Questions for Credit

The following short answer questions for Volume 48 give participants an opportunity to earn additional Professional Development Points (PDP) or Continuing Education Units (CEU). These questions can also be used to facilitate discussion during professional development or inservice sessions to give participants a chance to reflect on what they learned and apply the material to real classroom situations.

Directions:

  1. Copy and Paste the questions for the appropriate module out of this document.
  2. Provide the questions to your staff and ask them to complete the Questions for Credit (Essay) after reading the selected module.
  3. Staff members submit completed questions to administrator for review.
  4. Administrator reviews, and then awards and records credit using the Manage Offline Course Records feature in PD Now.

the Master Teacher recommends ½ credit for each set of Questions for Credit (Essay) associated with an individual module.

By completing these questions for all 36 modules in a volume, the participant could earn up to 18 PDPs/CEUs (where 1 hr. = 1 credit).

For help on how to use this feature click the Manage Offline Course Records tab and then click the Help link in the top right corner of the screen. Detailed instructions for using this feature are listed in the Help section.

The answer key for the Test Modules is only availablein printed copies of the Principal’s Desk Reference.

MTPd 4801 – Choose To Position Yourself To Inspire Students

Objective:In this lesson, the participant will learn five strategies to spark interest and inspire learning within students.

Post-test:

  1. The best lever—and the only one in our control—to change a situation is:
  2. The student’s behavior.
  3. Our own behavior.
  4. Administrative policies.
  5. Parent involvement.
  1. Unless students understand the _____ of learning, there’s little reason for them to commit.
  2. “what”
  3. “who”
  4. “why”
  5. “how”
  1. How can we generate learning inspiration?
  2. By connecting learning to interests and experiences of students.
  3. By bringing in an aspect of popular culture, current issues, or items form the news.
  4. By adding an aspect of immediate relevance to the work.
  5. All of the options.
  1. The Master Teacher:
  2. Seeks to go beyond securing the compliance of learners to our expectations.
  3. Settles for compliance from learners as that is all we can expect.
  4. Understands that inspiration is rarely the first step in accomplishing goals.
  5. Retains the responsibility and direction for learning.

Essay Questions:

  1. Why might it be said that our behavior is the best lever to change the relationship between students and their learning?
  1. Why is it a powerful strategy to help students understand the “why” of learning? How can we help students answer this question?
  1. What can we do to help students develop a sense of ownership for their learning? How might this approach lead students to do their best work?
  1. What does it mean to make learning part of community? What are some strategies we can employ to strengthen this connection?
  1. How can we leverage our relationships with students to inspire their learning and lift their performance?

MTPd 4802 – Add Learning Plans To Your Lesson Plans

Objective: In this lesson, the participant will learn how having students build learning plans to guide and support their learning can build on the benefits of our lesson plans.

Post-test:

  1. How does a “student learning plan” benefit students?
  2. Helps them focus their attention.
  3. Helps them engage their senses.
  4. Helps build the understanding of what we teach them.
  5. All of the options.
  1. Planning activities:
  2. Can help students shift learning from a passive process to active involvement.
  3. Move students from active learning to a passive position.
  4. Do little to change the classroom dynamic.
  5. Are not recommended for new teachers.
  1. Why should the learning goal be individualized?
  2. Students generally distrust teachers.
  3. Not all students are at the same point academically.
  4. So it can always be on an introductory level.
  5. So it can never be on an introductory level.
  1. Why should you include reflection and application activities toward the end of the student learning cycle?
  2. To support integration.
  3. To decrease students’ confidence.
  4. To prolong the learning activity.
  5. None of the options.

Essay Questions:

  1. How might having students build plans for their learning lead to better learning outcomes?
  1. How can student learning plans support customization or personalization of learning?
  1. Why is it important that the construction of student learning plans be a shared task involving students and teachers?
  1. How can learning plans support students to become monitors of their own learning progress?
  1. How can learning plans position students to take a more active role in demonstrating what they learn through performance assessments?

MTPd 4803 – Motivational Mistakes That Will Affect Every Student

Objective:In this lesson, the participant will learn four motivational mistakes that will cause him or her to be less effective in his or her teaching.

Post-test:

  1. Which action would qualify as teacher inconsistency?
  2. Changing class rules, regulations, and procedures too often.
  3. Changing class rules, regulations, and procedures without warning.
  4. Changing the standards or requirements for the class or course after a project has started.
  5. All of the options.
  1. Why should teachers be flexible?
  2. To create a stand up, sit down, raise your hand student.
  3. To maximize order and control.
  4. To liberate students so they can reach their potential.
  5. To teach students not to do anything without teacher permission.
  1. Which does NOT qualify as good feedback?
  2. “Good job” or “nice work.”
  3. What students need to keep doing.
  4. What isn’t needed for the assignment.
  5. A realistic or accurate perspective about students’ work.
  1. The four demotivators we must avoid are inconsistency, inflexibility, little or vague feedback, and the habit of:
  2. Correcting students in class.
  3. Contradicting administration.
  4. Minimizing the importance of school work and the students who do that work.
  5. Maximizing student learning opportunities.

