do most students appear to be working within their zones of proximal development? Defend your answer.

Probably yes. The students are able to respond to questions with some prompting. The three actors successfully enact the play, presumably with some prior teacher guidance during one or more rehearsals.

Characteristics of High Quality Assessments

RSVP is used to help recall these characteristics: Reliability, Standardization, Validity, and Practicality

"Students who believe they can successfully accomplish a particular task or activity are more likely to be motivated and to achieve their goals."

Self-efficacy is an important part of social learning theory.

What specific strategies does the teacher use to scaffold students' thinking and understanding? Consider the suggestions she makes, the questions she asks, the ways in which she responds to students' responses, and the activities she has students engage in.

She reminds students of the meanings of new words in the book (e.g., toothache, budge, examine). She has three students role-play the story, which should help all of the students understand it better. The three actors know their parts well; we can reasonably guess that the teacher has previously worked with them in one or more rehearsals to polish their performance. She helps the actors set up their props. On two occasions, she whispers directions to one of the actors.

"Learning involves the development of integrated bodies of knowledge and beliefs that may or may not be accurate and useful understandings of the world."

This statement reflects a constructivist approach to learning. According to this theory, the individual learner takes an active role in creating, or constructing, a framework for information presented to the senses.

Standardization

Standardization refers to uniformity in the content and administration of an assessment measure.

smoothness

Staying on track with the lesson; avoiding digressions and divergences that can lead to confusion

Even if you are a regular classroom teacher, you will probably find one or more students with physical and sensory challenges (physical and health impairments, visual impairments, hearing loss) in your classroom. List three strategies that may be useful as you work with such students. For each one, (a) describe in specific and concrete terms what you might do, and (b) identify the kinds of special needs your strategy will address.

Strategies for students with physical and health impairments Accommodate specific physical needs (e.g., giving an oral test rather than a written one). Know what to do in emergencies. Educate classmates about the nature of the disability (if parents give permission). Strategies for students with visual impairments Orient students to the physical layout of the classroom. For partially sighted students, use visual materials with sharp contrast, and give frequent breaks when using them. Transmit information through nonvisual modalities. Allow extra learning time. Strategies for students with hearing loss Minimize irrelevant noise. Supplement auditory presentations with visual information and hands-on activities. Maximize students' ability to use whatever hearing ability they have (e.g., use a natural speaking voice). Make sure students can see you clearly. Occasionally check for understanding when presenting information auditorially. Address any deficiencies in reading and language. Teach signing to other class members. General strategies for students with physical and sensory challenges Provide access to the same educational opportunities that other students have. Provide assistance only when students really need it. Use technological innovations.

Students at which Piagetian stage might benefit the most by illustrating the link between the visual blocks and the abstract numeral?

Students at the concrete operational stage would benefit by conceptualizing the numeral with a picture. By encouraging students to connect their prior knowledge of concrete visual objects to their new understanding of numerals, educators set the stage for students to eventually move from declarative knowledge of mathematics to a higher level of understanding and procedural use in the discipline.

What are some common feelings students may experience when they enter a classroom with cultures different from their own?

Students who come to a new country, city, or school rarely have made that choice themselves. They may experience culture shock and feel insecure or unstable. Many miss friends or family, and feel resentful that the adults in their life made the change for them. It is common for students to feel fearful of things they do not understand or think they are unable to do. Difficulty communicating is common and frustration can result from it.

"Students who are good learners can quickly perceive, interpret, and mentally manipulate information."

This statement reflects information processing theory; perception, memory, and other operations are the focus of this learning theory.

Three of the following strategies should be effective in working with English language learners. Which one is unlikely to be effective?

Teach reading skills almost exclusively by using books written in English rather than in students' native language.

What are the benefits of implementing low-profile classroom management?

Teachers who use low-profile classroom management techniques increase their skill in anticipating, deflecting, and reacting to inappropriate behaviors in the classroom, resulting in increased productive class time.

How can teachers minimize the possible effects of bias and discrimination in the classroom?

