The following items are part of the Study Guide for the Florida Teacher Certification Exam (FTCE), Elementary Education 1-6, developed by the Florida Department of Education.
Sample Item 1
Sample Item 2
Sample Item 3A. grouping students by proficiency for handwriting practice
B. practicing handwriting skills at the blackboard
C. reviewing handwriting skills for one half hour a day for a week
D. offering extra credit for optional handwriting exercises
Suggested correct answer: A (Reading/Language Arts)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 1: Knowledge of effective instructional practices
Skill 2: Organize the classroom to provide for effective grouping, individualization,
and instruction.
Competency 6: Knowledge of concepts, skills, and strategies necessary
for effective teaching in grades one through six
Skill 1: Demonstrate the ability to teach reading/language arts.
Sample Item 4A fourth-grade teacher plans to introduce a unit on important events in Florida history to a social studies class of average ability. He can best integrate the unit with other subject areas by having the students
A. listen to songs written during the time period studied.
B. study artists' depictions of important historical events.
C. produce a video in which they reenact important historical events.
D. ask older relatives about important events that occurred during their lifetimes.
Suggested correct answer: C (Social Studies)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 1: Knowledge of effective instructional practices
Skill 4: Identify and apply skills necessary to integrate content areas in the
instructional process.
Sample Item 5A student in a fifth-grade class has not yet mastered the multiplication facts. Which instructional resources should his teacher use to remedy the problem?
A. filmstrips that demonstrate the concept of multiplication as repeated addition
B. a mathematics teacher who would discuss the importance of multiplication
with the students
C. a computer game that reinforces rapid response to multiplication problems
D. a supplementary book of puzzles and work problems that involve multiplication.
Suggested correct answer: C (Mathematics)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 5: Proficiency in diagnosis, assessment, and evaluation
Skill 5: Demonstrate the ability to match instructional materials to children's
abilities in all content areas.
Competency 6: Knowledge of concepts, skills, and strategies necessary
for effective teaching in grades one through six
Skill 2: Demonstrate the ability to teach mathematics.
Annotations for the suggested correct answer: The best correct answer is C because it provides an effective way to allow the student to practice and receive immediate feedback related to the memorization of the multiplication basic facts. Choices A, B and D indicate the use of teaching resources that do not match the student's need represented in this item dealing with the memorization of the multiplication basic facts.
Sample Item 6A. Contact the parents of the worst offenders to request a conference.
B. Send the worst offenders to the principal for disciplinary action.
C. Explain to the students the problems involved in poor time management.
D. Plan a highly interesting activity for the students after rehearsal.
Suggested correct answer: D
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 1: Knowledge of effective instructional practices
Skill 6: Identify and apply models and methods of classroom management and discipline.
Sample Item 7A class of fourth-grade students is working on a science unit about the growth of plants. In their writing classes, they are studying personification. Which writing activity would best meet both the science and the language arts objectives, while simultaneously integrating the cognitive and affective domains?
a. describing the steps involved in building a classroom terrarium
b. imagining the reactions of people watching a plant grow as tall as a skyscraper
c. developing a checklist of nutrients and other important plant-care needs
d. describing a plant's struggle to survive in a polluted environment
Suggested correct answer: D (Science, Reading/Language Arts)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 1: Knowledge of effective instructional practices
Skill 4: Identify and apply skills necessary to integrate content areas in the
instructional process.
Sample Item 8Bob, a hyperactive fifth-grade student, can concentrate on an activity for only about three minutes at a time. What should the teacher do to increase Bob's attention span?
A. Praise Bob each time he works quietly for three of more minutes.
B. Explain to Bob that working quietly could help him learn better.
C. Arrange a conference with Bob's parents to discuss the problem with them.
D. Use the time procedure to isolate Bob when he disrupts the class.
Suggested correct answer: A
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 2: Knowledge of child growth and development
Skill 2: Recognize young children as individuals with feelings, attitudes, and
emotions that shape their behavioral responses.
Sample Item 9Elizabeth is first-grade student who shows little interest in reading at school. Her parents are college-educated professionals and her brother and sisters are successful high school students. She has always had access to reading materials, games, and puzzles at home. How should Elizabeth's teacher stimulate her interest in reading?