Essay Questions:

  1. How can teacher inconsistency lead to lower levels of student motivation? Please provide and discuss an example.
  1. How can inflexibility also lead to diminished motivation among students? Please provide and discuss an example.
  1. Why is the absence or minimal levels of feedback undermining to student motivation for learning?
  1. What is meant by teachers undermining or diminishing the importance of the work of learning and teaching? What would be an example?
  1. How can we send effective messages that the work of learning in our class is important every day?

MTPd 4804 – Learn To Think How Highly Effective Educators Think

Objective: In this lesson, the participant will learn five techniques that the most effective teachers have adopted.

Post-test:

  1. What teachers value personally and professionally:
  2. Affects whom they value and their teaching success.
  3. Has no bearing on whom they value or their success.
  4. Is a personal matter and does not interfere with their work.
  5. All of the options.
  1. Students who receive only conditional teacher acceptance:
  2. Are just as successful as those who receive universal acceptance.
  3. Are just as successful as those who receive no acceptance.
  4. Eventually only regard themselves as worthy when they comply with our wishes.
  5. Feel freed up to comply or not comply with our wishes.
  1. A teacher can disapprove of what a student did while not rejecting the student.
  2. True.
  3. False.
  1. The Master Teacher aligns beliefs and actions to being ______to have the best chance of success.
  2. Teacher-centered.
  3. Administrative-centered.
  4. School-staff-centered.
  5. Student-centered.

Essay Questions:

  1. What is meant by the statement, “Highly effective teachers think in similar ways?” Defend or refute this statement.
  1. What does it mean to value all students equally? Can we treat students differently while still valuing them equally? How?
  1. What does it mean to offer unconditional acceptance to every learner? What does unconditional acceptance look like in practice?
  1. How can we help students set high standards for their work and not depend solely on our standards for excellence?
  1. How can we reject the behavior of a student without rejecting the student? What strategies can help us communicate this message clearly to students?

MTPd 4805 – Real-Time Ways To Know Students Are Learning

Objective: In this lesson, the participant will learn six “real time” activities to know whether students are learning.

Post-test:

  1. Why is feedback about learning impact essential?
  2. Test scores lag behind teaching.
  3. Work products may not reveal the extent of students’ problem solving skills.
  4. Work products may not reveal how well students collaborate.
  5. All of the options.
  1. How is play important to learning?
  2. It’s important to minimize play as it presents countless distractions.
  3. It is only important for lower grade levels.
  4. It allows students to imagine, negotiate, take risks, and solve dilemmas.
  5. All of the options.
  1. Why is it essential to address mistakes with students?
  2. So they are not repeated.
  3. To discourage risk taking.
  4. To keep students learning at shallow levels.
  5. None of the options.
  1. By taking advantage of decision-making power, the Master Teacher puts ______ahead of ______.
  2. Student activities; student academics.
  3. Students’ learning needs; teaching needs.
  4. Administrative concerns; teaching needs.
  5. Teaching strategies; students’ learning needs.

Essay Questions:

  1. Why is a period of twelve weeks recommended as optimal for measuring learning progress? What are the risks associated with either longer or shorter evaluation cycles?
  1. What does it mean to be “crystal clear” about the look and sound of learning success before beginning a unit of study? Provide an example.
  1. How might allowing students to engage in play related to their learning reveal areas of strength and needs for support? What are some symptoms to look for?
  1. How can student interest inventories reveal information crucial to their learning? Provide and discuss at least three examples.
  1. What is it about learning mistakes that can tell us what students are and are not learning? How can we leverage mistakes students make when learning to deepen their understanding?

MTPd 4806 – What You May Not Know About Homework And Learning

Objective:In this lesson, the participant will learn the complicated implications of homework.

Post-test:

  1. Homework not carefully assigned can broaden opportunity and achievement gaps.
  2. True.
  3. False.
  1. Why is it risky to assign new concepts or skills as homework?
  2. New concepts may not be approved by the school board.
  3. Skills should not be assigned as homework.
  4. If done incorrectly, the repetition may increase the time required to correct errors.
  5. All of the options.
  1. Which leads to the greatest learning benefits?
  2. Amount of homework assigned.
  3. The novelty of the homework assigned.
  4. The clarity of the directions of assigned homework.
  5. The homework students complete.
  1. The Master Teacher is careful to assign homework:
  2. Student can do.
  3. Students are likely to do.
  4. That will make a positive difference in students’ learning.
  5. All of the options.

Essay Questions:

  1. What are the most compelling arguments in favor of giving students homework?
  1. What are the most compelling arguments against giving students homework?
  1. What is meant by “homework may have a differentiated impact on student learning”? Provide and discuss at least three examples.
  1. How can assigning too much homework diminish its benefits? How can you know how much homework is the correct amount?
  1. Why might it be that research shows little direct link between the type of homework assigned and increases in achievement? Discuss.

