Instructional strategies

Professional Development Horizontal Teaming

Activities that enhance teachers' professional knowledge, competence, and expertise.

Formal Operation

11 years to adulthood: Fourth stage of cognitive development in which abstract and symbolic thought is possible. problems can be solved through the use of experimentation and critical thinking.

Preoperational Stage

2 to 7 years: second stage of cognitive development in which children learn to represent things in their mind. During this stage students develop the ability to use symbols to represent objects in the world. Thinking remains egocentric and centered.

Overlapping

A Teacher's ability to predict and respond to behavior problems without interrupting a classroom lesson or activity

Best Practices

A best practice is a technique or methodology that, through experience and research, has proven to reliably lead to a desired result. A commitment to using the best practices in any field is a commitment to using all the knowledge and technology at one's disposal to ensure success.

Educators' Code of Ethics

A code that sets standards and expectations for ethical practice by Texas teachers; a document outlining ethical conduct toward colleagues, school officials, parents, and members of the community.

Ethnicity

A culture, history, and sense of identity shared by a group of people; a way of life. A shared cultural heritage and traditions often based on race, religion, language, or national identity.

Individualized Education Program (IEP)

A customized plan for a student with a disability developed by an ARD committee that guides the instruction and services the students receives

Adaptation

A documented process that allows a student with special educational needs to participate in the prescribed provincial curriculum with changes in format, instructional strategies and/or assessment procedures that retain the learning outcomes of the curriculum.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

A federal law enacted in 1974 that sets the requirements to protect the privacy of parents or legal caregivers of students.

Evaluation

A formal measurement and judgment of student performance or behavior.

Home Contingency

A home-based reinforcement system in which teachers work out with parents and arrangement to give or remove students special privileges at home if they meet well-specified standards of behavior.

Inversion

A mental transformation that requires reversible thinking. (+X is reversed by -X)

Group Contingency

A program in which rewards or punishments are given to a class or group as a whole for adhering to or violating rules or procedures.

Psychosocial Theory

A set of principles that relates social environment to psychological development.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA

A special education law that requires schools to educate students with disabilities in least restrictive environments to the greatest extent of their abilities using plans tailored to the individual needs of the students.

Direct Instruction

A teacher-directed approach to instruction; an instructional approach in which the teacher transmits information through goal-oriented, structured lessons. The seven parts to a direct instruction lesson include: 1. State learning objectives 2. Review prerequisites 3. Present new material 4. Conduct learning probes. 5. Provide independent practice 6. Assesment and feedback 7. Review and provide distributed practice.

Distributed Practice

A technique in which information or skills to be learned are repeated at intervals over a period of time or intermittently.

Criterion-referenced Test

A test takers performance reported as mastery of learning criteria or standards. Passing requires answering a certain percentage correctly. The TAKS test is a criterion-referenced test.

Norm-referenced Test

A test takers performance reported in comparison to other test takers in the same age or grade sample. Results are reported in standard scores, percentile ranks, t scores, or z scores.

Learning Styles

A theory of individual learner preferences proposed by Dunn & Dunn addressing environmental factors.

Instructional Strategy

A way of instruction that meets the needs, goals, and objectives of the learners; a plan, approach, or technique used to teach learning objectives. Teacher-centered-associated with direct models of instruction in which teachers provide information and students follow with practice sessions (example:deductive lessons) Student-centered-associated with constructivist models of instruction in which students are more active and interactive in the learning process (example: inductive and discovery learning

Heteronomous Morality

According to Piaget's theory of moral development, the younger stage when children think rules are unchangeable and that breaking rules leads to punishment.

Admission Review and Dismissal (ARD)

Admission, Review, and Dismissal Process is a resource to help parents and families of students who are, or may be, eligible for special education supports and services take a more active part in planning their student's educational program

Performance-based Assessment

An alternative assessment method based on a student's performance of a skill based on a real-life situation.

Multicultural Education

An approach to education that includes non-European perspectives in the curriculum; an educational approach designed to improve outcomes for all students of different cultural backgrounds and genders

Portfolio

An authentic assessment tool used to assess student progress; a systematic collection of student work documenting evidence of learning.