The biases individuals bring with them to the school environment are often deeply ingrained and may be unconscious. People often say and do things based on beliefs and biases they did not even know they had. Overcoming bias, whether conscious or unconscious, takes time. An atmosphere of openness, sensitivity, and mutual learning is necessary in order to overcome bias. It is important for teachers to model behaviors that encourage others to try to learn about each other. When bias-related incidents occur, it is important to treat them as opportunities for reflection and growth.

Identify at least three cognitive tools that appear to be helping the students think more effectively about the subject matter.

The concepts that the class uses to analyze words (e.g., compound word, root word) are cognitive tools that can help the students make better sense of the English language. The concepts that the class uses to analyze the story (e.g., main character, setting) are cognitive tools that can help them make better sense of the story.

Exercise 1.1: The Wet Head Experiment In a fifth-grade science activity, students work in groups of three to try to answer the question, "Which side of a penny can hold more water on its surface?" In each group, one student uses an eye dropper to add drops of water, one by one, to the "heads" side of a penny. A second student counts the number of drops added until the water overflows. A third student keeps a written tally of the results. The students then repeat the process with the "tails" side. What ideas from Piaget's theory are evident in this activity?

The hands-on, exploratory nature of Amaryth's experimentation—and in particular, her drop-by-drop placement of water on the two sides of the penny—reflects Piaget's view that interaction with the physical world is essential for cognitive development. Furthermore, on page 3, Amaryth offers two possible hypotheses for the superior water-holding capacity of the "tails" side, revealing an emerging ability to think about hypothetical as well as concrete ideas.

Identify the learning theory associated with each of the following statements. You may want to review behaviorism, social learning theory, information processing theory, constructivism, and the sociocultural theory of learning before you begin. ''People learn by watching and imitating what others do."

The ideas of modeling and vicarious learning are characteristic of social learning theory. Social learning theorists focus on the ways in which people learn from observing one another.

What do you see as the main idea represented in this video clip?

The professionals shown in the video seem to share the belief that differentiating instruction can benefit all students, not simply students with IEPs. When one of the teachers discovered that all of his students benefited from a change he made to his test format for Kevin, his student with an IEP, he concluded that "If it's good for Kevin, it's good for the rest of the class." Thus, the effort made by teachers to differentiate instruction should ultimately improve the achievement of all learners.

Reliability

The reliability of an assessment instrument refers to its consistency in measurement. In other words, if the same person took the same test more than once under the same conditions and received a very similar score, the instrument is highly reliable.

Validity

The validity of an assessment instrument refers to how well it measures what it is intended to measure. For example, a final exam with only 10 multiple-choice questions is probably not a valid assessment of everything a student has learned in an entire term. On the other hand, a 50-question test will only be a more valid measure if the questions are appropriate to the content of the curriculum. Note, too, that a test must be developmentally appropriate to be valid. Teachers can evaluate whether their measures are valid by aligning the content of any test with the learning objectives and/or content standards and by asking, "Does this assessment measure what I expect the students to have learned?" Measures that are not valid should not be used.

An elementary teacher is developing several math enrichment activities. The teacher should be aware that the most effective enrichment activities meet which of the following criteria?

They support or extend specific lesson objectives.

"Thought processes cannot be directly observed."

This statement is characteristic of the behaviorist theory of learning. Behaviorists argued that, because thoughts can't be observed directly, researchers should focus on overt and visible behaviors to understand how particular stimuli lead to specific, learned responses. Contrast this approach with the information processing approach, which infers mental processes and postulates specific mechanisms (e.g., the memory model) to explain those processes.

Describe how similar or different the boys and girls in your classroom are likely to be, on average, in each of the following areas: Physical and motor skills Scholastic abilities Sense of self

The response should include at least two of the following points:In general, the potential for physical and motor growth is similar for boys and girls until adolescence. Girls have a slight advantage in fine motor skills Boys are more physically active than girls.Boys develop their physical and motor skills more (e.g., through participation in large-group games and organized sports).After puberty, boys have the advantage in skills requiring height or strength. Boys and girls tend to be similar in IQ scores and school achievement (as measured by standardized tests; girls tend to get higher class grades). Small differences sometimes exist for language-based tasks (girls have the advantage) and visual-spatial skills (boys have the advantage). Also, small differences appear in certain aspects of mathematics (e.g., problem solving). (The response does not need to include a discussion of the small gender differences just listed; an overall statement that boys and girls are similar is sufficient here.) The response should include at least three of the following points:Beginning in the upper elementary or middle school grades, boys have a higher overall sense of selfBoys tend to overestimate their abilities; girls are more apt to underestimate them.Beginning at puberty, boys rate their physical appearance more positively than girls.Boys see themselves as being better in math and/or sports.Girls rate themselves more highly in reading and/or social studies.Both genders rate themselves more highly in gender-stereotypical content domains even when actual achievement levels are the same.

