The classroom where I'm doing my student teaching is carefully laid out for ease of teaching and movement around the room. The teacher uses an interactive Promethean board for slideshows, videos, and when reviewing written work. To make it easier to view, students' desks are arranged into two blocks, both angled toward the board, with a few seats between the two that face directly forward. Gaps are provided that are sufficient to move between desks. There's enough maneuvering space that, with a few minutes' work, desks can be rearranged into pairs or groups for cooperative work. The room is richly decorated with historical artefacts, including copies of antique posters and genuine antique clothes and appliances collected by my mentor teacher. These frequently figure into our lessons; for instance, propaganda posters from World War I and II are used to teach students about how the government cultivated public support and contributions to the war effort.
An example of a student's completed homework for the lesson U.S. Power in Latin America. (The student's name is redacted.) This work shows how an answer that contains plenty of true information related to the topic still isn't necessarily the information the student's being tested on. In this case, while the student's answer to question 3 is a very good description of the Panama Canal's purpose, it doesn't explain why the canal was built on an isthmus (the answer is that an isthmus is by definition narrower than the surrounding land, allowing the canal to be shorter). In my classroom, homework is checked live by the teacher, which requires other students to wait while the teacher goes around the room. This poses a challenge to time management and forces the teacher to choose between grading for accuracy or completion. In this case, students were graded on completion. This student received full credit. On a test, this answer would be marked...
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