- Piaget's sensorimotor stage
- Birth to ~2 years. Infants learn through senses and motor action; key milestone is object permanence (objects exist when out of sight).
- Piaget's preoperational stage
- ~2 to 7 years. Symbolic thinking and language grow, but thought is egocentric and lacks conservation and reversibility.
- Piaget's concrete operational stage
- ~7 to 11 years. Logical thinking about concrete objects; the child masters conservation, classification, and reversibility.
- Piaget's formal operational stage
- ~11 years and up. Abstract, hypothetical, and deductive reasoning; can think about possibilities, not just concrete realities.
- Conservation (Piaget)
- The understanding that quantity stays the same despite changes in shape or arrangement — mastered in the concrete operational stage.
- Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD)
- The gap between what a learner can do alone and what they can do with guidance from a more knowledgeable other. Instruction should target this zone.
- Scaffolding
- Temporary, adjustable support (modeling, prompts, sentence frames) that helps a student do a task they cannot yet do alone, then is gradually removed.
- Sociocultural theory (Vygotsky)
- Learning is social and mediated by language and culture; knowledge is co-constructed through interaction before it is internalized by the individual.
- More knowledgeable other (MKO)
- Anyone — teacher, peer, or tool — with greater understanding who guides a learner through the zone of proximal development.
- Maslow's hierarchy of needs (order)
- Physiological → safety → love/belonging → esteem → self-actualization. Lower needs must be largely met before higher ones drive behavior.
- Why Maslow matters for teachers
- A hungry, anxious, or unsafe student cannot focus on learning; meeting basic and emotional needs is a precondition for academic engagement.
- Bloom's taxonomy (revised, low to high)
- Remember → understand → apply → analyze → evaluate → create. A hierarchy of cognitive demand used to write objectives and questions.
- Higher-order thinking (Bloom's)
- Analyze, evaluate, and create — the upper levels that require reasoning beyond recall. Strong instruction pushes students into these levels.
- Erikson's psychosocial stage: industry vs. inferiority
- ~6 to 12 years (elementary). Children develop competence through accomplishment; repeated failure breeds feelings of inferiority.
- Erikson's psychosocial stage: identity vs. role confusion
- Adolescence. Teens explore and form a personal identity; failure to do so leads to confusion about their role and values.
- Erikson's stage: initiative vs. guilt
- ~3 to 6 years (early childhood). Children assert purpose through play and planning; over-control or criticism can produce guilt.
- Kohlberg's preconventional morality
- Stages 1–2: behavior is governed by obedience/punishment avoidance and self-interest ('What's in it for me?'). Common in young children.
- Kohlberg's conventional morality
- Stages 3–4: behavior is guided by social approval and maintaining law and order. Typical of older children and most adults.
- Backward design (three stages)
- Plan from the end: (1) identify desired results/standards, (2) determine acceptable assessment evidence, (3) plan learning experiences and instruction.
- Measurable learning objective
- A specific, observable statement of what students will know or be able to do, written with a Bloom's action verb (e.g., 'analyze,' 'compare').
- TEKS
- Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills — the state's required curriculum standards. Texas teachers must align instruction and assessment to the TEKS.
- Alignment
- The match among standards (TEKS), learning objectives, instruction, and assessment. Strong alignment means you assess exactly what you taught and intended.
- Differentiated instruction
- Tailoring the content, process, product, or learning environment to students' readiness, interests, and learning profiles so all reach the same standards.
- Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
- A framework that builds flexible options for engagement, representation, and action/expression into instruction from the start — proactive, not retrofit.
- Formative assessment
- Ongoing, low-stakes checks during instruction (exit tickets, questioning, observation) used to give feedback and adjust teaching. Assessment FOR learning.
- Summative assessment
- An end-of-unit evaluation of mastery against standards (final exam, project, state test). Assessment OF learning; usually higher stakes.
- Diagnostic (preassessment)
- Assessment given before instruction to identify students' prior knowledge, skills, and misconceptions so teaching can be targeted.
- Norm-referenced assessment
- Compares a student's performance to that of a norm group (e.g., percentile rank). Sorts and ranks students rather than measuring mastery of content.
- Criterion-referenced assessment
- Measures performance against a fixed standard or criterion, not against other students. STAAR is criterion-referenced — did the student meet the standard?
- Validity
- The degree to which an assessment measures what it claims to measure. A valid test matches the objectives and standards it is supposed to assess.
- Reliability
- The degree to which an assessment produces consistent, repeatable results across raters, items, or occasions.