Is this an authentic activity? Defend your answer.

The specific question being investigated—Which side of a penny can hold more water on its surface?—is a fairly trivial one that students are not likely to find relevant in the real world. However, the students are conducting an actual experiment rather than simply talking about or observing one and so, in using the scientific method, are practicing an authentic skill.

Which of the following actions best demonstrates a teacher's accountability for student learning?

The teacher checks the alignment between instruction and content standards in daily lesson plans.

Why is it important to explicitly teach decoding and comprehension strategies to students?

The teacher in the video explains that, in order for students to become independent readers, they must be able to use learned strategies to decode unknown words, and construct meaning from what is read. She explains that decoding strategies allow students to access words, but that vocabulary is the key to launching comprehension. She contends that students will be better able to build vocabulary and discern meaning when provided with clear strategies for understanding. In addition to defining the strategies, she explains the importance of explicitly teaching students how to use them. Without these strategies, she says, students will struggle to develop independence in their reading.

What teaching techniques and methods are utilized by the teacher for the direct instruction and practice of the concept of context clues?

The teacher in the video uses a wide range of techniques to define, explore, and utilize the concept of context clues. Strategies for instruction demonstrated in the video include: The teacher guides the students in defining the words "context" and "clues." She provides real-world examples to which the students can relate. She works with the students to determine what those words mean in relationship to a reading strategy. For example, she explains how the word "context" refers to their prior knowledge and how they think about things, in addition to the clues the author provides. The class practices using context clues by, first, trying to define a word (gruel) in isolation and, then by using it in a sentence. After the students have made educated guesses regarding the meaning of the target vocabulary word, the teacher checks and reinforces their conclusion by looking up the word in the dictionary. The teacher then uses the word they have just defined with context clues to fill out a graphic organizer that illustrates the thinking process involved in using context clues to determine meaning. Next, the class uses a new reading passage to define the word "indigo." The teacher has the students highlight all of the places the word is used in the passage. They use the context clues to fill out the graphic organizer and arrive at a definition for the word. The teacher again checks the conclusions of the students against the dictionary definition. In small groups, the students select their own unknown word in the passage and collaborate to complete the graphic organizer. At the end of the lesson, the students engage in metacognition by reflecting on the strategies they used and how they used them.

Differentiating instruction can be challenging for teachers because their students often have widely different learning needs. According to the teachers in the video, what is necessary to make differentiated instruction work?

The teachers describe the necessity for getting everyone (all teachers and other professionals who work with the students) together to support one another; the teachers come to rely on one another's expertise.

Children develop cognitively at different rates, and the first-grade classroom often includes children who would be classified as preoperational thinkers according to Piaget's stage theory. First, identify two or three characteristics of preoperational thought. Then, for each, explain how this type of thinking may affect children's social or emotional development in the classroom.

Typical characteristics of preoperational thinkers include egocentric thought, difficulty considering more than one aspect of a situation at once, and inability to reverse operations, and all are related to children's difficulty negotiating conflict and sharing. The inability to take others' points of view, egocentrism, frequently manifests in young children's play. For example, children who think preoperationally may not understand that their actions might make a peer upset or angry and may not understand when a teacher asks, "How do you think she feels when you do that?" Difficulty focusing on more than one aspect of a situation at a time is known as centering. Children who center may become focused on the toy or resource that they want and lose sight of other aspects of the situation, or they may focus on size of an object rather than amount and insist that another child has "more." Reversibility refers to the idea that children do not understand that things that are done can be undone. Children who have not yet developed this ability may have trouble apologizing or accepting apologies from peers, for example.

