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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. Which author stated that "words have souls"?
2. How many children were in Puki's family?
3. To what institution did Ashton-Warner compare teaching?
4. What fictional character did Matawhero remind Ashton-Warner?
5. Which student had a father who worked at the carnival?
Short Essay Questions
1. Why did Ashton-Warner's white student, Dennis, have a nervous breakdown?
2. In "Post Holiday Notes," what word did Ashton-Warner use to represent the key instinct of fear to her students?
3. What are the two worst enemies of teaching?
4. What role did discipline play in Ashton-Warner's classroom?
5. Why did Ashton-Warner criticize herself for the way she handled Matawhero's defiance after he hit Gordon?
6. What set the local Maori pa (village) where Ashton-Warner taught apart from other pas?
7. Why was Ashton-Warner upset about the way she handled Mark Cutter when his mother insisted that her son was advancing too quickly in class?
8. How did Ashton-Warner view the importance of handwriting?
9. Why was it important to offer only present tense verbs to new readers?
10. How did Ashton-Warner describe the moments in her life when she knew the meaning of what was happening to her?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Sylvia-Ashton Warner wrote about her attempts to bring some order to the classroom when the students got out of hand. She eventually realized that the first few bars of Beethoven's Fifth on the piano did the trick. Write an essay exploring how music can be used in the classroom to bring calm during difficult times. What is it about music that speaks to all humans, regardless of ethnic or racial background? How does it provide a form of "quiet control" that is more effective than yelling or making other loud noises to get attention? Why were the Maori children entranced by Western classical music?
Essay Topic 2
Ashton-Warner wrote in detail about the importance of "first words" for beginning readers and how the traditional reading books used among young children did not use those words. Write an essay exploring how the use of a child's first words can enhance the learning process. Do children from different cultures develop different first words? Does learning to read from another culture's books necessarily lead to stunted development? If individual children are given their own unique texts, at what point can a teacher introduce standardized books to the entire classroom?
Essay Topic 3
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?
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This section contains 1,083 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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