Reading for Viewpoints:

Read the following article from a website.

 

Visitors walking through Carleton High School are often surprised when they pass Bradley Gordon’s French class and see students on exercise bikes and sitting on yoga balls. Is it a French class, or is it a gym class? Well, it’s a bit of both!    Two major concerns in education are childhood obesity and ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a disorder that results in restlessness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. With high rates of obesity and also students struggling with ADHD in classes across the country, Mr. Gordon came up with an innovative intervention to address both. He decided to infuse academic studies with physical activity in his own classroom.   The idea came to Gordon after a personal experience in university while working on his bachelor’s degree. “I didn’t have time to schedule a separate slot for exercise, my health deteriorated rapidly,” said Gordon. “After feeling sick and fatigued for months, I decided to couple my studying with my workouts. To my surprise, it proved incredibly helpful. My grades started improving and so did my overall fitness and health.”   Gordon implemented the approach with his students to great effect last year. Despite the student’s excitement and academic improvement, he met resistance from the school’s principal, Don Epstein, who was not convinced that academics and physical exercise should be amalgamated. “Although exercise is certainly important, I didn’t think it had any place in academics. I assumed exercise would exacerbate ADHA”, Epstein asserted.   It turns out Mr. Epstein’s reaction is a common misconception. A Dr. John Ratney, a psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School, explains: “Exercise turns the attention system on, and helps with working memory, prioritizing and sustaining attention.” “Sustained physical exertion causes kids to be less impulsive and more prone to learn.” That’s precisely what Mr. Gordon found a year into the intervention. “My students’ endurance, both physical and mental, has improved. They are fit and eager to learn. Even students diagnosed with ADHD have displayed less physical agitation, which has helped them learn better.” So, when you walk by Mr. Gordon’s class and see bikes spinning, know that minds are at work.

Retrieved from the Paragon Testing website on July 16^th, 2021 https://secure.paragontesting.ca/InstructionalProducts/FreeOnlineSampleTest/FOST/View/e141e36e-858f-4e97-81a1-0e204661df4b

 

Thesis: Exercise and education go hand-in-hand says Bradley Gordon. Students who exercised did academically well in class.

 

Antithesis: Don Epstein said exercise is not part of an academic education

 

Support for Thesis: Dr. John Ratney

 

Using the drop-down menu (↓), choose the best option (to complete the sentences) according to the information given on the website.

1. This article is about

 

1. A conventional high school teacher with an unconventional idea
2. An ADHD expert teacher in Carleton High School
3. A partnership between a gym and a French teacher
4. A program introduced by Carleton’s High School principal

 

2. Gordon’s invention

1. is part of medical treatment for overweight children with ADHD.
2. was inspired by his own successful experiment as a student.
3. was designed to make students lose weight in one year.
4. Diminished exercising to focus on academic performance

 

3. The intervention was not

1. initially well received by the school principal.
2. Supported by medical research professionals
3. Appealing to his high school students
4. Conducted in the student’s educational setting

 

4. According to Dr. Ratney, exercising

1. increases physical agitation and diminishes attention.
2. diminishes hyperactivity and increases attention.
3. increases ADHD symptoms, especially impulsivity.
4. is more important than sustaining attention.

 

5. At the one-year mark, the intervention

1. produced the results Mr. Gordon expected.
2. confirmed Mr. Epstein’s initial reaction.
3. contradicted Professor Ratney’s expectations.
4. yielded undesirable effects on Mr. Gordon’s students.

 

 

 

Reader’s comment

The following is a comment by a visitor to the website page. Complete the comment by choosing the best option to fill in each blank.

 

Interesting article! I’ve been a high school teacher for fifteen years and I am quite dubious of Mr. Gordon’s attempt to (6.) _____. Although Dr. Ratney claims that this project (7.) ____, I often find the opposite is true. Indeed, it is the students that play soccer or basketball at lunchtime that (8.) ____ in the afternoon. It would be a mistake to (9.) ____ prior to the end of a busy school day. There is also the question of time management. It simply is not possible to get through the curriculum while the students are (10.) ____.

 

Method: Upon first reading of the ‘Comment’, decide if the response is ‘positive’ or supportive of Gordon’s idea, or ‘negative’ which does not support Gordon’s idea. This will help your understanding and keep your answer consistent throughout the 5 questions that follow.

 

In this section, the answers are either too specific or too general. The correct answer should always be consistent with the opinion of the writer of the response.

 

6. I’ve been a high school teacher for fifteen years and I am quite dubious of Mr. Gordon’s attempt to (6.) _____ .

 

i. reduce the weight of his students

ii. bring exercise into the classroom

iii. develop a cure for ADH

iv. finish university while teaching

 

7. Although Dr. Ratney claims that this project (7.) ____.

i. was be implemented at Harvard for a year

ii. was more important than academic study

iii. will improve students’ concentration

iv. will reduce unpremeditated aggression

 

8. Indeed, it is the students that play soccer or basketball at lunchtime that (8.) ____ in the afternoon,

i. are most likely to fade

ii. are the best students

iii. will exercise more

iv. have the best behaviour

 

9. It would be a mistake to (9.) ____ prior to the end of the busy school day.

 

i. limit students’ diet

ii. overwork the students

iii. provide too many assignments

iv. distract youths with ADHD

 

 

10. It simply is not possible to get through the curriculum while the students (10.) ____.

 

i. are too unfit to focus properly

ii. bouncing around on yoga balls

iii. really need to get more exercise

iv. don’t have time to do assignments