When a fifth grader tells 6-year-old Emmy that it's okay to hit a classmate if they are being mean, Emmy replies, "No, it's not. It's not nice to hurt other kids."

Typical. Although Kohlberg proposed that young children are primarily concerned about consequences for themselves, other researchers have found that even preschoolers recognize that some behaviors, especially those harmful or unfair to others, are inherently wrong.

Ten-year-old Carlos and his 7-year-old brother Manny visit the local library and take out a book on dinosaurs—one of Manny's favorite subjects. When the boys return home, Carlos reads the book to Manny. Later that day, Manny can recall much more of the book's content than Carlos can.

Typical. As a general rule, older children can learn and remember things more easily because they have more knowledge about the world to which they can relate new information and experiences. Because of his interest in dinosaurs, Manny probably has more prior knowledge about dinosaurs and so has the advantage in understanding and remembering the book's content.

A first-grade teacher places 15 different objects on his desk and asks his students to look at them carefully. He says, "I'm going to cover these up in just a few seconds. How many things do you think you will be able to remember five minutes from now?" His students confidently agree that they will be able to remember almost all of the objects. As it turns out, they can remember an average of only 6 or 7 objects apiece.

Typical. Children in the early elementary grades tend to be overly optimistic about how much they will be able to remember.

When a fourth-grade teacher describes decimals, her students are totally confused. She tries several different ways of teaching the concept decimal, but without much success.

Typical. Decimals are proportions. From Piaget's perspective, proportional thinking doesn't appear until the beginning of the formal operations stage, when children are, on average, about 11 or 12.

Seven-year-old Lori asks, "Why don't sailors fall off the earth when they get to the end of the ocean?"

Typical. Misconceptions about the physical world are common throughout the elementary grades and are often derived from how things appear to be. For instance, in our everyday experiences, the world appears to be flat rather than round.

Ten-year-old Martin studies his spelling words by repeating the letters of each word over and over again.

Typical. Rehearsal is a common learning strategy during the later elementary school years.

In this illustration the student is creating a visual image to accompany the numeral 34. What is accomplished by having the student make this connection?

Typically students in this stage of development work best with concrete artifacts as opposed to abstract concepts. By having the students diagram the connection between the two, students encode the information in multiple ways.

Students in a fifth-grade class are studying dinosaurs. With the three conditions for meaningful learning in mind, choose the student who is most likely to engage in meaningful learning. a. When the teacher introduces the topic, Arthur vaguely remembers reading a book about dinosaurs several years ago, although he can't seem to recall much about it. b.When the teacher writes the word protoceratops on the board, Connor writes it down, being sure to copy the word accurately. c. When the teacher describes the tremendous size of some of the dinosaurs, Becky remembers a huge brontosaurus skeleton she saw at a museum. d. When the teacher introduces the terms meat-eaters and plant-eaters, Donna repeats both terms to herself several times.

When the teacher describes the tremendous size of some of the dinosaurs, Becky remembers a huge brontosaurus skeleton she saw at a museum.

Jerome is a student in your classroom for whom the only effective reinforcer is something to eat, such as candy. You would like Jerome to find your praise reinforcing as well. From an operant conditioning perspective, your best strategy would be which one of the following? a.Explain to Jerome how important it is that he not be so reliant on concrete reinforcers. b. Explain to Jerome that praise gives him feedback about the things he is doing well. c. Whenever you give Jerome something to eat, give him praise as well. d. Show Jerome that all his classmates respond positively to praise.

Whenever you give Jerome something to eat, give him praise as well.

Which one of the following teachers is definitely keeping in mind Piaget's idea that assimilation and accommodation are both necessary for learning and cognitive development to occur? a. Mr. Baretta shows students how a new topic is similar to the things they already know, but also different in certain ways. b. Ms. Chang makes sure that students have learned one topic very, very well before moving on to another topic. c. Ms. Doherty uses a lot of drill-and-practice exercises, encouraging students to work faster every time. d. Mr. Ames presents brand new topics every day, expecting the continual novelty to keep students interested and motivated.

a. Mr. Baretta shows students how a new topic is similar to the things they already know, but also different in certain ways.