MTPd 4807 – When Students Don’t Respond—Stop

Objective:In this lesson, the participant will learn the techniques to keep two-way communication going when a student is not taking the action the teacherdesires.

Post-test:

  1. We do NOT need student interaction to accomplish all we need to in the classroom.
  2. True.
  3. False.
  1. To be successful:
  2. You must speak in a forceful way.
  3. The student must not want you to succeed.
  4. The student must believe you respect his or her point of view.
  5. All of the options.
  1. Why is it helpful to find out the student’s “main concern”?
  2. It allows you to solve one problem and then move forward.
  3. It allows you to ignore his or her other concerns.
  4. It allows you to convince him or her it is not an issue.
  5. It allows you to minimize negative student feedback.
  1. Students will never learn they matter, unless we:
  2. Talk with them about issues and concerns they find important—and let them talk.
  3. Convince them through our words and by lecturing them after class.
  4. Make sure they have a meaningful relationship at home.
  5. Occasionally assign them better grades than they earned.

Essay Questions:

  1. Why is it important that our counsel with students be robust and two-sided? What are the risks of giving counsel to students without an opportunity for student reaction and interaction?
  1. Why should we stop at the point when students do not respond to our urging? What risks are associated with continuing to give counsel in these circumstances?
  1. Why are open-ended questions more useful in counseling situations than close-ended questions? Which of the questions suggested in this lesson do you find most helpful? Why?
  1. Why can writing key points or actions as visual supports add to the meaning of the conversation and strengthen its impact? What message does writing key points and actions send about our willingness to listen to and respect what the student has to say?
  1. How does this approach to counseling students support strong relationships with them? Provide at least two examples from your experience.

MTPd 4808 – Small Steps To Generate Big Engagement

Objective:In this lesson, the participant will learn how to design lessons for maximum “flow.”

Post-test:

  1. Knowing which element would benefit our efforts to increase student engagement?
  2. The conditions that make students eager to learn.
  3. That we may not be reaching every student as we think.
  4. Which of our lessons could use sprucing up.
  5. All of the options.
  1. Flow is an experience unique to academic activities:
  2. True.
  3. False.
  1. How is flow NOT achieved?
  2. By design.
  3. By allowing for trial and error and autonomy.
  4. By unrepeatable chance.
  5. By the convergence of novelty, interest, purpose, and prior success.
  1. Which is a telltale sign of an engaged classroom?
  2. Students designing experiments, extracting themes, and using knowledge to solve problems.
  3. Students reproducing responses and explaining answers.
  4. Students making models.
  5. None of the options.

Essay Questions:

  1. Do you agree with the assertion that if teachers invested half as much time cultivating a love of learning as they do simply transmitting information, student engagement would soar? Why or why not? What interferes with teachers spending more time cultivating a love of learning in their students?
  1. What does it mean for students to experience “flow” as they are learning? Discuss a recent example of your students experiencing flow. What factors contributed to this experience?
  1. What is meant by the observation that “it takes far less energy to stretch students’ minds than it takes to reverse student apathy”? Why might this be an important observation?
  1. What are the six conditions necessary for “mind-stretching”? Must all of these conditions be present for success? Why or why not?
  1. What is meant by the “Goldilocks” principle? What do you do to apply this principle in your teaching?

MTPd 4809 – Best-Kept Secrets For Handling The Nonparticipator

Objective: In this lesson, the participant will learn to handle and relate to the student who has chosen to be a nonparticipator in class.

Post-test:

  1. In regards to nonparticipators, teachers need:
  2. To know the warning signs.
  3. To know guidelines to handle these students.
  4. To know guidelines to relate to these students.
  5. All of the options.
  1. Which is NOT a warning sign of the nonparticipator?
  2. Disinterest.
  3. Boredom.
  4. Confusion.
  5. Indifference.
  1. Most nonparticipators have:
  2. Few, if any, meaningful relationships with adults.
  3. A strong support system at home.
  4. A high GPA.
  5. All the teacher attention they need.
  1. “Do I really want this student here or do I want to drive him or her away?” is a question we must ask before we can help the nonparticipator.
  2. True.
  3. False.

Essay Questions:

  1. What are the warning signs that students are moving toward non-participation? Why might we miss these signs with some students?
  1. Why is it important that we intervene early when we see signs that students are moving toward non-participation? What are the likely consequences for these students as the year unfolds if we fail to intervene?
  1. Why is it important to move closer to these students rather than back away? What messages do students need to hear from us at this point?
  1. In what ways must our expectations and interactions be flexible with these students? Where must our actions be consistent and uncompromising?
  1. Why is it important for us to ask ourselves what we really want for nonparticipating students? Provide an example and discuss its implications.