Question

D. R. Gaul Middle School is in Union, Maine, a blueberry-farming town where the summer fair finds kids competing in pig scrambles(爭(zhēng)奪) and pie-eating contests.

Gaul, with about 170 seventh- and eighth-graders, has its own history of lower level academic achievement. One likely reason: Education beyond the basic requirements hasn't always been a top priority(優(yōu)先) for families who've worked the same land for generations. Here, few adults have college degrees, and outsiders(局外人) (teachers included) are often kept at a respectful distance.

Since 2002, Gaul's students have been divided into four classes, each of them taught almost every subject by two teachers. The goal: To find common threads across disciplines to help students create a big picture that gives fresh meaning and context to their class work -- and sparks(激發(fā)) motivation for learning.

Working within state guidelines, each team makes its individual schedules and lesson plans, incorporating non-textbook literature, hands-on lab work and field trips. If students are covering the Civil War in social studies, they're reading The Red Badge of Courage or some other period literature in English class. In science, they study the viruses and bacteria that caused many deaths in the war.

Team teaching isn't unusual. About 77 percent of middle schools now employ some form of it, says John Lounsbury, consulting editor for the National Middle School Association. But most schools use four- or five-person teams, which Gaul tried before considering two-person teams more effective. Gaul supports the team concept by "looping" classes (跟班) so that the same two teachers stick with the same teens through seventh and eighth grades. Combining teams and looping creates an extremely strong bond between teacher and student. It also, says teacher Beth Ahlholm, "allows us to build an excellent relationship with parents."

Ahlholm and teammate Madelon Kelly are fully aware how many glazed looks they see in the classroom, but they know 72 percent of their eighth-graders met Maine's reading standard last year -- double the statewide average. Only 31 percent met the math standard, still better than the state average (21 percent). Their students also beat the state average in writing and science. And in2006, Gaul was one of 47 schools in the state to see testing gains of at least 20 percent in four of the previous five years, coinciding roughly with team teaching's arrival.

 

A Classroom With Context
1.      of the school	◆Being a farming town, Gaul achieved little in 2.        before. ◆Further education is considered less important there. ◆The community is relatively 3.         rather than open to the outsiders.
Ways of solving the problems	●dividing the students into different classes and creating ways to make the students well 4.         to learn. ●conducting5.       and lesson plans for each team ●establishing a strong 6.        between teacher and students through combining teams and looping
7.       of success	■72 percent of the eighth-graders8.       Maine's reading standard ■the school beating the state average in 9.         ■students’ math average being 10.       higher than the state average ■four of the previous five years  witnessing at least 20 percent test gains

 

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.Problems

2.education/academic achievement

3.closed

4.motivated

5.individual schedules

6.tie/connection/bond/ relationship

7.Signs/ Examples

8.reaching/meeting

9.writing and science

10.10 percent

【解析】

試題分析：全文敘述了在緬因州的藍(lán)莓種植小鎮(zhèn)上的D. R. Gaul中學(xué)里，人們不重視教育。一個(gè)很可能的原因是：在這個(gè)祖祖輩輩在土地上耕作的人們，接受基礎(chǔ)教育以上的教育不是家庭的最好選擇。在這里沒(méi)有幾個(gè)成年人有大學(xué)學(xué)歷，而局外人（也包括老師）經(jīng)常被敬而遠(yuǎn)之。后來(lái)學(xué)校改變了教學(xué)方法，把學(xué)生分成四個(gè)班，每個(gè)班有兩個(gè)老師講課以激發(fā)學(xué)生學(xué)習(xí)的動(dòng)力。每個(gè)學(xué)生都要有個(gè)人計(jì)劃和課程計(jì)劃，老師和家長(zhǎng)相互建立良好的關(guān)系等等。通過(guò)努力使該校學(xué)生的成績(jī)有了很多的進(jìn)步。

1.根據(jù)第二段講到問(wèn)題所在：Problems of the school。

2.根據(jù)第二段第一句話(huà)：Gaul, with about 170 seventh- and eighth-graders, has its own history of lower level academic achievement. （Gaul中學(xué)有170名其年級(jí)和八年級(jí)的學(xué)生，都有著較低的學(xué)術(shù)成就。）選擇 academic 或者education。

3.社區(qū)對(duì)外界是相對(duì)封閉而不是開(kāi)放的，對(duì)老師也是敬而遠(yuǎn)之。closed

4.第三段講到問(wèn)題的解決：教學(xué)改革。學(xué)生被分成四個(gè)班。每個(gè)班有兩個(gè)老師教課，找到不同學(xué)科共同的教學(xué)思路，來(lái)激發(fā)學(xué)生學(xué)習(xí)的動(dòng)力。motivated

5.根據(jù)第四段的Working within state guidelines, each team makes its individual schedules and lesson plans,（在州的指導(dǎo)方針指引下每個(gè)人創(chuàng)造了個(gè)人計(jì)劃 和小組計(jì)劃。）判斷填individual schedules。

6. 根據(jù)第五段的It also, says teacher Beth Ahlholm, "allows us to build an excellent relationship with parents."（Beth老師說(shuō)，它還允許我們和家長(zhǎng)建立很好的關(guān)系。）判斷是tie/connection/bond/ relationship。

7.根據(jù)最后一段講述改革的成功案例判斷填：Signs/ Examples

8. 根據(jù)最后一段第一句話(huà)后半部分：but they know 72 percent of their eighth-graders met Maine's reading standard last year（但是他們知道72%的八年級(jí)的學(xué)生去年達(dá)到緬因州的閱讀標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。）判斷填reaching/meeting 。

9.根據(jù)最后一段：Their students also beat the state average in writing and science. （他們的學(xué)生在寫(xiě)作和自然學(xué)科中擊敗州平均分。）判斷選擇：writing and science

10.  Only 31 percent met the math standard, still better than the state average (21 percent)（僅僅31%的達(dá)到數(shù)學(xué)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，比數(shù)學(xué)的州平均分還高。

考點(diǎn)：任務(wù)型閱讀。