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150 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Bandura, Albert |
Social (or Observational) Learning Theory
Bandura found that children learn by observing others. In a classroom setting, this may occur through modeling or learning vicariously through others' experiences. |
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Bruner, Jerome |
Discovery Learning and Constructivism
Bruner suggests that learners actively construct new ideas or concepts based on knowledge or past experiences.
Constructivism emphasizes a student's ability to solve real-life problems and make new meaning through reflection.
Discovery Learning features teaching methods that enable students to discover information by themselves or in groups. |
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Dewey, John |
Learning Through Experience
Dewey is considered the "father" of progressive education practice that promotes individuality, free activity, and learning through experiences such as project-based learning, cooperative learning, and arts integration activities.
He believed that schools should teach children to be problem-solvers by helping them learn to think as opposed to helping them learn only the content of a lesson. He also believed that students should be active decision-makers in their education.
Dewey advanced the notion that teachers have rights and must have more academic autonomy. |
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Erikson, Erik |
Eight Stages of Human Development
Erik Erikson was a psychologist who suggested the following eight stages of human development, which are based on a crisis or conflict that a person resolves:
1. Infancy (age 0-1) trust vs. mistrust; key event: feeding
2. Toddler (age 1-2) autonomy vs. doubt; key event: toilet training
3. Early childhood (age 2-6) initiative vs. guilt; key event: independence
4. Elementary and middle school (age 6-12) competence vs. inferiority; key event: school
5. Adolescence (age 12-18) identity vs. role confusion; key event: sense of identity
6. Young adulthood (age 19-40) intimacy vs. isolation; key event: intimate relationships
7. Middle adulthood (age 40-65) generativity vs. stagnation; key event: supporting the next generation
8. Late adulthood (age 65-death) integrity vs. despair; key event: reflection and acceptance |
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Gilligan, Carol |
Stages of the Ethic of Care
Gilligan's work questions the male-centered personality psychology of Freud and Erikson, as well as Kohlberg's androcentric stages of moral development. She proposed the following stage theory of moral development of women:
1. Preconventional Stage - Goal: survival
2. Transitional Stage - moving from selfishness to responsibility to others
3. Conventional Stage - Goal: self-sacrifice is goodness
4. Transitional Stage - moving from goodness to truth that she is a person, too
5. Postconventional Stage - Goal: principle of nonviolence |
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Kohlberg, Lawrence |
Theory of Moral Development
Elementary school-aged children are generally at the first level of moral development, known as "Preconventional." At this level, some authority figure's threat or application of punishment inspires obedience.
The second level, "Conventional," is found in society. Stage 3 is characterized by seeking to do what will gain the approval of peers or others. Stage 4 is characterized by abiding the law and responding to obligations.
The third level of moral development, "Post-conventional," is rarely achieved by the majority of adults, according to Kohlberg. Stage 5 shows an understanding of social mutuality and genuine interest in the welfare of others. Stage 6 is based on respect for universal principles and the requirements of individual conscience.
1. Social orienation: obedience and punishment (preconventional)
2. Social orientation: individualism, instrumentalism and exchange (preconventional)
3. Social orientation: "good boy/good girl" (conventional)
4. Social orientation: law and order (conventional)
5. Social orientation: social contract (post-conventional)
6. Social orientation: principled conscience (post-conventional) |
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Maslow, Abraham |
Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow is known for establishing a theory of a hierarchy of needs in which certain lower needs must be satisfied before higher needs can be met.
1. Physiological needs: These very basic needs include air, water, food, sleep and sex.
2. Safety needs: These needs help us establish stability and consistency in a chaotic world, such as a secure home and family. Safety needs sometimes motivate people to be religious, ensuring the promise of safety after we die.
3. Love and belongingness needs: This level of the hierarchy occurs when people need to belong to groups: churches, schools, clubs, gangs, families and so on. People need to be needed at this level.
4. Esteem needs: At this level, self esteem results from competence or the mastery of a task and the ensuing attention and recognition received from others.
5. Self-actualization: People who have achieved the first four levels can maximize their potential. They seek knowledge, peace, oneness with a higher power, self-fulfillment and so on. |
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Montessori, Maria |
Follow the Child
Maria Montessori was an Italian physician whose philosophy and teaching practice affects many early-childhood programs and charter schools today. She believed that childhood is divided into four stages:
1. Birth to age 2. 2. Ages 2-5. 3. Ages 5 and 6. 4. Ages 7-12.
This belief led to multi-aged groupings of students based on their period of development. Montessori also believed that adolescence can be divided into two levels:
1. Ages 12-15 2. Ages 16-18
She believed that there are three stages of the learning process:
Stage 1: Introduce a concept by lecture, lesson, experience, book read-aloud, etc.
Stage 2: Process the information and develop an understanding of the concept through work, experimentation, and creativity.