Mentor

An experienced teacher or administrator who provides guidance and customized assistance to promote retention and success of new teachers.

Disequilibrium

An imbalance between what a child understands and what the child encounters through new experiences

Inclusion

An instructional arrangement whereby students with disabilities receive instruction and services in a general education setting with regular education peers.

Multiple Intelligences

An intelligence theory developed by Howard Gardner that changes the question from "How smart are you?" to "How are you smart?" The eight intelligences include: 1. interpersonal 2. intrapersonal 3. musical; linguistic 4. spatial 5. logical mathematical 6. bodily-kinesthetic 7. linguistic 8. naturalist

Motivation

An internal process that activates, guides, and maintains behavior over time. Intrinsic incentive-internal or natural desire or interest. Extrinsic incentive-an environmental reward or consequence affecting attitude.

Concrete Operational Stage

As the name implies, the concrete operational stage of development can be defined as the stage of cognitive development in which a child is capable of performing a variety of mental operations and thoughts using concrete concepts.

Formative Assessment

Assessment data that show a student's progress or lack of progress toward curricular objectives during the process of instruction.

Authentic Assessment

Authentic assessment is the measurement of "intellectual accomplishments that are worthwhile, significant, and meaningful," as contrasted to multiple choice standardized tests. Authentic assessment can be devised by the teacher, or in collaboration with the student by engaging student voice.

Egocentric

Believing that everyone sees the world as you do

Bloom's Taxonomy

Bloom's taxonomy is a classification system used to define and distinguish different levels of human cognition—i.e., thinking, learning, and understanding

Problem Solving

CRITICAL THINKING) says, "Alternative solutions are often not given, they must be generated or thought-up. Critical thinkers must be creative thinkers as well, generating possible solutions in order to find the best one. CREATIVE THINKING) describe the combining of divergent generation and convergent evaluation in a strategy of Creative Problem Solving that "contains many tools which can be used interchangeably within any of the stages.

Centration

Centration, which refers to the tendency to focus on only one aspect of a situation, problem or object.

Choral Response

Choral Response is a technique where all students verbally respond, in unison

Classroom Climate

Classroom Climate is the classroom environment, the social climate, the emotional and the physical aspects of the classroom. It's the idea that teachers influence student growth and behavior

Procedures

Communicated expectations for specific student behavior. (example: keep hands and objects to yourself as we walk down the hall to the library).

Conflict Contaminants

Conditions in which negative conflict grows. Some conflict contaminants include negativism, unrealistic expectations, pour communication, personal stressors, the savior syndrome, jumping to conclusions, lack of support and trust, and preference protection

Principle of Least Intervention

Correcting misbehaviors by using the simplest or least invasive intervention that will work. Possible steps include: 1. Prevention. 2. Using nonverbal cues. 3. Verbal Reminders. 4. Consequences.

Prior Knowledge

Correcting misbehaviors by using the simplest or least invasive intervention that will work. Possible steps include: 1. Prevention. 2. Using nonverbal cues. 3. Verbal Reminders. 4. Consequences.

Cross Age

Cross-age teaching occurs when you share your skills and knowledge with persons who are either younger or older than you.

Inquiry Thinking

Inquiry-based learning (also enquiry-based learning in British English) starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios—rather than simply presenting established facts or portraying a smooth path to knowledge

Bilingual Education

Definition of bilingual education. : education in an English-language school system in which students with little fluency in English are taught in both their native language and English

Developmentally Appropriate Education

Instruction intentionally adapted to the current developmental level of students rather than planned according their chronological age or grade level.

English as a Second Language (ESL)

Instruction program for students who are not native speakers of English in which all instruction is provided in English; an English immersion instructional program in which all subjects are taught in English

Fair Use Guidelines

Guidelines limiting the rights of copyright holders and allowing portions of copyrighted materials to be used for educational purposes; guidelines for portion, time, amount, and distribution of copyrighted materials for educational purposes.

