Scenario 1: Values Education in Action

Ms. Ford is a third grade teacher in a low-SES school. The majority of her students are on the free-breakfast and lunch program, and many arrive to school extremely hungry. Some students only eat well-balanced meals at school. On Fridays, Ms. Ford sees a few students stuffing their pockets with extra bread and fruit.

The school curriculum integrates a values-education program. Each month, teachers focus on a new value, such as honesty, cooperation, perseverance, and manners. In Ms. Ford's classroom, she has created a bulletin board that highlights the monthly value. Every day, one of her students writes about a behavior that exemplifies the value and posts it on the bulletin board. Whenever a student is "caught" doing something that demonstrates the value, the student receives some "free work" time. At the end of each month, an awards ceremony is held and selected students are rewarded for modeling the value.

This month's value is "independence." Mr. Garner, the principal of the school, emphasizes the importance of teaching students self-sufficiency, responsibility, and independence. He encourages the teachers to avoid feeling sorry for the children, but rather to set high expectations and give students opportunities to be responsible. Ms. Ford agrees with Mr. Garner and is determined to model and teach her students practical skills to achieve independence in the future.

Ms. Ford brings a large crock-pot into the classroom and sets it on her desk with a thud. "Who brought in their ingredients for the chili?" she asks. She sees canned beans and vegetables on many students' desks. "I did!" several students pipe up. "Who remembers what a vegetarian is?" Ms. Ford asks. "Some crazy people who don't eat meat," Jamal says, laughing. Several others laugh, too.

"That's right, Jamal," Ms. Ford says, ignoring the sarcasm. "Many people around the world do not eat meat. Today, we are going to be vegetarians and make a pot of vegetarian chili. When you go home today, I want you to share this recipe with your families. It is healthy, easy, and relatively inexpensive to make." Some students wrinkle their noses and wave the air, as if trying to escape from an unpleasant smell. Others watch eagerly and are excited about cooking in class. With the strict rules in school about knives and other objects that could be mistaken as weapons, Ms. Ford prepared some items at home. She produces a shopping bag that contains whole vegetables as well as chopped onions, sliced peppers and minced garlic.

"Ooh, I like it spicy," Dwayne says, rubbing his stomach in an exaggerated way. "Good," Ms. Ford says. "Remember our fractions math lesson yesterday? Please get out your notebook and read aloud the recipe in that lesson." Dwayne sinks down in his seat and closes his eyes. His classmates giggle. "Dwayne," Ms. Ford repeats, "find that recipe and let's get started. The chili needs to cook all day and then you'll be able to take some home." Ms. Ford shows them a package of small plastic, sealable bowls.

Dwayne eventually cooperates and slowly reads the recipe aloud. After he finishes, Ms. Ford reviews the fractions in the recipe, showing her class different portions of onions and peppers. She asks LaShonda to measure out 1-1/2 teaspoons of salt. Other students volunteer, one by one, to help measure additional ingredients. Ms. Ford calls on other students to reread portions of the recipe as they complete each step.

Students pass around samples of spices like cumin, chili powder, and mustard powder. Jamal pretends to faint. "What are you trying to do, poison us?" he asks. Jeannetta rolls her eyes, and says, "NO, you dope! She's trying to teach us independence." Ms. Ford asks Jeannetta to first apologize to Jamal for calling him a name. Then she smiles and asks Jeannetta to write about the cooking activity and post it on the values bulletin board.

"She isn't teaching us about independence!" Jamal replies. "She's tricking us into doing math!" Ms. Ford laughs. The crock-pot is heating up, and tantalizing smells fill the classroom. "But that's okay," Jamal says, breathing in the aroma. "You can trick us into doing math and being independent every Friday."

1			In this scenario, which of the following schools of thought best describes Ms. Ford's approach to learning and instruction?
			A)	Cognitive school of thought
			B)	Humanistic school of thought
			C)	Behavioral school of thought
			D)	All of the above.
2			Ms. Ford's cooking lesson attempts to accomplish all of the following EXCEPT:
			A)	enhance students' feelings of self-worth and self-efficacy.
			B)	satisfy essential human needs.
			C)	help students improve their long-term memory.
			D)	use techniques that help learners better understand their feelings and values.
3			Imagine that Ms. Ford conducts three additional cooking lessons on subsequent Fridays. Her students are responsible for writing the recipes, bringing in basic, inexpensive ingredients, and participating in the lessons. Which of the following statements best describes Ms. Ford's general objective for her students?
			A)	Students will internalize the value of "independence" and gain skills to act on it more fully at home and at school.
			B)	Students will revere their roots and culture through their newfound cooking skills.
			C)	Students will shop for groceries and start cooking meals at home.
			D)	Students will improve their fractions math skills.