Stage 3: "Knowing," which Montessori described as possessing an understanding of something that is demonstrated by the ability to pass a test with confidence, teach the concept to another, or express understanding with ease.
Montessori established her school Casa Bambini in 1908, and modified versions of her approach to education are found in some U.S. schools today. |
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Piaget, Jean |
Stages of Cognitive Development
Piaget, a cognitive theorist, suggested four stages of cognitive development:
1. Sensorimotor: birth-2; explore the world through senses and motor skills
2. Preoperational: 2-7; believe that others view the world as they do. Can use symbols to represent objects
3. Concrete operational: 7-11; reason logically in familiar situations. Can conserve and reverse operations
4. Formal operational: 11+; Can reason in hypothetical situations and use abstract thought |
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Skinner, B. F. |
Operant Conditioning
Skinner is thought of as the "grandfather of behaviorism," as he conducted much of the experimental research that is the basis of behavioral learning theory. His theory of operant conditioning is based on the idea that learning is a function of change in observable behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of a person's response to events (stimuli). When a stimulus-response is reinforced (rewarded), the individual becomes conditioned to respond. |
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Vygotsky, Lev |
Zone of Proximal Development
Vygotsky is credited with the social development theory of learning. He suggested that social interaction influences cognitive development. His learning theory, called the zone of proximal development, suggests that students learn best in a social context in which a more able adult or peer teaches the student something he or she could not learn on his or her own. In other words, teachers must determine what a student can do independently and then provide the student with opportunities to learn with the support of an adult or a more capable peer. You may think of this as finding the "just right" next lesson to teach a student and provide an appropriate level of educational support. |
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Construcivism |
A philosophy of learning based on the premise that people construct their own understanding of the world they live in through reflection on experiences. |
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Discovery Learning |
Teaching methods that enable students to discover information by themselves or in groups. |
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Extrinsic motivation |
Motivation that comes from "without," or from outside a person. Stickers, behavior charts, and incentives for learning are all examples of extrinsic motivators for students. |
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Intrinsic motivation |
Motivation that comes from "within," or from inside a person. Providing students time to reflect on goals and achievements or helping students see what they have learned and how it's important are examples of intrinsic motivators for students. |
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Learned Helplessness |
A tendency for a person to be a passive learner who is dependent on others for guidance and decision-making. |
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Metacognition |
A person's ability to think about his or her own thinking. Metacognition (meta = between, cognition = thinking) requires self-awareness and self-regulation of thinking. A student who demonstrates a high level of metacognition is able to explain his or her own thinking and describe which strategies he or she uses to read or to solve a problem. |
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Readiness to Learn |
A context within which a student's more basic needs (such as sleep, safety and love) are met and the student is cognitively ready for developmentally appropriate problem-solving and learning. |
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Scaffolding |
Instructional supports provided to a student by an adult or a more capable peer in a learning situation. The more capable a student becomes with a certain skill or concept, the less instructional scaffolding the adult or peer needs to provide. Scaffolding might take the form of a teacher reading aloud a portion of the text and then asking the student to repeat the same sentence, for example. |
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Schema |
A concept in the mind about events, scenarios, actions or objects that have been acquired from past experience. The mind loves organization and must find previous events or experiences with which to associate the information, or the information may not be learned. |
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Transfer |
The ability to apply a lesson learned in one situation to a new situation--for example, a student who has learned to read the word "the" in a book at school and then goes home and reads the same word successfully in a note that a parent left on the counter. |
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Zone of Proximal Development |
This is a key concept in Vygotsky's theory of learning. It suggests that students learn best in a social context in which a more able adult or peer teaches the student something he or she could not learn on his or her own. |
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Gardner, Howard |
Multiple Intelligences
Gardner developed his theory of multiple intelligences in the early 1980s. The eight intelligences are as follows:
Verbal/linguistic intelligence: These students learn best by saying, hearing, and seeing words.
Logical/mathematical intelligence: These students are conceptual thinkers, compute arithmetic int heir heads, and reason problems easily.
Visual/spatial intelligence: These students think in mental pictures and can visualize spatial relationships.
Bodily/kinesthetic intelligence: These students are athletically gifted and acquire knowledge through bodily sensations.
Musical intelligence: These students have sensitivity to pitch, sound, melody, rhythm and tones.
Interpersonal intelligence: These students have the ability to engage and interact with people socially, and they make sense of the world through relationships.
Intrapersonal intelligence: These students have the ability to make sense of their own emotional life as a way to interact with others.
Naturalist intelligence: These students have the ability to observe nature and discern patterns in it. |
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Hidalgo, Nitza |
Three Levels of Culture
1. Concrete: This is the most visible and tangible level of culture. It includes surface-level aspects such as clothes, music, games and food.
