Monday, May 23

We're finishing the school year! Students in my classes have a final exam either Tuesday (Blocks One and Four), or Wednesday (Block Three). The final exam is nothing to stress over, but you should be mentally prepared.

It is:
*Worth the same as any other test
*98 multiple choice questions and one written response
*The multiple choice questions might be about:
-definitions, like "What is diction?" and you would select the correct definition from the choices
-reading comprehension, where you'll first read an excerpt and then answer a question
-grammar, where you'll look at a sentence and identify something about it


Following a brief discussion about the final exam, my classes today participated in something of a social experiment. I gave all students a role playing situation, and the student had to answer the situation individually. After that, students got together into small groups and tried to reach a group consensus on the problem. Here is the situation:


Heart Surgery Exercise

You are surgeons at a large hospital. Your committee must make a very important decision. You have received word that a donor heart is available, and from your list of possible recipients, you find that seven candidates could receive the heart. The committee must choose which patient gets the heart. Because of the importance of this decision, a simple majority vote will not work. You must come to consensus.

Patients:
1. A famous brain surgeon at the height of her career. Single, black woman. 31 years old.
2. A 12 year old musician. Japanese girl.
3. A 40 year old teacher. Hispanic male, two children.
4. A 15 year old pregnant woman. Unmarried, white, no other children.
5. A 35 year old Roman Catholic priest.
6. A 17 year old waitress. White, high school dropout. Helps support her family with her earnings.
7. A 38 year old scientist close to discovering a cure for AIDS. Chinese woman, no children, lesbian.

There is no right or wrong answer. The point of this assignment is to get students to think, and to force them to work together in groups to explain their reasoning.