- Rubric
- A scoring tool that lists criteria and performance levels, making evaluation of student work consistent, transparent, and fair.
- Authentic / performance assessment
- Tasks that ask students to apply knowledge in a real-world context (a lab, presentation, portfolio) rather than answer isolated questions.
- Constructivism
- A theory that learners actively build new understanding by connecting experiences to prior knowledge, rather than passively receiving information.
- Schema
- An organized mental framework of prior knowledge. Activating relevant schema before a lesson helps students integrate and remember new information.
- Cooperative learning
- Structured group work in which students work toward a shared goal with positive interdependence and individual accountability.
- Anticipatory set
- A brief opening activity (hook) that grabs attention, activates prior knowledge, and previews the lesson's purpose.
- Closure
- An end-of-lesson activity in which students summarize or apply what they learned, helping the teacher check understanding and reinforce key points.
- Multiple intelligences (Gardner)
- The idea that intelligence takes varied forms (linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist).
- Bruner's spiral curriculum
- The idea of revisiting key concepts repeatedly over time at increasing levels of complexity, building deeper understanding with each cycle.
- Prior knowledge
- What students already know about a topic. Effective lessons activate and build on it; unaddressed misconceptions can block new learning.
- Modeling
- Demonstrating a skill or thinking process (often via think-aloud) so students see how an expert approaches a task before they try it.
- Gradual release of responsibility
- The 'I do, we do, you do' progression: teacher models, then guides practice, then students work independently as support fades.
- Wait time
- The pause a teacher allows after asking a question (3+ seconds). Longer wait time improves the length, depth, and number of student responses.
- Essential question
- An open-ended, thought-provoking question that frames a unit and drives inquiry toward deep understanding.
- Cognitive load
- The amount of working-memory demand a task imposes. Chunking content and removing extraneous distractions keeps load manageable for learning.
- Behaviorism
- A theory that learning is shaped by stimulus–response and consequences (reinforcement and punishment). Underlies many classroom-management systems.
- Bilingual / ESL program goals
- Texas programs aim to help emergent bilingual students develop English proficiency and grade-level content knowledge, valuing the home language as an asset.
- Self-actualization (Maslow)
- The top of Maslow's hierarchy: realizing one's full potential and creativity, possible only after lower needs are met.
- Reliability vs. validity
- Reliability = consistent results; validity = measures the right thing. A test can be reliable but not valid (consistent yet measuring the wrong skill).
- Classroom management
- The systems of routines, procedures, expectations, and relationships a teacher uses to create an orderly, respectful, productive learning environment.
- Procedures vs. rules
- Procedures are how routine tasks are done (turning in work, lining up); rules are expectations for behavior. Both should be taught and practiced early.
- Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS)
- A proactive, school-wide framework that teaches and reinforces expected behaviors and uses data to support students, rather than relying on punishment.
- Positive reinforcement
- Adding a desirable consequence after a behavior to increase that behavior (praise, privileges). The most effective tool for shaping classroom behavior.
- Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation
- Intrinsic motivation comes from internal interest or satisfaction; extrinsic motivation comes from outside rewards. Fostering intrinsic motivation is the goal.
- Withitness (Kounin)
- A teacher's awareness of everything happening in the room at all times, so problems are caught early and addressed before they escalate.
- Proactive vs. reactive management
- Proactive management prevents misbehavior through clear routines, engagement, and relationships; reactive management responds after problems occur. Prevention is preferred.
- Growth mindset (Dweck)
- The belief that ability can grow with effort and strategy. Praising effort and process (not innate talent) builds resilience and persistence.
- Equitable vs. equal
- Equal gives every student the same thing; equitable gives each student what they need to succeed. A fair classroom is equitable, not identical.
- Culturally responsive teaching
- Instruction that recognizes and values students' cultural backgrounds, using them as assets to make learning relevant and the classroom inclusive.
- Social-emotional learning (SEL)
- Developing self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making alongside academics.
- Logical consequences
- Responses to misbehavior that are related, respectful, and reasonable, connecting the consequence to the behavior (clean up the mess you made).
- Establishing rapport
- Building trusting, respectful relationships with students. Strong relationships are the foundation of motivation, engagement, and effective management.
- Physical classroom arrangement
- Organizing space and seating to support the activity — clear sightlines, easy movement, and areas configured for whole-group, small-group, or independent work.
- Time on task / academic engaged time
- The portion of class time students spend actively engaged in learning. Smooth transitions and efficient routines maximize it.
