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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 superhero was included in the list of student words in "Organic Reading"?

2. What is a "pa"?

3. At what time of the day was "paste paint" listed in Ashton-Warner's daily schedule?

4. What were the two main instincts around which the key vocabulary was built?

5. At what time of day did Ashton-Warner "teach" the Golden Section?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did early exposure to white cultural norms adversely affect the Maori?

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

3. Why did Ashton-Warner describe children's minds as volcanoes and how did that affect her teaching?

4. How did the Maori early readers provide a bridge to eventual reading of European material?

5. What was the importance of the "inner illustration" in the children's self-written stories?

6. What was the connection Ashton-Warner drew between the infant room and war and peace?

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

8. What did Ashton-Warner mean when she wrote that "we don't waste enough in school?"

9. Why was teaching the class so back-breaking, according to Ashton-Warner?

10. How did the students perform when they did expressive dancing versus when they learned specific moves?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At one point in the book, Ashton-Warner admitted that at least one of her white students would have performed better had he been given access to the "white" readers she hated so much. Did her efforts on behalf of her Maori students come at a cost for her white students? Is it possible to help one previously disadvantaged group while also ensuring that the "advantaged" group does not fall behind? Should teachers base their teaching on reaching specific groups or should all the students, regardless of background, be expected to conform to the standard used in that classroom? Is it possible--or desirable--to differentiate instruction in a diverse classroom?

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

Ashton-Warner criticized the use of workbooks in schools, although she said she understood why some teachers relied on them. Do workbooks provide any benefits to the students? Are they absolutely necessary for determining how well a child is learning? Would it be possible to devise other ways of measuring a child's development? Are workbooks used because the curriculum is standardized for all children? Would they be helpful if curricula were tailored to individual students?

(see the answer keys)

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