A. Refer Elizabeth to the staffing team for placement in a special program.
B. Give Elizabeth reading assignments and worksheets to do at home for extra
credit.
C. Meet with Elizabeth's parents to discuss the need for their support.
D. Provide Elizabeth with high-interest, low-vocabulary material to read in
class.
Suggested correct answer: D (Reading/Language Arts)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 5: Proficiency in diagnosis, assessment, and evaluation
Skill 2: Provide readiness activities in all subject areas, according to each
child's readiness level.
Skill 5: Demonstrate the ability to match instructional materials to children's
abilities in all content areas
Sample
Item 10. Mr. DuBois wants to inform a student's parent that their daughter may need to be retained in the second grade at the end of the school year. What would be the best way for him to report this information to the parents?
A. a progress report
B. personal letter
C. parent conference
D. telephone contact
Suggested correct answer: C
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 4: Familiarity with research, standards, ethics, practices, and
trends
Skill 4: Recognize the need for confidentiality of student and parent information.
Sample
Item 11. A third-grade teacher has just been informed that a wheelchair-bound student will join the class. How can the teacher best prepare the class to receive the new student?
A. Discuss appropriate behavior and set consequences for misbehaviors before
the new student arrives.
B. Initiate a classroom discussion about individual differences and feeling
before the new student arrives.
C. Initiate a classroom discussion about individual differences and feelings
after the new student arrives.
D. Assign one student to be responsible for taking care of the new student's
classroom needs.
Suggested correct answer: B
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 2: Knowledge of child growth and development
Skill 2: Recognize young children as individuals with feelings, attitudes, and
emotions that shape their behavioral responses.
Skill 6: Demonstrate the ability to assist students in interacting constructively
with their peers.
Sample
Item 12. Seven-year old Jimmy, who speaks nonstandard English, uses phrases such as "me and my friend are" and "George ain't here." How would a teacher who uses the Language Experience Approach respond to Jimmy's use of language?
A. Ask Jimmy's parents to use standard English with him at home.
B. Delay teaching the writing process to Jimmy until he has learned standard
English.
C. Correct Jimmy frequently when he writes and insist that he speak standard
English at School.
D. Read the class stories in standard English but allow Jimmy to write using
his own words.
Suggested correct answer: D (Reading/Language Arts)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 2: Knowledge of child growth and development
Skill 4: Demonstrate sensitivity to multicultural children and provide for their
needs.
Sample
Item 13. "Children should be free to learn. Children are like growing plants and the teacher's role is that of a gardener."
The philosophy expressed in this statement is best reflected in a/an
A. cognitively oriented curriculum.
B. open-education approach.
C. back-to-basics program.
D. social-development approach.
Suggested correct answer: B
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 3: Knowledge of foundations
Skill 4: Identify major philosophies of early childhood and elementary education.
Sample
Item 14. A sixth-grade teacher plans to relate topics in a unit of health to the interests of his students. The most appropriate way for him to organize his instruction would be to
A. group the students according to their interests for work on projects pertaining
to the unit objectives.
B. schedule daily class lectures that incorporate the interests of all the students.
C. allow time at the end of the period for open discussion of health topics
that interest the students.
D. assign each student an independent project related to one of the unit objectives.
Suggested correct answer: A (Science/Health)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 6: Knowledge of concepts, skills, and strategies necessary for
effective teaching in grades one through six
Skill 3: Demonstrate the ability to teach Science/Health.
Sample
Item 15.Ms. Jones is third-grade teacher who has a mainstreamed mentally handicapped child in her classroom for the first time. The best resource person for Ms. Jones to use in order to learn about effective teaching techniques and activities for the new student is the
A. school principal.
B. child's parents.
C. school guidance counselor.
D. district curriculum specialist.
Suggested correct answer: D
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 4: Familiarity with research, standards, ethics, practices, and
trends
Skill 5: Recognize the need for working effectively with colleagues, parents,
and the community
Sample
Item 16. Mr. Robinson has been contacted by the parents of a girl that he taught last year. The parents have complained that their daughter is being graded unfairly by her teacher this year. What should be Mr. Robinson's first response?
