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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Mrs. Zajac learn about Clarence during the Pledge to Allegiance?

2. What were the other subjects students had in the afternoons in Mrs. Zajac's class?

3. Who gave Miss Hunt the longest and most elaborate farewell card?

4. After two days of being out of her class while Miss Hunt taught it, what did Mrs. Zajac say?

5. What did Mrs. Zajac say about Judith when comparing the child with herself?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are "cume" folders? Why do teachers have them? What goes into them? How does Mrs. Zajac use the cumes and why?

2. Where was Mrs. Zajac born, and where did she grow up? What did her father do for a living? What was a unique quality about the town in which she was born?

3. Why were Fridays good days in Mrs. Zajac's fifth grade class? How did they compare to Mondays?

4. What were the work conditions for female teachers of the late 19th and 20th centuries?

5. What kind of parent participation did Mrs. Zajac receive from her students' families? How did she respond to this situation?

6. What was math class like for Mrs. Zajac? Why did they provide a particular challenge for her? How did she meet the challenge?

7. What was the name of Mrs. Zajac's school and where was it located? What did we know about the school? What was the make-up of the student body in her classroom?

8. Why did Mrs. Zajac allow her students to choose their own desks on the first day of school? What message did she want to send to her students? What did she learn about the children by allowing them their choice of seats?

9. What happened in the 1970's to the town of Holyoke? How did this affect the town and its economy? What plans did the state and local governments come up with to renew Holyoke?

10. Why did Clarence immediately catch Mrs. Zajac's eye? What were some of his behaviors in the classroom? What did she and her student teacher Miss Hunt notice about Clarence?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are many differences in teaching in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and teaching today. There are also many things in teaching that have remained relatively the same for over a hundred years. Discuss the changes and the constants between teaching in the past and teaching today.

Essay Topic 2

What are some of the qualities of a good teacher that Kidder presents through the teacher Mrs. Zajac? Are there any overarching qualities necessary to be a good teacher in Kidder's opinion? What are they and why does he believe those qualities to be important?

Essay Topic 3

Kelly School was the setting for this book. Where was the school? What information did the author give about the history of the school? About the physical plant of the school? What was the ethnic make up of the school? Could this book have been set in a different school in a different city? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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