Real-Life Communication
Teachers communicate ideas to their students all day. They must
be able to explain concepts clearly. "You have to make your instructions and
explanations clear so that everyone understands them," says Cheryl Pesicka.
Teaching
also involves reading and writing. "You have to have legible handwriting,"
says Pesicka. "You are a model that they are learning from."
Teachers
also must construct reading comprehension tests, and then be able to mark
the correct answers. Read the following story once, then read the accompanying
questions. After the questions, you will see a child's answers to the
questions.
Story:
Maxwell doesn't want to get
out of bed this morning. I'm not going to get up, he thinks. They can
try as much as they want, but I'm going to stay in bed all day. It will
be wonderful. I can sleep, while everyone else goes to school!
Maxwell
wants to stay in bed because he is tired, but more than that he wants to stay
in bed because he is worried and nervous. He has to give a speech at school
today! He has picked his topic. At first he thought about talking about sailboats,
and then he thought of the Hubble space station until he finally decided on
talking about slugs.
Maxwell lies in his bed for a long time. He is
surprised that his mom hasn't come to get him. She must think I'm
sick, Maxwell thinks. And he is happy that he has fooled his mother.
After
spending even more time in bed, Maxwell begins to get bored and his stomach
begins to growl. Maybe, I'll just get out of bed and see what kind of
day it is, he says. He pulls back the curtain and sees the sun shining brightly.
And
then he notices his sister playing with her dog, Twinkles, on the front lawn.
"Hey, sleepy head," she yells up to you. "You've almost missed the whole
day! It's beautiful out. I can't believe anybody would want to sleep
all day on a Saturday!"
"Saturday? I didn't have to give my speech
today, and I didn't need to stay in bed!" Maxwell groans.
Questions:
- Why doesn't Maxwell want to get out of bed?
- Maxwell decides to write a speech about slugs. What else does he think
about talking about?
- Who is Maxwell's sister playing with?
- Why is Maxwell upset at the end of the story?
Child's answers:
- Maxwell doesn't want to get out of bed because it's Saturday.
- Maxwell thinks about writing about sailboats or about the moon.
- Maxwell's sister is playing with her dog, Twinkles.
- Maxwell is upset at the end of the story because his sister yelled at
him.
Which of the child's answers are correct? If they are incorrect,
what is the right answer?