- De-escalation
- Calm, non-confrontational strategies (lowered voice, choices, space) used to reduce a student's emotional intensity before addressing the behavior.
- Restorative practices
- Approaches that repair harm and rebuild relationships after conflict (restorative circles, conferences) rather than relying solely on exclusionary discipline.
- Investigating the function of behavior
- Identifying why a student misbehaves (attention, escape, sensory, tangible) so the response addresses the underlying cause, not just the surface behavior.
- Student ownership / autonomy
- Giving students appropriate choice and voice (in rules, goals, or how they show learning) to increase motivation and responsibility.
- Safe and supportive climate
- A classroom where students feel physically and emotionally safe to take risks, make mistakes, and express ideas without ridicule.
- Consistency
- Applying rules, routines, and consequences predictably and fairly. Inconsistency undermines expectations and erodes trust.
- Transitions
- The shifts between activities. Teaching and practicing efficient transition procedures prevents lost time and off-task behavior.
- Proximity control
- A subtle management move: moving near an off-task student to redirect behavior without stopping instruction or calling attention.
- High expectations
- Communicating the belief that all students can meet rigorous standards. High expectations paired with support drive achievement.
- Self-efficacy
- A student's belief in their own ability to succeed at a task. Mastery experiences and encouragement build it; it strongly predicts effort and persistence.
- Engagement strategies
- Techniques that keep all students active — think-pair-share, total participation responses, choice, and relevant, challenging tasks.
- Bullying response
- A teacher must intervene immediately, ensure safety, report per district policy, and address it with the students and families — never ignore it.
- Attribution theory
- How students explain success and failure. Helping them attribute outcomes to effort and strategy (controllable) builds motivation and persistence.
- Inclusive environment
- A classroom that welcomes and supports all students — across abilities, languages, and cultures — so each feels they belong and can participate.
- Co-constructing rules with students
- Involving students in creating classroom rules builds ownership and understanding, increasing the likelihood they follow them.
- Active learning
- Engaging students directly in doing — discussion, problem-solving, application — rather than passively receiving information, which deepens understanding and retention.
- Effective feedback
- Feedback that is specific, actionable, and timely, focused on the task and how to improve — not just a grade or vague praise.
- Questioning techniques
- Using a mix of lower- and higher-order questions, wait time, and cold-call/all-respond methods to engage every student at different cognitive levels.
- Data-driven instruction
- Using assessment results to identify learning gaps and adjust teaching — reteaching, regrouping, or enriching based on what the data show.
- Inquiry-based learning
- Instruction driven by student questions, investigation, and exploration; the teacher acts as a facilitator guiding students to construct understanding.
- Project-based learning (PBL)
- Extended, student-driven projects centered on a real-world problem or question, in which the teacher serves as a guide and facilitator.
- Flipped classroom
- Students learn new content (often via video) before class, freeing in-class time for active practice, application, and problem-solving with the teacher present.
- Supporting English Language Learners (ELLs)
- Use comprehensible input — visuals, scaffolds, gestures, sentence frames, and differentiated tasks — to make grade-level content accessible while building English.
- Comprehensible input
- Making content understandable to language learners through visuals, simplified language, and context, so they can access meaning at their proficiency level.
- Metacognition
- Thinking about one's own thinking. Self-assessment and reflection build metacognitive skills that help students monitor and regulate their learning.
- Self-assessment
- Students evaluating their own work against criteria. It promotes metacognition, ownership, and awareness of progress toward goals.
- Technology integration
- Using digital tools purposefully to advance learning objectives — for immediate feedback, personalized paths, collaboration, or access — not technology for its own sake.
- Checking for understanding
- Frequent, in-the-moment checks (questioning, signals, quick writes) during a lesson to confirm students are learning before moving on.
- Reteaching
- Revisiting content using a different approach or representation when assessment shows students did not master it the first time.
- Flexible grouping
- Grouping and regrouping students by readiness, interest, or task — sometimes homogeneous, sometimes mixed — based on data and instructional purpose.
- Think-pair-share
- A strategy where students think individually, discuss with a partner, then share with the class — boosting participation and processing.
- Graphic organizers
- Visual tools (Venn diagrams, concept maps, T-charts) that help students organize information, see relationships, and support comprehension.
- Pacing
- Adjusting the speed and density of instruction to keep students appropriately challenged and engaged — slowing for difficulty, accelerating when ready.
- Responsive instruction
- Adapting teaching in real time based on student understanding and needs, rather than rigidly following a script regardless of how the class responds.
- Scaffolded questioning
- Sequencing questions from concrete and recall toward abstract and analytical, leading students step by step to higher-order thinking.