2. Behavioral: This is defined by our social roles, language, and approaches to nonverbal communication, that help us situate ourselves in society (for example: gender roles, family structure, and political affiliation).
3. Symbolic: This involves our values and beliefs. It is often abstract, yet is key to how one defines himself or herself (for example: customs, religion, and mores). |
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Moll, Luis |
Funds of Knowledge
Moll's research into the lives of working-class Mexican-American students and their families revealed that many families had abundant knowledge that the schools were unaware of. His view that multicultural families have "funds of knowledge" contends that these families can become social and intellectual resources for schools. Moll urges teachers to seek out and use them to gain a more positive view of these capable, but misjudged, students and their families. |
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ADD |
Attention Deficit Disorder may be found to impact student learning. Students with ADD may have difficulty focusing, following directions, organizing, making transitions, completing tasks, and so on. The diagnosis is made by a medical professional, not school personnel. |
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ADHD |
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder may be found to impact student learning. Students with ADHD may have many of the same difficulties as students with ADD (difficulty focusing, organizing, etc.) but may also have difficulty with impulsivity, sitting still, and taking turns. The diagnosis is made by a medical professional, not school personnel. |
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Auditory (or Aural) Learner |
Auditory learners process information through listening. They learn through lectures, discussions, listening to tapes, repeating information, and reading aloud. |
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Autism Spectrum Disorders |
Autism spectrum disorders may include autism, Asperger syndrome, and other pervasive developmental delays (PDD). Students with these disorders have difficulty socializing and communicating. |
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Behavior Disorders (BD) |
Behavior Disorder (also known as Conduct Disorder) is a disorder in children and adolescents characterized by disruptive behavior. Students with it may violate rules, show aggression toward people or animals, destroy property, or practice deceitfulness. |
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Concrete Operational Thinkers |
Children approximately ages 7-11 think in logical terms, not in abstract terms. Students in this age range require hands-on experiences to learn concepts and manipulate symbols logically. |
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Developmental Delays |
Developmental delays are identified by a medical professional in a child before the age of 22. The student may have one or more of the following difficulties: self-care, expressive or receptive language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, and economic self-sufficiency. |
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ELL or ESL or PLNE |
English Language Learner (ELL), English as a Second Language (ESL), and Primary Language Not English (PLNE) are terms used to describe students who are learning English as a second (or third or fourth) language. Teachers of bilingual and multicultural students can support English language acquisition and learning in several important ways, including building on students' culture, supporting students' proficiency in their native language, giving students time to learn English, and offering opportunities for students to work and talk in small groups. |
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Formal Operational Thinkers |
Children approximately ages 11-15 develop hypothetical and abstract thinking. Students at this stage can use logical operations to work abstract problems. For example, students at this stage are better able to complete algorithms when working math problems as opposed to using math manipulatives to understand the problems. |
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Functional Mental Retardation (MR) |
Functional MR is a diagnosis determined by a medical professional for a child who exhibits difficulties with the following: age-specific activities (for example: playing), communication, daily living activities, and getting along with others. |
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Kinesthetic Learner |
Kinesthetic learners process information through moving and doing. They learn through acting out scenes, putting on plays, moving to the beat, pacing out measurements on the sidewalk, and so on. |
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LD |
Learning disabilities are determined by a multidisciplinary team (MDT) or a physiciam. Students with learning disabilities are not learning to their potential in one or more areas, such as reading, writing, oral language or mathematics. There are three main types of learning disabilities: reading, mathematics, and written. |
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Tactile Learner |
Tactile learners process information through touching. They learn through active involvement with the physical world (hands-on experiences). |
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Visual Learner |
Visual learners process information through seeing. They learn through visual displays, films, illustrated books, handouts, graphics organizers, bulletin boards, and so on. |
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ADA |
The Americans with Disabilities Act
This prohibits discrimination on the basis of a person's disability for all services, programs, and activities provided or made available by state and local governments. |
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Due Process |
Due process is a set of procedures or safeguards that give students with disabilities and their parents/guardians extensive rights. These rights include notice of meetings, opportunities to examine relevant records, impartial hearings, and a review procedure. |
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IDEA |
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is a federal statute made up of several grant programs assisting states in educating students with disabilities. The IDEA specifically lists types of disabilities and conditions that render a child entitled to special education. |
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IEP |
An Individualized Education Plan is a written plan for a student with disabilities developed by a team of professionals (teachers, special educators, school psychologists, and so on) and the child's parents or caregivers. An IEP is based on a multidisciplinary team's (MDT) evaluation of the child and describes how the child is doing presently, what the child's learning needs are, and what services the child will need. IEPs are reviewed and updated yearly. They are required under IDEA. |