Professionalism

How teachers see themselves as members of the learning community and teaching profession as well as the images they project; behaving in an ethical manner when interacting with colleagues, students, and parents.

Cambourne's Conditions for Learning

Immersion,Demonstration,Engagement,Expectation,Responsibility,Approximation,Use,Response

Classical Conditioning

In classical conditioning, learning refers to involuntary responses that result from experiences that occur before a response. Classical conditioning occurs when you learn to associate two different stimuli. No behavior is involved. The first stimulus that you will encounter is called the unconditioned stimulus

Private Speech

Inner speech or children's self-talk that guides thinking and actions; an important consideration in Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development.

Gifted and Talented (GT)

Instructional programs designed for students with exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or talent; enrichment programs.

Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Reasoning

Lawrence Kohlberg proposed students pass through three levels and six stages of moral reasoning: I. Preconventional Level: Stage 1 Punishment and Obedience Orientation. Stage 2 Instructional Realists Orientation. II. Conventional Level: Stage 3 "Good boy-Good girl" Orientation. Stage 4 "Law and Order" Orientation. III. Postconventional Level: Stage 5 Social contract Orientation. Stage 6 Universal Ethical Principle Orientation.

Accommodation

May be used to describe an alteration of environment, curriculum format, or equipment that allows an individual with a disability to gain access to content and/or complete assigned tasks.

Milieu

Milieu teaching is a practice that involves manipulating or arranging stimuli in a preschool child's natural environment to create a setting that encourages the child to engage in a targeted behavior

Autonomous Morality

Moral autonomy, usually traced back to Kant, is the capacity to deliberate and to give oneself the moral law, rather than merely heeding the injunctions of others. Personal autonomy is the capacity to decide for oneself and pursue a course of action in one's life, often regardless of any particular moral content.

Calling Order

Order you call students based on what you're teaching

Overt/Covert Behavior

Overt behavior is the observable and covert behavior is cognitive and involves thinking. Teachers must generate overt behavior to monitor students' progress toward learning goals.

Piaget's Theory of Moral Development

Part of Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development addresses children's moral reasoning. Piaget proposed that as children's thinking becomes more advanced their understanding of moral problems deepens. 1. Heteronomous Morality (based on rules and consequences) 2. Autonomous Morality (based on mutual respect and recognition).

Peer-Mediated

Peer mediation is problem solving by youth with youth. It is a process by which two or more students involved in a dispute meet in a private, safe and confidential setting to work out problems with the assistance of a trained student mediator

Peer Tutoring

Peer tutoring is a term that's been used to describe a wide array of tutoring arrangements, but most of the research on its success refers to students working in pairs to help one another learn material or practice an academic task.

Parallel Play

Play in which children engage in the same activity side by side but with very little interaction or mutual influence.

Class Inclusion

Regarding individuals with disabilities and special education, inclusion secures opportunities for students with disabilities to learn alongside their non-disabled peers in general

Filtering Software

Software installed on computers to prevent unwanted or inappropriate viewing of Web sites or information accessed via the Internet.

Preconventional Level of Morality

Stages 1 and 2 of Kohlberg's model of moral reasoning in which children make moral decisions in their own interests to avoid punishments. Safety is the main consideration.

Conventional Level of Morality

Stages 3 and 4 of Kohlberg's model of moral reasoning during which children make moral decisions in consideration of others. Fairness is the main consideration

Postconventional Level of Morality

Stages 5 and 6 of Kohlberg's model of moral reasoning in which students define their own values in terms of ethical principles. Ethical behavior is a decision of conscience according to self-chosen principles and laws can be changed for the good of society.

Percentile Rank

Standardized scores that compare and indiviudual with other rest takers and report that he/she scored as well as or better than a certain percentage of the sample group.

Cooperative Learning

Strategies in which students work together to help one another learn by sharing perspectives and providing models of slightly advanced thinking

Inferred Reality

The ability to understand stimuli in the context of relevant information. Preschoolers see what they see with little ability to infer the meaning behind what they see. Students in the concrete operational stage respond to inferred reality and see things in the context of other meanings.