Social cognitive theorists propose that people often become increasingly self-regulating over time. a. Explain what social cognitive theorists mean by the term self-regulation. b. Identify a response you would like to see your students make in an increasingly self-regulated fashion. Then describe two specific strategies you might use to promote their self-regulation. Your strategies should be based on concepts and/or principles that social cognitive theorists provide.

a. Self-regulation is a process of setting standards and goals for oneself and engaging in behaviors and cognitive processes that enable one to meet those standards and goals. (Any description that reflects this general idea is acceptable.) b. A student behavior that is appropriately self-regulated (study skills, independent seatwork, interpersonal conflict resolution, etc.) should be identified. Then, two concrete strategies should be described that reflect two or more of the following ideas: Provide opportunities for students to set their own goals (ideally, these goals should be challenging yet achievable). Have students talk themselves through a task. Have students observe and record their own behavior. Have students evaluate their own performance; possibly compare students' self-evaluations to their teacher's evaluations. Teach students to reinforce themselves for successful performance. Give students opportunities to learn without teacher assistance (through assignments that students accomplish either individually or in small groups). Occasionally assign activities in which students have considerable leeway regarding goals, use of time, and so on. Provide any scaffolding that students might initially need to help them use self-regulating strategies. Model self-regulating cognitive processes by "thinking aloud" about these processes. Teach students steps to follow when they encounter a difficult problem. Teach students to mediate one another's interpersonal conflicts.

Which one of the following statements best describes Vygotsky's concept of internalization? a. With age, children acquire more sophisticated problem-solving skills, largely because their parents and teachers give them increasingly challenging problems to solve. b. As children grow older, they develop an increasing ability to think about events in abstract rather than concrete terms. c. Over time, children acquire greater self-confidence about their ability to deal with the world. d. Through their social interactions with other people, children develop ways of mentally approaching and thinking about a task.

d. Through their social interactions with other people, children develop ways of mentally approaching and thinking about a task.

A sixth-grade teacher wishes to assess students' ability to use the Internet to locate information. Which of the following represents the best approach for assessing this skill?

designing a performance task in which students must use the Internet to answer a series of questions

As a new school year begins, a second-grade teacher is making plans to hold a conference with the parent(s)/guardian(s) of each student in his class. During each conference, the teacher will discuss broad goals and expectations for all students in the class. Which of the following additional teacher actions during the conferences would best help promote positive communication and a sense of partnership with parents/guardians?

encouraging parents/guardians to share their own goals for their child's learning and development during the upcoming year as well as any concerns they may have

group alerting

engage the attention of the whole class while individuals are responding.

A teacher is planning a unit on families and has developed several activities in which students identify and discuss different kinds of families. In implementing these activities, the teacher should make which of the following a priority?

expressing acceptance of and respect for the diversity in students' family structures

An elementary student who has a mild cognitive impairment is likely to experience the most difficulty in which of the following areas?

generalizing learned skills to new contexts

An elementary teacher wishes to use scaffolding to promote student learning. Which of the following is the best example of this strategy?

giving students charts labeled with relevant variables on which to record data they gather during classroom science experiments

A kindergarten teacher provides students with individual cubbies to store their belongings and completed work. Each cubby is labeled with a student's name and photograph. Which of the following is likely to be the most important benefit of this practice?

helping students learn to take responsibility for themselves and their possessions

A new teacher has asked her mentor to observe instruction during several lessons and provide feedback on her teaching. These observations are likely to be most beneficial if the new teacher takes which of the following actions before they occur?

identifying for the mentor specific aspects of her instruction, such as leading discussions, that she has particular concerns about

Members of a community service organization have expressed interest in volunteering in a second-grade classroom. Which of the following should be the teacher's first step in responding to this offer?

identifying specific ways that individuals in the organization can support curricular goals

Teachers can best promote the cognitive development of students in the early elementary grades by planning learning experiences that:

include a variety of hands-on materials for helping students construct their own knowledge.

Jules is discovering that by being able to write all his letters, he is winning the approval of his teacher. Without knowing anything else about Jules, the best guess is that he is in Erikson's stage of: a. initiative versus guilt. b. industry versus inferiority. c. trust versus mistrust. d. autonomy versus shame and doubt.

industry versus inferiority.