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LRE |
The Least Restrictive Environment is the educational setting that, to the maximum extent appropriate, students with disabilities are educated with nondisabled peers. |
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Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act |
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities by federally assisted programs or activities. Eligibility for protection under Section 504 is not restricted to school-age children. It covers individuals from birth to death. |
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Alternative Assessments |
Alternative or authentic assessments include anecdotal records of student behavior, portfolios, checklists of student progress, and student/teacher conferences. Alternative assessments can be contrasted with traditional assessments. Alternative assessments provide a ivew of a student's process and product, which is closely related to the instructional activity. Traditional assessments usually provide only a view of the product of learning, such as the score on a test, and may not be as closely related to classrooom instruction. |
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Differentiated Instruction |
According to Tomlinson (1995), differentiated instruction involves a flexible approach to teaching. A teacher plans and implements varied approaches to teaching content, process, and product in an effort to respond to student differences in readiness, interests, and learning needs. |
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Testing Accommodations |
Common testing accommodations provided to students include, but are not limited to, longer testing times, untimed tasks, having someone write or type for the student (scribe), Braille or large-print fonts, short breaks during testing, and sign-language interpretation for directions. Offering approved testing accommodations for students who qualify for those accommodations is a desirable differentiation of assessment and is especially important on higher-stakes and standardized assessments. |
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Ausubel, David |
Advance Organizer
Ausubel suggested a teaching technique called the advance organizer. The advance organizer is introduced before learning begins and is designed to help students link their prior knowledge to the curret lesson's content. Examples include: semantic webs, KWL charts, and concept maps. |
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Modeling |
Theory by Albert Bandura. Observational learning, or modeling, requires several steps:
1. Attention: Attending to the lesson
2. Retention: Remembering what was learned
3. Reproduction: Trying out the skill or concept
4. Motivation: Willingness to learn and ability to self-regulate behavior
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Canter, Lee |
Assertive Discipline
Teachers clearly communicate expectations and class rules and follow through with expectations. Students have a choice to follow the class rules or face consequences. |
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Glasser, William |
Choice Theory (also Control Theory)
Teachers focus on students' behavior, not students, when resolving classroom conflics. Teachers who subscribe to control theory use class meetings to change behavior in the classroom. Students who have a say in the rules, curriculum, and the environment of the classroom have greater ownership of their learning. Glasser's approach emphasizes creating a safe space to learn ("our space to learn") and is designed to promote instrinsic motivation to learn and to behave in the classroom. |
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Kounin, Jacob |
With-it-ness
Teachers must have "with-it-ness," or an awareness of what is happening in their classrooms, in order to manage their classrooms well. In addition, teachers must pace their lessons appropriately and create smooth transitions between activities. |
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Hunter, Madeline |
Direct Instruction
Hunter's method of direct instruction emphasizes the following parts of an effective lesson:
1. Objectives
2. Standards of performance
3. Anticipatory set or advance organizer
4. Teaching (which includes modeling, student input, directions, and checking for understanding)
5. Guided practice and monitoring
6. Lesson closure
7. Extended practice |
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Pavlov, Ivan |
Classical Conditioning
Pavlov conducted classical conditioning experiments with dogs in the 1920s. He found that dogs naturally salivate in an unconditioned response to the unconditioned stimulus of food. He showed that dogs also salivate in response to a conditioned stimulus, and he called that response a conditioned response. Many credit Pavlov for the experimental basis of behaviorist learning theory. |
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Objectives |
These are written to answer the question, "What are students supposed to know or be able to do at the conclusion of the lesson or unit?" They need to include all levels of Bloom's taxonomy, not just the knowledge level. |
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Learner Factors |
Informs lesson planning. English language learners, students with learning disabilities, and students with attention difficulties impact the ways instruction must be differentiated. Also consider students' learning styles adn multiple intelligences. |
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Environmental Factors |
Informs lesson planning. Will students work in small groups, as a whole group, or individually? Will students have access to learning centers, technology resources, and multimedia as part of the instruction? Is the room temperature too warm or cold for students to concentrate? Is there too much print on the wall that might distract or overstimulate a learner? |
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Lesson Planning |
You should know a variety of ways to open, develop and close a lesson. You should know how to set criteria for student performance of a lesson's objectives and how you can measure and evaluate student success. |
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Your role as a teacher |
1. Set clear expectations
2. Enforce rules fairly and consistently
3. Possess positive and realistically high expectations that all students can learn
4. Highlight students' strengths and support their achievement of goals
5. Model appropriate behavior
6. Accept and understand children within the student-teacher relationship |
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Setting up the learning environment |
1. Place materials for student use in easy-to-access places
2. Use wait time when questioning students
3. Create a safe and comfortable learning environment that promotes students' risk-taking and deters bullying, harassment, and disrespectful behavior
4. Seek to have student materials simultaneously available whenever possible. |
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Canter and Canter |