Pacing

The amount of content covered; rate at which content is taught with understanding.

Conflict Resolution

Techniques employed to reduce or eliminate conflict between classroom participants. Techniques include using conciliatory gesture, avoidance, altering group structure, role clarification, communication, direct order, compromise, etc.

Conservation

The concept that certain properties of an object remain the same regardless of changes in other properties.

Professional Development Appraisal System (PDAS)

The current appraisal system used by most of the schools in Texas concentrating on eight domains:

Object Permanence

The fact that objects are physically stable and exist even when the objects are not in the child's physical presence. this enables the child to start using symbols to represent things in their minds so they can think about them.

Objective

The focus of a lesson; what students are expected to learn.

Flexible Grouping

The formation of groups for a short period of time to support instruction; using a variety of grouping formats to support learning. Formats include large, small, partner, and one-on-one. Heterogeneous-group members differ in skills, needs, abilities, interests, learning styles, etc. Homogeneous-group member have similar skills, abilities, interests, learning styles, etc.

Equilibration

The process of restoring balance between present understanding and new experiences. According to Piaget, learning depends on this process so it is important for teachers to confront students with new experiences or data to advance their cognitive development.

Momentum

The teacher's ability to avoid interruptions or slowing down instruction (Kounin, 1970); keeping an appropriate pace for instruction.

Primacy Effect

The tendency for learners to remember items at the beginning of a list more easily than other items; remembering information at the beginning of a text or lesson.

Recency Effect

The tendency for learners to remember items at the end of a list more easily than other items; remembering information at the end of a text or lesson.

Assistive Technology

The term `assistive technology device' means any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a child with a disability.

Reinforcement

The use of consequences to strengthen behavior. Positive-pleasurable consequence given to strengthen behavior Negative-release from an unpleasant situation given to strengthen behavior.

Operant Conditioning

The use of positive or negative consequences to control the occurrence of behavior. (example: awarding point for reading).

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

Theory of how cognition develops and changes over time. 4 stages: 1. Sensorimotor (Birth to 2 years) 2. Preoperational (2 to 7 years) 3. Concrete operational (7 to 11 years) 4. Formal operational (11 years to adulthood). Children learn through active interaction and manipulation of the environment. The stage the child is in determines how they see the world. Piaget believed all students pass through the stages in order and cannot skip any stage.

Metacognition

Thinking about thinking; being aware of your own thought processes and when to use certain learning strategies. Metacognition has three main components: 1. Metacognitive knowledge (also called metacognitive awareness) is what individuals know about themselves and others as cognitive processors. 2. Metacognitive regulation is the regulation of cognition and learning experiences through a set of activities that help people control their learning. 3. Metacognitive experiences are those experiences that have something to do with the current, on-going cognitive endeavor

Assimilation

Through assimilation, we take in new information or experiences and incorporate them into our existing ideas

Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development

Trained by Freud as a psychoanalyst, Erikson proposed people pass through eight psychosocial stages of development. A psychosocial crisis is resolved at each stage

Discovery Learning

a technique of inquiry-based learning and is considered a constructivist based approach to education.

Computer-Assisted Instruction

computer-assisted instruction, in which computers are used to present learning materials consisting of text, audio, and video and to evaluate students' progress.

Group Investigation

learning method is believed as being able to give chance for students to be involved in discussion, has courage and critical thinking and is willing to take responsibility of his/her own learning.

Critical Thinking

making reasoned judgments that are logical and well thought out. It is a way of thinking in which you don't simply accept all arguments and conclusions you are exposed to but rather have an attitude involving questioning such arguments and conclusions

Reciprocity

mental transformation that requires reversible thinking. (MM)

Assesment

the process of gathering and discussing information from multiple and diverse sources in order to develop a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge as a result of their educational experiences

Inductive Reasoning

the process of making generalized decisions after observing, or witnessing, repeated specific instances of something. Conversely, deductive reasoning is the process of taking the information gathered from general observations and making specific decisions based on that information

Information Processing

to processes that enable individuals to search memory and access information for active processing in working memory