Scenario 1: Real World Math

Ms. Tabata is a high school math teacher in a middle-upper class neighborhood. She immigrated to the United States from Japan as a young girl, and she saw her parents work hard to provide for their family. She remembers living very simply and hearing her parents talk about saving money.

Ms. Tabata's students often ask her why they need to learn a particular equation or why math problems matter in "real life." They spend a lot of money on clothing, personal items, and entertainment. Ms. Tabata plans to give her students the opportunity to apply math skills to real world situations, such as planning personal budgets and distinguishing between needs and wants. She feels these skills are vital for becoming independent, self-sufficient citizens in society.

Ms. Tabata makes instructional plans in her home office. Ms. Tabata begins organizing the needed activity resources. She locates two sample budgets on the Internet to use for the second activity. Although she is a ten-year veteran teacher, she has never conducted this project before, so she outlines a brief lesson plan. She also rewrites her general objectives as specific instructional objectives.

Budgeting 101

Ms. Tabata calls her theme of study "Budgeting 101." She develops an outline for the week:

For the third activity, Ms. Tabata collects the Real Estate section and household product advertisements from recent newspapers. Ms. Tabata uses her class roster and divides the class into groups of four. She assigns each group a different salary, using the "Starting Salaries" chart she found online at http://www.themint.org/teachers/budgeting_act2.php. Ms. Tabata creates a blank personal budget template for her students to use when developing their own personal budgets. After drafting a brief lesson plan for this activity, she reflects on assessment approaches for the project.

1			Ms. Tabata is preparing a
			A)	semester plan.
			B)	unit plan.
			C)	daily block plan.
			D)	lesson plan.
2			Ms. Tabata rewrites one of the general objectives so that it is a specific instructional objective: "Given a sample budget, students will label each of the items as a need or a want." Why does she include "Given a sample budget" in the objective?
			A)	It identifies the audience the objective is written for.
			B)	It identifies the behavior expected of the learner.
			C)	It identifies the condition under which the learner performs a particular behavior.
			D)	It identifies the degree of proficiency or correctness that the learner must display.
3			When Ms. Tabata prepares her introduction, she should include which of the following?
			A)	an attention-getting activity
			B)	general objectives for the unit
			C)	scope and sequence of the unit
			D)	an assessment rubric

Scenario 2: One Teacher, Many Avenues of Support

Ms. Schultz is a beginning elementary school teacher. She is very excited about the prospect of having her own classroom, but is increasingly worried about certain aspects of education.

Ms. Schultz is meeting with her fellow fourth grade teachers and she is overwhelmed by the discussions about state standards, high-stakes testing, and the political landscape. How can she "be herself" in the classroom and integrate all of the district requirements at the same time?

Mr. Tannenbaum is a master teacher and has taught upper elementary grades for several years. Several stacks of papers are spread out before him. He distributes a packet of spelling lists to the fourth grade teachers. The packets include lesson plan ideas for practicing the spelling words. "Most of you already received these materials last year," Mr. Tannenbaum says, "but several new words and activities have been added." Ms. Schultz flips through the pages and wonders if she can diverge from the list. "The spelling lists will make a new teacher's life much easier," Mr. Tannenbaum says, smiling directly at Ms. Schultz. She mumbles a word of thanks.

"Can I use different words?" Ms. Schultz asks. The veteran teachers look at each other knowingly. Ms. Jackson leans forward and says, "Ms. Schultz, you're going to be thanking us for these lists in a couple of weeks! Trust me, you'll be so busy that you won't want to bother making up lists." Another teacher takes a different approach and says, "Yes, that's true. More importantly, however, it's good for our students to have a uniform system in place. About 15% of our students come from migrant families, which means that they will change schools at least once during the school year. If every classroom has a totally different curriculum and routine, the students will be lost. It is good to have district-wide curriculum and procedures in place to accommodate the needs of these students — of all students."

Ms. Schultz contemplates the teachers' comments and feels her individuality shrinking. Mr. Tannenbaum senses Ms. Schultz's disappointment. "We are not saying that you can't add new words or have your own teaching style," Mr. Tannenbaum says. "Many students have families who are busy, unstable, and unpredictable. Schools are increasingly called upon to provide stability in children's lives. Having a streamlined curriculum that is aligned to the state standards is one way to achieve this."

Ms. Schultz asks how they can be sure the "pre-packaged" materials are aligned to the standards. "Teachers such as yourself have spent time on our school district's curriculum development committee. In fact, I was a member of the committee last year and helped to shape many of the materials included in these curriculum packets. The committee analyzes the standards and integrates them into the curriculum. Each teacher at this table contributed ideas for me to propose to the committee. We make sure that curriculum content areas align with the standards. Another task is to ensure that the types of questions in standardized tests are also included in the curriculum."

Ms. Schultz is quiet. "You don't seem convinced," Mr. Tannenbaum says. Ms. Schultz squirms uncomfortably and tries to express her thoughts. "It's just that I've been taught new ways of teaching, like discovery learning and multiple intelligences centers. I don't see how these methods can be used within such a uniform environment."

Several teachers speak at once, sharing ideas about how they integrate standards-based curriculum into student-centered instruction. Ms. Tyler, an energetic teacher with an indirect, hands-on teaching style volunteers to work with Ms. Schultz on her ideas. "During the summer I attended a professional development workshop on multiple intelligences. I just finished setting up three different centers last week. Come in tomorrow during lunch and I'll show you one way to implement a standards-based curriculum in a fun, interactive way."

4			The standards are influenced by which three general factors?
			A)	Federal government, state governments, school districts
			B)	Teachers, parents, students
			C)	Societal expectations, the nature and needs of learners, professional societies
			D)	Curriculum specialists, principals, master teachers
5			Mr. Tannenbaum states that he was a member of his school district's curriculum-development committee. Which of the following types of curriculum committee goals are demonstrated in the scenario?
			A)	Describe general course content.
			B)	Identify useful instructional materials related to courses.
			C)	Ensure that the curriculum is aligned with state standards and testing.
			D)	All of the above.
6			Which of the following describes Ms. Schultz's perception of the provided curriculum materials?
			A)	The materials disallow individuality and freedom.
			B)	The materials incite controversy over evolution versus creationism.
			C)	The materials include content that is not age-appropriate.
			D)	The materials are biased.