Lee and Marlene Canter suggest a model of classroom management known as "assertive discipline." The approach, suggested in the 1980s and still used today, includes teacher setting clear expectations for behavior and following through consistently and fairly with consequences. |
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Kounin |
Jacob Kounin's research from the 1970s shows that "with-it-ness" (constant monitoring and awareness of student behavior), grouping decisions, and lesson planning are hallmarks of effective classroom management. Smooth transitions between lessons and lessons that maximize learning time are more effective. |
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Ginott |
Haim Ginott's research from the late 1960s and 1970s promoted supportive and preventive discipline by recognizing the importance of the classroom atmosphere--socially and emotionally. He suggested that teachers use "sane messages" in which they simply describe the issue or event of concern. This enables students to develop their own solutions with respectful support from their teacher. |
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Glasser |
Glasser's "choice theory" guides teachers who use this approach to conduct class meetings with students to co-determine class rules, guidelines, and consequences. Teachers use these class meetings to focus on the behaviors themselves, not an individual student's behavior problems. |
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Hunter |
Hunter's approach to classroom management centers on the strength of effective lesson planning. The teacher opens a lesson with an anticipatory set to help students connect new content to prior knowledge. Next, the teacher models and provides guided practice for the new content to be learned. Then the teacher provides an opportunity for individual and extended practice. |
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Jones |
Fredric Jones studied time on-task and found that 50% of instructional time is lost because students are off-task. He found two common types of misbehavior: talking (80%) and goofing off (20%). He found that most misbehavior occurs during independent practice times.
Jones suggests three strategies to improve time on-task:
1. Teacher body language ("the look")
2. Incentive systems
3. Efficient individual help for students |
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Identifying Similarities and Differences |
One of the "Essential Nine" Instructional Strategies.
When students identify similarities and differences, they can see patterns and connections. Comparing, contrasting and classifying information helps students understand concepts according to its similar and dissimilar characteristics. |
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Summarizing and Note-taking |
One of the "Essential Nine" Instructional Strategies.
Summarizing is an important comprehension strategy that can be taught from the early grades through adulthood.
Note-taking approaches include the double-entry page, graphic organizers, and SQ3R (survey, question, read, recite, review). |
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SQ3R |
The SQ3R method for note-taking while reading a text is widely used in schools today. The steps are:
1. Survey: Preview the chapter to assess the organization of the information
2. Question: Examine the chapter's headings and subheadings and rephrase them into questions
3. Read: Read one section at a time, primarily to answer the questions.
4. Recite: Answer each question in your own words, writing the answers in your notes. Repeat for every section.
5. Review: Immediately review what has been learned. |
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Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition |
One of the "Essential Nine" Instructional Strategies.
Parents and teachers must show students the connection between effort and achievement. Teach students the ultimate goal of effort--the harder you try, the more successful you will be. |
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Assigning Homework and Practice |
One of the "Essential Nine" Instructional Strategies.
Homework provides an opportunity for extended practice of a lesson. It should require minimal, if any, parental involvement, and it should merit teacher feedback. It should be an integral part of instruction to help students acquire the content presented. |
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Fostering Nonlinguistic Representations |
One of the "Essential Nine" Instructional Strategies.
Nonlinguistic representations have been found to stimulate and increase brain activity. Teachers can foster nonlinguistic representations by using words and symbols to convey relationships and by using physical models and physical movement to represent new information. |
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Encouraging Cooperative Learning |
One of the "Essential Nine" Instructional Strategies.
Key features of cooperative learning activities include:
1. Positive interdependence
2. Positive interaction
3. Individual and group accountability
4. Interpersonal skills
5. Group processing |
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STAD |
A Student Teams Achievement Division is a cooperative learning structure in which students are assigned to heterogenously grouped teams of four or five members who collaborate on worksheets designed to provide extended practice on instruction. |
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Jigsaw |
A Jigsaw is a cooperative learning structure in which instructional materials are divided and then studied by individuals or pairs of students. After students become experts on their sections, they share the information with the group. |
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Think-Pair-Share |
A think-pair-share is a cooperative learning structure in which the teacher poses a problem or situation and asks the students to think individually. The teacher then pairs each student with a peer to share his or her thinking on the problem or situation. |
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Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback |
One of the "Essential Nine" Instructional Strategies.
Teachers must set clear expectations for a lesson. They must help students see what they are learning, why they are learning it, and how this learning connects to other experiences. Using advance organizers is one effective method to introduce goals to students. |
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Generating and Testing Hypotheses |
One of the "Essential Nine" Instructional Strategies.
Generating questions and testing hypotheses taps into students' natural curiosity. It helps students more deeply understand the content of the lesson. In this inquiry-type approach, students must clearly explain their hypotheses, method of testing, and conclusions. |
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Using Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers |
One of the "Essential Nine" Instructional Strategies.