A. Tell the principal about his conversation with the parents.
B. Discuss the girl's past performance with her current teacher.
C. Ask the parents to talk directly with the girl's current teacher.
D. Advise the parents to discuss the matter with the principal.
Suggested correct answer: C
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 4: Familiarity with research, standards, ethics, practices, and
trends
Skill 5: Recognize the need for working effectively with colleagues, parents,
and the community.
Sample Item 17. What is the most appropriate strategy for teaching mathematics to a heterogeneously grouped fifth-grade class?
A. following the scope and sequence of a fifth-grade basal mathematics book
B. forming as many skill-level groups as necessary to meet each student's diagnosed
needs
C. forming five or six skill-level groups based on students' scores from a standardized
test
D. dividing students into two or three groups based on their diagnose needs
Suggested correct answer: D (Mathematics)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 1: Knowledge of effective instructional practices
Skill 7: Identify appropriate instructional strategies.
Competency 6: Knowledge of concepts, skills, and strategies necessary
for effective teaching in grades one through six
Skill 2: Demonstrate the ability to teach mathematics
Sample
Item 18. What is the most appropriate resource for teaching introductory map skills to third-grade students?
A. Mercator projection map
B. Globe
C. topological map
D. local road map
Suggested correct answer: D (Social Studies)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 1: Knowledge of effective instructional practices
Skill 5: Identify and demonstrate the appropriate use of instructional materials
and resources.
Competency 6: Knowledge of concepts, skills, and strategies necessary
for effective teaching in grades one through six
Skill 4: Demonstrate the ability to teach social studies.
Sample
Item 19. The teacher of a fourth-grade class is completing a social studies unit on Florida history and wants to determine his students' mastery of the unit objectives. Which assessment procedure will provide the information that the teacher wants?
A. conducting conferences with individual students to assess their progress
B. selecting a standardized diagnostic test that covers social studies skills
C. preparing a criterion-referenced test that covers the content studied
D. selecting a standardized norm-referenced test on the topic studied
Suggested correct answer: C (Social Studies)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 5: Proficiency in diagnosis, assessment, and evaluation
Skill 5: Demonstrate the ability to match instructional materials to children's
abilities in all content areas.
Sample
Item 20.
The following passage is part of a story read in a third-grade class:
Fred's dog was run over by a car.
Fred ran to his mother crying.
If the teacher asks the students how Fred felt about the death of his dog, which skill is she trying to develop?
A. literal comprehension
B. interpretative comprehension
C. critical reading
D. evaluative interpretation
Suggested correct answer: B (Reading/Language Arts)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 6: Knowledge of concepts, skills, and strategies necessary for
effective teaching in grades one through six
Skill 1: Demonstrate the ability to teach reading/language arts.
Sample
Item 21. Which would be the best method for teaching fifth-grade students of average ability how to find the area of a rectangle?
A. Write the formula on the board and provide rulers for the students to measure
classroom objects.
B. Have the students look up the formula in their math books and do application
exercises.
C. Have the students draw rectangles on grid paper and count the squares covered
to find the rule.
D. Tell the students the formula and have them do application exercises on grid
paper
Suggested correct answer: C (Mathematics)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 1: Knowledge of effective instructional practices
Skill 7: Identify appropriate instructional strategies.
Competency 6: Knowledge of concepts, skills, and strategies necessary
for effective teaching in grades one through six
Skill 2: Demonstrate the ability to teach mathematics
Sample
Item 22. A student is studying the effect of light on plant growth. She places ten seedlings in a dark place and ten seedlings in the sunlight. What function is served by placing some of the plants in the dark?
A. control
B. hypothesis
C. data collection
D. factor analysis
Suggested correct answer: D (Science/Health)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 6: Knowledge of concepts, skills, and strategies necessary for effective
teaching in grades one through six
Skill 3: Demonstrate the ability to teach Science/Health.
Sample
Item 23. Ms. McClary plans to use community resources as a part of a lesson on local history. Which activity would be most appropriate for her second-grade students?
A. using library resources to write individual reports
B. visiting a local newspaper to consult the archives
C. watching a film about early explorers in Florida
D. listing the oldest building in the area
Suggested correct answer: D (Social Studies)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 6: Knowledge of concepts, skills, and strategies necessary for
effective teaching in grades one through six
Skill 4: Demonstrate the ability to teach social studies.
