What kind of teacher would you be?

1.   You have worked hard to plan a special lesson for your class as a culminating activity to a unit. When your students come into class, they are very excited about a fire in an apartment complex a block down the street from the school. Many sirens can be heard. What would you do?

	a.	Give the students an opportunity to discuss what they have seen and then go on to a modified version of the lesson plan.
	b.	Get permission from the office to take the students on a field trip to observe the fire.
	c.	Tell the students that there isn't time to talk about the fire and begin the activity as planned.

2.   At the end of a lesson, most students demonstrate that they understand the concepts you taught. However, a few students clearly did not understand. What would you do?

	a.	The next day, give the students who understand an extension activity while you reteach the group who doesn't understand.
	b.	Reteach the entire class the next day, knowing that they all could use a review.
	c.	Give the students who don't understand extra homework so you can go on to the next lesson the following day.

3.   A parent requests a conference at which he tells you that his child comes home and cries most days after school. The child is obviously unhappy in your class. What would you do?

	a.	Ask the parent for more information so you can understand the situation and develop and make changes.
	b.	Ask the parent to tell you what you can do to make the child happier.
	c.	Explain your policies and procedures to the parent so that he can see that you're a fair teacher.

4.   You are meeting with your grade level team to plan instruction for the next six weeks. Several other teachers want to teach a unit that they have taught before, but you see that your students have already mastered many of the objectives in the unit. What would you do?

	a.	Teach the aspects of the unit that are appropriate for your students, but substitute other objectives and activities to meet the needs of your students.
	b.	Allow your students to suggest other topics of study and vote on the one they prefer.
	c.	Teach the unit exactly as the team has planned so that they don't think badly of you as a team member.

5.   Because some students have not been completing their homework, you have instituted a strict homework policy. Ethan, a student with a physical disability, is a very slow writer. He says he tries, but cannot complete the homework. What would you do?

	a.	Modify the homework assignment for Ethan so that he does only enough problems to show he has mastered the skill.
	b.	Exempt Ethan from all future homework assignments.
	c.	Call Ethan's parents and emphasize the importance of completing homework.

6.   A new student enters your class in the beginning of the year. She is from another country and speaks very little English. What do you do?

	a.	When giving verbal directions or explanations, also provide visual cues.
	b.	Speak slowly and loudly to the student, and tell other students to do the same.
	c.	Give the student plenty of opportunities to practice her English in front of the class.

7.   You have noticed that the boys in your class take the lead in cooperative groups more often than the girls. You want to be sure that you are not subconsciously sending a message about the girls' competence. What would you do?

	a.	Ask challenging questions to both boys and girls.
	b.	Praise girls when they answer difficult questions correctly.
	c.	Put boys and girls in separate cooperative groups.

8.   For the entire school year, your school is emphasizing multicultural education. What would you do?

	a.	Plan a unit in which folk tales from around the world are compared and contrasted.
	b.	Plan special celebrations for Martin Luther King's Birthday and Cinco de Mayo.
	c.	Follow the district curriculum guide which does not require multicultural approaches to learning.

9.   You have noticed that some children in your 4th grade class have formed a clique and are antagonizing the other students. Their presence has polarized the atmosphere in your classroom. What would you do?

	a.	Separate the students in the clique by moving their desks apart and pairing them up with other children. Lead a brief discussion on the situation, then proceed with the lesson.
	b.	Joke with the children involved with the clique about groups in society and encourage kids who feel left out to create groups of their own.
	c.	Send offenders to the principal's office, then push on with your lesson. If the antagonizing behavior continues, you punish the whole class by making them stay after school.

10.   You have been out sick. Upon returning to class, your substitute teacher informs you that your students misbehaved and that your lesson plan seemed too difficult for them to grasp. What would you do?

	a.	Hold a meeting on expectations for "having a substitute teacher" with your class and discuss the reasons for those expectations. Assess what they learned the day before.
	b.	Joke with the class about how bad the substitute teacher was and repeat the lesson.
	c.	Continue forward from the substitute's lesson plan, reprimanding students who seem lost on the grounds that they must have been misbehaving.

11.   Your class, along with two other classes, is on a field trip at a local museum. Your class seems to have finished with the exhibits early and is waiting for the others and for the buses to arrive. What would you do?

	a.	You have a lesson involving a treasure hunt learning game, which is related to the field trip, tucked away in your bag for just such an occasion.
	b.	Herd your students to the gift shop where they may spend any money they have on souvenirs "to remember the experience."
	c.	Insist that the students go back through the exhibit by telling them there will be a pop-quiz on the material.

12.   Your school has lengthy announcements on the public address system at the beginning of the day. You are overwhelmed by the amount of time it takes away from your class. What would you do?

	a.	Use the time for taking roll and passing out materials quietly so that the lesson may begin promptly after the announcements end.
	b.	Tell your students they may use the announcement time for free reading as long as they are quiet.
	c.	Raise the issue with colleagues and the principal at the next faculty meeting. Until then, ignore the announcements.

13.    A guest speaker visits your classroom to present a topic. The speaker, however, seems to have no understanding of the age-appropriateness or difficulty of her subject matter. Your students' eyes glaze over; they seem lost, confused and frustrated. What would you do?

	a.	After the guest speaker leaves, ask the students to write about the presentation and use their writing as a tool for understanding how much information actually was "over their heads." Then schedule a follow-up presentation with the same guest after reviewing what information needs to be presented differently.
	b.	Interject student-level language while the guest speaker is talking, trying to translate the content on the fly so that students may understand.
	c.	Inform the students to listen carefully to the presentation as there will be a pop-quiz. After the quiz, conduct a lesson reviewing terms used by the guest.

14.   Throughout the first few months of the school year, you notice that one of your students, Mark, is clearly several grade levels above the rest of the class. Often in class he seems bored, creates distractions, and acts out of line. What would you do?

	a.	You give Mark a referral for evaluation for gifted and talented services and obtain a mentor for him to stimulate and supplement his learning.
	b.	You tell Mark that he doesn't need to push himself so hard, and to lighten-up and "just be a kid."
	c.	You give Mark more homework and encourage him to lead the class as often as possible.

When you have finished with the survey, count the number of answers you have for each letter then click here for analysis.

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