- Differentiating by process
- Varying how students engage with content (tiered tasks, choice of activity, varied support) while keeping the same learning goal.
- Differentiating by product
- Letting students demonstrate the same learning in different ways (essay, presentation, model) suited to their strengths.
- Real-world relevance
- Connecting lessons to students' lives and authentic contexts to increase motivation, engagement, and transfer of learning.
- Productive struggle
- Letting students grapple with appropriately challenging problems before help is given, building perseverance and deeper understanding.
- Accommodations vs. modifications
- Accommodations change how a student accesses content (extra time, audio) without changing the standard; modifications change what is taught or expected.
- Spaced practice / distributed practice
- Spreading study and review across time rather than massing it, which improves long-term retention far more than cramming.
- Retrieval practice
- Practicing recalling information from memory (low-stakes quizzing, flashcards), which strengthens learning more than rereading.
- Direct instruction
- An explicit, teacher-led model — clear objectives, modeling, guided practice, and independent practice — effective for teaching discrete skills and foundational content.
- Differentiating by content
- Varying what students learn or the materials' complexity (leveled texts, tiered resources) based on readiness while targeting the same standard.
- Using assessment results to group
- Analyzing formative data to form small groups for targeted reteaching or enrichment, then regrouping as needs change.
- Texas Educators' Code of Ethics
- The state's binding ethics rules (Texas Administrative Code Chapter 247) covering professional conduct, ethical practices, and conduct toward students and colleagues.
- Three sections of the Texas Code of Ethics
- (1) Professional Ethical Conduct, Practices, and Performance; (2) Ethical Conduct Toward Professional Colleagues; (3) Ethical Conduct Toward Students.
- FERPA
- The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act — a federal law protecting the privacy of student education records and giving parents/eligible students rights over them.
- IDEA
- The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — a federal law guaranteeing eligible students with disabilities a free appropriate public education (FAPE) via an IEP.
- IEP
- An Individualized Education Program — a legally binding document under IDEA that specifies a student's goals, services, and accommodations.
- Section 504
- Part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 — prohibits disability discrimination and provides accommodations (a 504 plan) for students who don't qualify under IDEA.
- FAPE
- Free Appropriate Public Education — the IDEA guarantee that students with disabilities receive education and services at no cost, tailored to their needs.
- Least restrictive environment (LRE)
- The IDEA principle that students with disabilities are educated with non-disabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate.
- Mandatory reporting
- By Texas law, educators must report suspected child abuse or neglect within 48 hours, and may not delegate or be relieved of this personal duty.
- TEA
- The Texas Education Agency — the state agency that oversees public education, sets the TEKS, administers STAAR, and governs educator certification.
- Reflective practice
- Regularly analyzing one's own teaching to identify strengths and areas for growth, then adjusting to improve effectiveness.
- Professional learning community (PLC)
- A collaborative group of educators who meet regularly to share practice, analyze student data, and improve instruction together.
- Communicating with families
- Building partnerships through regular, two-way, respectful communication in multiple formats and languages, keeping families informed about progress.
- Sensitive parent conversations
- Handle privately, lead with the student's strengths, share specific evidence, listen, and collaborate on a plan rather than assigning blame.
- Confidentiality of student information
- Under FERPA and ethics rules, educators must keep student records and personal information private, sharing only with those who have a legitimate need.
- Professional boundaries
- Maintaining appropriate relationships with students — including on social media — and adhering to district policy to protect students and one's certification.
- Reporting a colleague's ethics violation
- Document the behavior and report it through proper school or district channels — not gossip or ignore it. The duty to protect students comes first.
- Professional development
- Ongoing learning (workshops, coursework, coaching) chosen to target specific growth areas and improve instruction; required to maintain certification.
- Co-teaching
- Two educators (often general and special education) sharing planning, instruction, and assessment in one classroom; most effective when both are equal partners.
- ARD committee
- Admission, Review, and Dismissal — the Texas team (including parents and teachers) that develops, reviews, and revises a student's IEP under IDEA.
- Advocating for students
- Acting in students' best interests — connecting them to resources, services, and supports — while following district and legal procedures.
- Collaboration with specialists
- Working with counselors, special educators, ELL specialists, and administrators to meet the full range of student needs.
- Acting with integrity
- Honesty in records, assessment, and reporting; avoiding falsifying data, misrepresenting credentials, or misappropriating resources — required by the Code of Ethics.