Cues, questions, and advance organizers help prepare students' minds for instruction. Advance organizers are structures, either visual or verbal, that provide an general idea of the new information to be learned. Researchers have found that learning increases when teachers focus on what is most important, not on what students might think is the most interesting. |
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Anchored Instruction |
An instructional approach that ties information to an "anchor." Students use hands-on and experiential learning of the anchor/concept to connect the learning to a concrete experience. It provides students with experiences for them to build their knowledge on. |
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Differentiated Instruction |
Instruction is differentiated when the teacher is responding to the wide range of abilities in the classroom. Some varieties of differentiation include:
1. Tiered instruction: offering the same core content to each student, but providing varying levels of support
2. Curriculum compacting: finding the key content and reducing the number of examples, activities or lessons so that an advanced student can demonstrate mastery and move on to another level.
3. Curriculum chunking: breaking down the content into smaller chunks and providing support and frequent feedback to the student as he or she demonstrates understanding of each chunk of information
4. Flexible grouping: groups that change as the students' learning needs change. For example, students who need to better understand how to make inferences in a book work together until they are proficient, and then the group disbands |
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Direct Instruction |
Direct instruction is an overarching method for teaching students that includes carefully planned lessons presented in small, attainable increments with clearly defined goals and objectives. Direct instruciton often includes lecture, demonstration, review of student performance, and student examination |
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Demonstrations |
Teacher demonstrations involve explicitly showing students what something is or how to do something. For example, a science teacher might demonstrate the proper use of a Bunsen burner in a lab. |
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Graphic Organizers |
Graphic organizers are visuals that show relationships between concepts, terms, facts, or ideas in a learning activity. Other terms related to graphic organizers are: visual, visual structures, concept maps, cognitive organizers, advance organizers, and concept diagrams |
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Story Maps |
Story maps are used with narrative texts to help students identify and recall key story elements, such as characters, setting, plot and conclusion |
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Cause-and-Effect Maps |
These visuals describe the relationship between events, their causes, and their effect. They may be used in narrative or expository texts. |
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Sequence Diagrams |
Students can use a sequence diagram, with the teacher's modeling and guidance, to remember the sequence of events in a factual or fictional text. |
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Continuums |
A continuum is a graphic organizer that can be used to help students learn key vocabulary or concepts. For example, the teacher can label the sample continuum "feelings" and ask students to generate a list of words that represent feelings along a positive-to-negative continuum. |
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Cycle Maps |
A cycle map is beneficial when a teacher wants students to understand the cyclical nature of a concept. |
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Matrixes |
A matrix graphic organizer is a grid that can be used for a variety of purposes to help students recall information. For example, a teacher might list categories along the first row and ask students to provide examples from the lesson for each category. |
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Hunter's Model |
Madeline Hunter's "effective teaching model" emphasizes the following parts of an effective lesson: objectives, standards of performance, anticipatory set or advance organizer, teaching, guided practice and monitoring, and lesson closure and practice. |
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Mastery Learning |
When a teacher uses a mastery learning approach, he or she uses a group-based teacher-centered instructional approach to provide learning conditions for all students to achieve mastery of assigned information. |
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Mnemonics |
Using mnemonics is designed to help improve students' ability to remember key information. For example, teachers commonly use mnemonic strategies when teaching students letter identification and sounds. |
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Discussion |
Discussion is a key instructional technique in which students actively engage in discourse about course content. Discussions can be teacher-led or peer-led. Teacher-led discussion structures include lectures, recitations, reciprocal teaching, and Socratic seminars. |
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Field trips |
Field trips are excursions off the main campus that provide students with an opportunity to gain deeper, real-life hands-on knowledge about a concept of study. Field trips used at the beginning of a unit can build students' background knowledge and provide an anchor for future lessons |
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Independent Study |
Independent study sessions or units give students a chance to work at their own pace under the teacher's leadership or guidance. Independent study units can be beneficial for students who need course material modified to fit their ability. |
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Interdisciplinary Instruction |
Interdisciplinary instruction incorporates information from two or more content areas (for example: science, mathematics, physical education, technology, and literacy), to help students see the connections and real-life links across the disciplines. |
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Learning Centers |
Learning centers are designed to enable individuals or small groups of students to interact with course content after the teacher has taught the focus lesson or while the teacher is leading small-group sessions. Common learning centers in an elementary classroom are blocks, computers, writing, reading, math games, listening, and creative play. |