Scenario 2: "Good Guy" Reinforcement

Mrs. Wade is a first grade teacher in an urban area. She strongly believes that for many of her students, positive socialization is as important as academic learning. Although socialization is typically learned in the home, preschool, and kindergarten, several of Ms. Wade's students lack basic social skills. Many students' parents have authoritarian parenting styles and do not model calm, problem-solving skills.

Mrs. Wade observes that her students who "act out" aggressively are less able to stay on task and work cooperatively with their peers. Ms. Wade is determined to implement a classroom management plan that models and reinforces positive behavior.

Ms. Wade designs a brightly colored bulletin board. Stenciled letters are pinned to the top and declare, "I Caught You!"

Julio walks to the back of the room and takes a yellow reminder slip out of a small box. He takes it to Ms. Wade. "Why did I ask you to get a reminder slip?" she asks. "I don't know," Julio answers. "Why did Ryan get angry with you?" Ms. Wade asks, trying to remind Julio about what he did wrong. Julio kicks at the carpet and mumbles, "I tried to take away the pattern blocks. I wanted to use them." Ms. Wade writes it on Julio's reminder slip and tells him to put it in his cubby. "Remember to take that home tonight and talk to your mom about it." Julio scoots away and shoves the slip of paper into his cubby. He walks by Ryan and says, "I'm using those next!" "I know, I know," Ryan says, "but it's my turn now."

Julio is one of the most aggressive boys in the class. Unable to focus on his own work, he frequently disturbs others and tries to aggravate certain classmates, especially Ryan and Ghalib. Ms. Wade keeps an eye on Julio and watches his next move. Julio wanders around the classroom and stops to watch Hannah and Shree. They ignore him. He moves on to the stencil shelf and selects a set of alphabet materials. He takes them back to his desk and writes the letter "a". Ms. Wade immediately rings a small bell and says, "I caught you!" The other children automatically clap their hands to congratulate the winner. They look around to see who will be rewarded.

Ms. Wade walks over to Julio and hands him a sticker to place on his name card on the "I Caught You" bulletin board. Ms. Wade looks at Julio and says, "I caught you selecting materials and working quietly." Julio takes the sticker and posts it on his name card. He only has two stickers; most of his classmates have five or more. "I want everyone to try and catch Julio." The boy walks back to his seat and begins to stencil the letter "b".

Ryan finishes working with the pattern blocks, cleans them up and puts them back on the shelf. Hannah and Shree finish their handwriting page and take the pattern blocks. Ryan sees the girls and says, "No, it's Julio's turn to use the pattern blocks. I told him he could use them when I was done." The girls push out their lips and say it's not fair.

Julio leaps out of his chair and says, "I caught you!" to Ryan. Julio dances around and says, "I caught you, Ryan! I caught you being nice to me!"

Ryan rolls his eyes but grins in spite of himself. Julio approaches Ms. Wade and asks her for a sticker. "But Ryan is the one who gets the sticker," Ms. Wade says. "I know," says Julio, "I just want to give it to him." Ms. Wade smiles and watches Julio give a sticker to Ryan. The two boys walk to the back of the room and Julio counts up Ryan's stickers. "Wow!" Julio says, "You have six stickers now." "Don't worry," Ryan answers, "you'll have six stickers soon, too."

4			In this scenario, which of the following schools of thought best describes Ms. Wade's approach to learning and instruction?
			A)	Cognitive school of thought
			B)	Humanistic school of thought
			C)	Behavioral school of thought
			D)	None of the above.
5			Ms. Wade's "I Caught You" bulletin board is an example of:
			A)	classical conditioning.
			B)	operant conditioning.
			C)	social learning.
			D)	mastery learning.
6			A second tenet of Ms. Wade's classroom management plan is to model problem solving and conflict resolution skills. She feels that most students do not observe positive modeling of these skills at home. Which of the following concepts will be utilized?
			A)	Meaningful learning
			B)	Classical conditioning
			C)	Operant conditioning
			D)	Social learning