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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 was the best part of the trip to Puerto Rico for Mrs. Zajac?

2. What was the topic for Claude's Science Fair project?

3. Where was Felipe's clubhouse?

4. What did Irish immigrants bring to America with them as keepsakes of their home?

5. What did Mrs. Zajac see that Robert had tried to create for his Science Fair project?

Short Essay Questions

1. When was the science fair at Kelly School? Why was this event important to the students and their families?

2. Where did Mrs. Zajac take her class on a field trip? Why did she choose this place for the children to see? Why was this trip especially important to Judith and Arabella?

3. Who was the new child sent to Mrs. Zajac's class when school resumed after winter break? How did she get to Holyoke and Mrs. Zajac's class?

4. What were some of the differences Mrs. Zajac noticed between the English Mass and the Spanish mass? What did she learn about the Puerto Rican culture by attending the bilingual mass Father Joyce offered?

5. What is the history of Puerto Ricans in the town of Holyoke? How were they treated in the second half of the twentieth century?

6. How did Mrs. Zajac differ outside of her class from inside her classroom?

7. Who among Mrs. Zajac's students was particularly excited about entering the science fair? What was the project? How did Mrs. Zajac feel about this student's participation in the science fair?

8. How did Mrs. Zajac think the students in her class would react to Clarence's departure from their class? How did they actually respond to Clarence not being in the classroom?

9. What student left Mrs. Zajac's class? Why did the student leave?

10. What did Mrs. Zajac experience during her trip to Puerto Rico that surprised and delighted her? Why was this an important experience on the trip?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the following quote and its relevance to the book:

"Teachers usually have no way of knowing that they have made a difference in a child's life, even when they have made a dramatic one. But for children who are used to thinking of themselves as stupid or not worth talking to or deserving rape and beatings, a good teacher can provide an astonishing revelation. A good teacher can give a child at least a chance to feel. 'She thinks I'm worth something. Maybe I am.' "

Essay Topic 2

Teaching in America today is a challenge, but the history of teaching in America has always been fraught with challenges. What are some of the challenges faced by teachers in the earlier part of the century that are no longer a problem today? What ones remain challenges to teachers today? Why do you think this is?

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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