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Primary Sources/Documents |
Primary source materials or documents are statements or records of law, government, science, mathematics, or history in their original, unaltered form. |
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Questioning |
Teachers use questioning strategies to help students construct meaning out of content. A common structure for questioning is IRE: Initiate, Respond, and Evaluate. The teacher begins the discussion with a question, the students respond and the teacher evaluates the quality of the student response. |
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Reciprocal Teaching |
The teacher and the student engage in a discussion of the text. Both the student and the teacher question and respond to the text in an effort to improve the student's comprehension of the material. |
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School-to-Work |
School-to-work programs offer students opportunities to transition successfully from the classroom to the workforce. |
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Service Learning |
Service learning is an instructional approach that combines service to the community with learning inside and outside of the classroom. |
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Critical Thinking |
Critical thinking is rationally deciding what to believe or what to do. When one rationally decides something, he or she evaluates information to see if it makes sense, whether it is coherent, and whether the argument is well founded on evidence. |
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Discovery Learning |
Discovery learning fosters inquiry rather than didactic (e.g., lecture) methods of learning. Students are encouraged to ask questions and to hypothesize as they deduce the concepts and principles of the lesson experience. |
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Inquiry Model |
An inquiry approach to teaching involves students in the process of exploring the natural and/or material world, in an effort to help them discover meaning. For example, in mathematics a teacher might have students use tiles to create tessellations to discover patterns and relationships among the geometric shapes. |
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Play |
Play is a child's work. Quality early-childhood programs provide opportunities for student play in an effort to provide stimulating, rewarding, and purposeful work. During play, children observe, explore, model, hypothesize, and discover. Play fosters students' learning and development in a fun, soothing, and motivating way. |
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Project-Based Learning |
Project-based learning includes an in-depth investigation of a real-world, authentic topic or problem that is meaningful to students. The students work in small groups or pairs to solve a problem or learn more about the topic. The teacher facilitates student projects and supports students' inquiries and discoveries. |
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Simulations |
Teachers use simulations to help students become immersed in the content being studied. Computer and video technology offers teachers many opportunities for simulations. |
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Technology |
Instructional technology (for example: iPads, computers, CD-ROMs, video and the internet) serves as a tool for learning in today's schools. Teachers must become proficient in their use of technology to teach and must also help their students skillfully and critically use technology to support learning. |
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Anticipatory Set |
Also known as Set Induction, creating an anticipatory set is an activity at the start of a lesson used to set the stage for learning in order to help motivate students and activate prior knowledge. |
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Behavioral and Cognitive Objectives |
Behavioral objectives are lesson objectives that focus on observable student behaviors (define, describe, re-create, and so on). Cognitive objectives focus on students' cognitive behaviors. |
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Curriculum Frameworks |
Curriculum frameworks list the broad goals of a school district, state, or school and provide subject-specific outlines of course content, standards, and performance expectations. |
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Emergent Curriculum |
An emergent currriculum is based primarily on the interests of children. The teacher works together with family and other community members to set possible direction for a project and then determine the actual curriculum based on student interest. Most often used in early-childhood settings. |
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Grouping Practices |
Types of grouping practices include:
1. Partner check: Individual students complete work and then pair with an assigned student to check work and discuss content.
2. Group investigation: Students are assigned a topic and prepare a report or summary to share with the whole class.
3. Whole-group instruction: Students work as a class to read, discuss, or solve a problem. Teachers should use whole-group methods only for short amounts of time because this grouping structure can allow some students to become passive learners. |
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Lesson Plan Framework |
There are a variety of frameworks for lesson plans, but here is one:
1. Instrucitonal Objectives: "The student will..."
2. Standards addressed: cite standards
3. Materials: list all the materials you will need for the lesson
4. Learner and environment factors: target grade level, learning styles/modalities addressed, as well as arrangement of materials, need for movement, and noise level expectations
5. Opening (set induction, connection to previous lesson, sharing lesson objectives and relevance): It is important that the teacher activates and/or assesses prior knowledge during the opening.
6. Middle (modeling, providing guided practice, monitoring student progress): the lesson varies greatly depending upon whether it is teacher-centered or student-centered.
7. Closing (lesson closure, assigning homework): summarize, connect to prior knowledge, discuss lesson, review key concepts, preview next lesson, etc.
8. Assessment: this can be either formal or informal |
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Two Types of Standards |
1. Performance standards: these are generally set at the state and local level and describe the level of performance expectation for student groups.
