Reading Comprehension Practice Test 16
Directions (Q. 1-9): Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow by selecting the most appropriate option.
Renowned educationalist Sir Tim Brighouse observed that an outstanding school has four factors that are visible. “Teachers talk about teaching, teachers observe each other’s practice, teachers plan, organise and evaluate their work together rather than separately, and that teachers teach each other.”
He continues: “One of the reasons I like that is that you can immediately see ways in which you could make it more likely that teachers talk about teaching.”
Sir Tim then encouraged schools to focus on activities that were low effort but high impact, describing them as “butterflies”. Some examples he gave included rotating staff meetings around different classrooms with the host, at the start, describing the room layout and displays, or discussing other teaching techniques and approaches. With modern technology teachers could observe their own lessons and then when viewing them back, decide whether they want to share them with a mentor.
The role of mentoring was vital and suggested that more schools could send teachers out in small groups to learn from colleagues in other schools.
He said: “If this were widespread practice, if people were to attend to their butterflies, the outcome in terms of teacher morale and teacher satisfaction would be positive. We all agree that professional development is the vital ingredient”.
1. In the mode suggested by Sir Tim, teachers may self-evaluate and self-reflect
(1) using technology
(2) without technology
(3) through a students’ survey
(4) interviewing each other
Ans. 1
2. Teachers talk about teaching’ means that they
(1) make some suggestions
(2) discuss their own practices
(3) criticise one another
(4) freely change opinions
Ans. 2
3. ‘Low effort but high impact’ in this context implies that schools
(1) pay teachers a lower salary
(2) extract more work for the same pay
(3) decrease the work load and salary
(4) create opportunities within the system for development
Ans. 4
4. In this extract, it is observed that technology supports teachers to
(1) improve students
(2) conduct meetings for teachers
(3) follow-up/remediation activities for students
(4) self-diagnose their practices
Ans. 4
5. Here, ‘visible’ means
(1) seen
(2) appealing
(3) obvious
(4) bright
Ans. 3
6. Rotating staff meetings in the classrooms’ permits teachers to
(1) be informal with each other
(2) miss some of them
(3) share their own practices with others
(4) keep busy all the time
Ans. 3
7. A synonym for the word ‘counselling’ from the passage is
(1) mentoring
(2) teaching
(3) describing
(4) discussing
Ans. 1
8. The talk by Sir Tim is about the
(1) teachers who dress like butterflies.
(2) visiting schools to socialise.
(3) knowledge teachers gain for job growth.
(4) schools who control their teachers.
Ans. 3
99. “Butterflies” here refers to
(1) the dress code
(2) a practice of staff interaction
(3) changing schools
(4) going to classes in rotation
Ans. 2