Sample
Item 24. The most important function of computers in elementary math instruction is to
A. provide individually paced practice.
B. eliminate the need for drill sheets.
C. provide reinforcement for good behavior
D. introduce new concepts and skills
Suggested correct answer: A (Mathematics)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 6: Knowledge of concepts, skills, and strategies necessary for
effective teaching in grades one through six
Skill 2: Demonstrate the ability to teach mathematics.
Sample
Item 25. Which strategy most closely fits Ausubel's theoretical model of instruction?
A. exploring students' feelings and perceptions about the subject matter they
are studying
B. presenting material in an organized fashion, proceeding from general to specific
details
C. Using intriguing materials and structured learning actvities so that students
can make discoveries for themselves
D. writing specific learning objectives for students and providing them with
immediate feedback
Suggested correct answer: B
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 4: Familiarity with research, standards, ethics, practices, and
trends
Skill 3: Demonstrate knowledge of professional and educational trends and issues.
Sample
Item 26. A sixth-grade teacher plans to incorporate a physical education activity into a unit on the geography of China. Which of the following would be most appropriate?
A. playing Chinese games and writing reports on the origins and rules of the
games
B. setting up a fitness trail in the shape of China with stations that describe
geographical features and fitness activities
C. writing a report comparing the physical activities of American and Chinese
children
D. researching and discussing the relationship of food and nutrition in China
to health and demographic data
Suggested correct answer: B (Social Studies, Physical Education)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 6: Knowledge of concepts, skills, and strategies necessary for
effective teaching in grades one through six
Skill 6: Demonstrate the ability to integrate art, music, and physical education
in the elementary curriculum.
Sample
Item 27. A second-grade teacher is planning a unit on computers and their components. What would be the best introductory activity for her students?
A. examining a computer with the components labeled
B. doing exercises in a computer literacy workbook
C. matching each component with the correct name
D. watching a demonstration of various uses of computers
Suggested correct answer: C (Computers)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 6: Knowledge of concepts, skills, and strategies necessary for
effective teaching in grades one through six
Skill 5: Demonstrate the ability to teach computer literacy skills.
Sample
Item 28.Louise is a third-grade student. After silently reading selections from the third-grade basal text, she answers comprehension questions with 10 to 20 percent accuracy. When she listens to recordings of the passages, she is able to answer with 80 to 95 percent accuracy. Louise demonstrates difficulty in comprehending
A. at grade level.
B. independently.
C. without visual reinforcement.
D. without auditory reinforcement.
Suggested correct answer: D (Reading/Language Arts)
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 6: Knowledge of concepts, skills, and strategies necessary for
effective teaching in grades one through six
Skill 1: Demonstrate the ability to teach reading/language arts.
Sample
Item 29. Ms. Peabody believes that her first-grade students are content-bound. They are good at giving textbook answers and parroting what they have learned, but have difficulty thinking for themselves. Which of the following activities should Ms. Peabody use to help her students become more creative thinkers?
A. giving the students paper clips and asking them to list ten uses for them
B. presenting a moral dilemma regarding stealing and asking the students for
solutions
C. brainstorming with the class in order to establish a list of classroom rules
D. asking the students to list reading materials they would like for the class
library
Suggested correct answer: A
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 4: Familiarity with research, standards, ethics, practices, and
trends
Skill 3: Demonstrate knowledge of professional and educational trends and issues.
Sample
Item 30. Jim and Carol are members of a sixth-grade class. They are popular students who achieve above-average grades. They prefer group projects and participate actively in class. A sociometric test was administered to the class indicates that Jim and Carol exhibit leadership qualities.
The test results show that two other students, Cynthia and Tom, are isolates. They, too, achieve above-average grades, but prefer to work by themselves and are quiet in class.
Which of the following statements most accurately interprets the students' test performance and classroom behaviors?
A. All four students' behaviors are appropriate for children at their stage
of development.
B. The behavior of Jim and Carol is characteristic of much older children.
C. The behavior of Cynthia and Tom is characteristic of much younger children.
D. All four students' behaviors fall outside the normal range for their stage
of development.
Suggested correct answer: A
Competencies and skills involved in this item:
Competency 2. Knowledge of child growth and development
Skill 5. Identify and demonstrate the appropriate use of instructional materials
and resources.