2. Content standards: these provide expectations for the knowledge students must demonstrate within a discipline. |
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Thematic Instruction |
Thematic instruction is a way to organize curriculum around large themes. They are integrated across several content areas, such as reading, social studies, math, and science. |
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Achievement Tests |
These assessments are written for a variety of subjects and levels and are designed to measure a student's knowledge in something that has been learned or taught. |
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Anecdotal Records |
These are written notes teachers maintain based on their observations of individual children. |
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Aptitude Tests |
These assessments are standardized (norm-referenced) tests that are designed to measure a student's ability to develop or acquire skills and knowledge. |
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Authentic Assessments |
These assessments measure student understanding of the learning process and product, rather than just the product. In authentic assessments, students develop the responses rather than select from predetermined options. These types of assessments relate closely to classroom learning opportunities. |
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Criterion-referenced Tests |
These assessments determine how well a student performs relative to a predetermined performance level, such as grade-level expectations or mastery. Criterion-referenced tests do not help teachers compare student results to those of other test-takers. Examples would be teacher-made or publisher-made exams given at the end of the study of a chapter in the text. |
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Diagnostic Evaluations |
These are usually standardized or norm-referenced and are given before instruction begins to help teachers understand students' learning needs. |
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Essay |
Essay questions require students to make connections between new and previously learned content, to apply information to new situations, and to demonstrate that they have learned the new information. |
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Formative Evaluations |
These assessments provide information about learning in progress and offer the teacher and the student an opportunity to monitor and regulate learning. |
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Journals |
These can be used as an authentic assessment of a student's understanding of key concepts or of his or her ability to communicate in writing. Generally, the teacher assesses the process rather than the product, so as to understand the student's thought processes on the topic. |
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Norm-referenced Tests |
These are also known as standardized tests. They are used to determine a student's performance in relation to the performance of a group of peers who have taken the same test. They are most often used by school personnel to make decisions about curriculum and school performance levels. |
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Observation |
This is arguably the most important assessment tool. Also known as kidwatching, observing student interactions and learning behaviors is important to any classroom assessment plan. It is important for teachers to observe students in other settings to gain a deeper understanding of a student's performance at school. |
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Performance Assessments |
These require a student to perform a task or generate his or her own response during the assessment. For example, a performance assessment for a composition class would require a student to write something rather than answer multiple choice questions about writing. |
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Portfolio |
Portfolios are carefully selected collections of student products, and sometimes teacher observations, that reflect a student's progress over time. Portfolios include students in the selection process, and demonstrate their performance over time. |
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Response |
Responses can take many forms across the content areas. Students can respond orally, in writing, or through the visual and performance arts. Responses can be used as authentic assessments and are often assessed by using a set of criteria and a scoring rubric. |
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Self-evaluation |
Students' monitoring and regulation of learning is important in the transfer of learning new experiences. Self-evaluations can let a teacher know how the student sees his or her progress and how to improve instruction for the student. Teachers should be mindful to ask for student evaluation on the course content as well as the student's learning process. |
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Standards-based Assessment |
These assessments measure student progress toward meeting goals based on local, state, and/or national goals. Standards-based assessments can be based on content or performance standards and can be criterion-referenced or norm-referenced. |
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Summative Evaluations |
These assessments provide information about learning to be used in making judgments about a student's achievement and the teacher's instruction. |
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Analytical Scoring |
Analytical scoring is typically used to assess constructed-response test questions (essays, short-answer), and includes detailed description of criteria. Analytical scoring guides are useful when a teacher is new to an assessment or when a teacher has many items to score. |
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Grade-Level Equivalent Scores |
Grade-level equivalents demonstrate the grade and month of the school year to which a student can be compared. For example, a score of 5.1 would indicate that a student is performing at a fifth-grade, first-month level. |
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Holistic Scoring |
Holistic scoring is typically used for constructed-response test questions (essays, journals, short-answer). It uses general descriptions of the criteria for success on each question. Holistic scoring can be more efficient than analytical scoring if the teacher has fewer test items to score. |
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Quartiles |
When you divide a normal distribution of scores into four equal parts, you can describe student data as it falls into one of the three quartiles. Q1 is the lowest 25% of the data set. Q2 is the median, 50%, cutting the data in half, and Q3 is the highest 25%, the upper quartile. |
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Raw Score |
A student's raw score is equivalent to the number of questions he or she answered correctly on an assessment. |
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Reliability |
Reliability is the extent to which an assessment is consistent with its measures. |
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Rubric |
A rubric is a scoring guide used in assessments. Rubrics can be subject-specific, task-specific, or generic. |
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Sample |
A sample is a smaller number of participants drawn from a total population. Sometimes it is not feasible for researchers to collect or analyze all the scores of a given population; therefore, a sample of scores is selected. |
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Scaled Score |
Scaled scores are based on a mathematical transformation of a raw score. Scaled scores can be helpful when determining averages and to study change over time. |
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Standard Deviation |
Standard deviation is a measure of variability that indicates the typical distance between a set of scores and the mean/average score. |
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Standard Error of Measurement |
The standard error of measurement is the standard deviation of test scores you would have obtained from a single student who took the same test multiple times. |
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Stanine |
Stanines (derived from STAndard NINE) are based on a nine-point standard scale with a mean of five and a standard deviation of two. Stanines enable school personnel to see the distribution of scores for any grade level or group of students and may help schools see patterns of change in student achievement over time. |
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Validity |
A test is found to be valid if it measures what it was designed to measure. |
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Brown v. Board of Education |
On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in Brown v. Board of Education that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," thereby changing the face of American education forever. |
