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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Codell's reading group method, what role does the "language lover" play?
(a) Defining difficult words in the text.
(b) Reading passages out loud.
(c) Making questions up about the book.
(d) Guessing what comes next in the plot of the book.

2. What is the purpose of the class making a patchwork quilt?
(a) To teach about the flowers of the fifty states.
(b) To teach about long division.
(c) To teach about inventors.
(d) To teach about the Underground Railroad.

3. Why does Codell compare teaching to an apple in her poem "How to Teach Learning"?
(a) The mind can rot, just like an apple.
(b) One bad apple (student) can spoil the bunch.
(c) If a teacher makes learning like a forbidden fruit, students will want it even more, like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
(d) Learning can take many forms, like an apple can become juice or applesauce.

4. Why doesn't Codell respond favorably to the educational chiropractor?
(a) She doesn't believe in the curriculum conformity he advocates.
(b) She thinks the rules being proposed are much too harsh for the students.
(c) She believes her classroom seating arrangement is just fine without someone interfering.
(d) She wishes to sign her name "Madame Esme," and the educational chiropractor discourages this.

5. What is Codell's response when Rowisha tells her about B. B.'s horrible home life?
(a) Codell believes that even bad home circumstances are no excuse for bad behavior at school.
(b) Codell and Rowisha cry together, and later they become friends.
(c) Codell mocks Rowisha, making matters worse.
(d) Codell is so moved by the tragic story that she gives Rowisha two hundred dollars.

6. According to Esme, how do her new students in her new school (as of the Epilogue) behave?
(a) Like spoiled brats.
(b) Like gangster thugs.
(c) Like little angels.
(d) Like weird aliens.

7. What kind of people too often dominate public education, according to Trelease?
(a) People like Esme Codell.
(b) Haughty, prideful, disconnected people.
(c) Ill-tempered people who are too quick to anger.
(d) People like Ms. Federman.

8. In the Epilogue, what is Esme Codell's impression of Mr. Turner?
(a) Mr. Turner appears to have changed, and his speech was actually quite stirring.
(b) Mr. Turner is the same prideful blowhard as ever.
(c) Mr. Turner is unusually reserved.
(d) Mr. Turner is ogling young female teachers, which sickens Codell.

9. How does Codell teach the students to multiply double-digit numbers?
(a) By staging a Jeopardy-style game show.
(b) By using "cha-cha" dance steps.
(c) By creating an elaborate flashcard system.
(d) By having the students create an Aesop's Fable about the numbers.

10. What kind of speeches are delivered at the middle school graduation ceremony, according to Codell?
(a) They seem to be pleas to the students not to start a life of crime.
(b) They scold the student body for a recent gang incident at the school.
(c) They are noble and uplifting.
(d) They are funny and endearing.

11. Who draws muscle men in his journal?
(a) Ashworth.
(b) Billy Williams.
(c) Ozzie.
(d) Ruben.

12. Why did Esme receive a low teacher rating in her second year of teaching?
(a) She was pregnant, and took too many sick days.
(b) Vindictive Mr. Turner punished her for her outspoken nature.
(c) She had a disastrous second annual Storyteller's Festival.
(d) She refused to follow state-mandated curricula.

13. What is the stated purpose of the "educational chiropractor" early in Part III?
(a) To "straighten out" the student body.
(b) To "work out the kinks" in school rules.
(c) To "align" the teachers' curriculum.
(d) To "massage" the teachers' union into agreeing to lesser pay.

14. What is the former occupation of Esme's current principal (as of the Epilogue)?
(a) Army colonel.
(b) School librarian.
(c) College professor.
(d) Civil engineer.

15. What is the result of Codell's conference with Rowisha, B. B.'s mother?
(a) Rowisha apologizes for her son, B. B. never acts up again, and the conference is a complete success.
(b) Rowisha beats B. B. to the ground until he is hysterical.
(c) Rowisha beats B. B. to the point that Codell punches the woman.
(d) Rowisha never shows, and B. B. feels abandoned.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which student does Codell want as her little sister?

2. According to the end of Part II, what is Codell's ultimate career aspiration?

3. Why is Codell afraid of B. B. returning from suspension?

4. What organization gives a teaching award to Codell, as described in the April 7 entry?

5. What song does Codell hear in her mind when she has recess duty?

(see the answer keys)

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