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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. To what animal was Ashton-Warner handed over in a Maori child's made-up story?

2. How many other books preceded the development of the Maori transitional readers?

3. How did Ashton-Warner describe the vocabulary in most set early readers?

4. What philosopher said that language must precede a nation's formation?

5. What did Ashton-Warner keep on hand to repair the student books?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was it important for the teacher to be a good conversationalist in the classroom?

2. Why were "key words" so essential to learning to read?

3. By what process was spelling taught in Ashton-Warner's classroom?

4. Why did Ashton-Warner describe the language of published first readers as "dead"?

5. Into what two main categories did Ashton-Warner place many of her students' first words?

6. What did Ashton-Warner mean by "tone" in the classroom?

7. Why did Ashton-Warner believe that standardized reading texts were damaging to children?

8. How can a teacher tell when a book is valuable to her students, according to Ashton-Warner?

9. Why was the class so noisy while the children studied their individual key words and what did that noise signify?

10. How did Russian peasant students react to Leo Tolstoy's experimental school?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ashton-Warner discussed the basic rule of organic teaching as a "creative vent." Explore what she meant by that expression. How does providing children with an opportunity to vent, whether in writing, dance or artwork, help that child grow? If the child is asked to conform to certain educational standards and suppress his own impulses, how does that affect his overall schoolwork? Is some degree of suppression necessary for the sake of classroom unity and atmosphere or should all students be given free rein to express themselves even if they do not follow the curriculum? How does the imposition of adult-determined standards stunt a child's growth, as Ashton-Warner suggested?

Essay Topic 2

The mother of one of Ashton-Warner's students, Mark Cutter, protested that her son was going too fast in the classroom and she wanted him to slow down. This was an unusual complaint among the parents of her students. Was Cutter's mother simply opposed to Ashton-Warner's teaching methods? Or did she sincerely believe that her son was being advanced too quickly? Is it possible for a student to advance too quickly? What does a teacher do if children in his classroom are advancing at different paces? How does a teacher adjust his teaching to ensure that all students are progressing at their own rate without either slowing down or speeding up the overall pace for the entire class?

Essay Topic 3

The Maori children in Ashton-Warner's classroom encountered racism from the majority white population in New Zealand. How did these attitudes affect the students at home and in the community? How did it affect them in the classroom? Did having a white teacher have an impact on them, even if she was open and accepting of them? How do societal assumptions and expectations impact a child's ability to perform in school? Do children internalize the prejudices they encounter or are they able to escape them in the classroom? How do teachers deal with the impact these prejudices may have on their students? Is it possible to fully counter them in school?

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