- Resources for struggling students
- Tutoring, response to intervention (RTI/MTSS), counseling, special education referral, and family engagement — used before assuming a student simply can't learn.
- Continuing education / certificate renewal
- Texas educators renew standard certificates by completing required continuing professional education (CPE) hours over the renewal period.
- Student feedback on instruction
- Gathering and weighing student input as one of several sources to reflect on and improve teaching practices.
- Equity in professional practice
- Investigating disparities (e.g., an underperforming group) and adapting instruction and supports to close gaps, rather than lowering expectations.
- Addressing suspected abuse vs. respecting privacy
- Mandatory reporting of suspected abuse overrides ordinary confidentiality — the duty to protect the child's safety comes first.
- School-community partnerships
- Connecting families and community resources to the classroom to support student learning, well-being, and a sense of belonging.
- STAAR
- The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness — the criterion-referenced state tests measuring student mastery of the TEKS.
- Assimilation (Piaget)
- Fitting new information into an existing schema without changing the schema — interpreting the new through what you already know.
- Accommodation (Piaget)
- Changing an existing schema, or creating a new one, to incorporate information that doesn't fit — the schema adapts to the new reality.
- Egocentrism (preoperational)
- A young child's difficulty seeing a situation from another's perspective — assuming others share their viewpoint.
- Reversibility
- Understanding that an action can be reversed (e.g., 5 + 3 = 8 and 8 − 3 = 5) — a hallmark of the concrete operational stage.
- Erikson: trust vs. mistrust
- Infancy (0–1). Consistent, responsive care builds trust; neglect breeds mistrust of the world.
- Erikson: autonomy vs. shame and doubt
- Toddlerhood (1–3). Children assert independence; over-control or criticism produces shame and doubt.
- Kohlberg: postconventional morality
- Stages 5–6: reasoning based on social contract and universal ethical principles, beyond mere law or approval.
- Equilibration (Piaget)
- The drive to balance assimilation and accommodation; cognitive conflict pushes a learner to a new, more stable understanding.
- Information-processing theory
- A model of memory as input → sensory register → working memory → long-term memory; teaching should manage attention and reduce overload.
- Working memory
- The limited-capacity system that holds and manipulates information in the moment; chunking and reducing distractions protect it.
- Transfer of learning
- Applying knowledge or skills learned in one context to a new situation; relevance and varied practice promote it.
- Concrete-representational-abstract (CRA)
- A sequence for teaching concepts (especially math): start with concrete objects, move to pictures, then to abstract symbols.
- Tiered assignments
- Tasks at varied levels of challenge addressing the same objective, so students work at their readiness level toward one standard.
- Pre-assessment
- Assessing students before a unit to reveal prior knowledge, skills, and misconceptions so instruction can be targeted.
- Performance-based assessment
- Asking students to apply skills in a realistic task (lab, presentation, portfolio) rather than answer isolated questions.
- Portfolio assessment
- A purposeful collection of student work over time that shows growth and mastery toward standards.
- Self- and peer assessment
- Students evaluating their own or each other's work against criteria, building metacognition and ownership.
- Standardized test
- A test administered and scored under uniform conditions; can be norm- or criterion-referenced (STAAR is criterion-referenced).
- Bias in assessment
- Features of a test that disadvantage a group unfairly; using varied, accessible measures and reviewing items reduces it.
- ELPS
- English Language Proficiency Standards — Texas standards for teaching academic English to emergent bilingual students across all subjects.
- Gifted and talented (GT)
- Students who perform or show potential at remarkably high levels; they need enrichment, depth, and complexity, not just more work.
- Response to Intervention (RTI/MTSS)
- A tiered system providing increasing levels of support to struggling students, using data to decide who needs more.
- Backward-design Stage 1
- Identify desired results — the standard (TEKS) and the enduring understandings and learning goals students should reach.
- Backward-design Stage 2
- Determine acceptable evidence — how you'll assess that students have met the goal, planned before the activities.
- Backward-design Stage 3
- Plan learning experiences and instruction — the activities that build toward the assessment and the desired results.
- Vertical alignment
- Coordinating curriculum across grade levels so skills build coherently from year to year.
- Horizontal alignment
- Coordinating curriculum across classes or teachers in the same grade so students get comparable, standards-based instruction.
- Maslow: belonging needs
- The third level — the need for connection, acceptance, and relationships; a classroom community helps meet it.
- Maslow: esteem needs
- The fourth level — the need for recognition, respect, and a sense of accomplishment; achievable challenge and feedback build it.
- Learning style vs. readiness
- Readiness (current skill level) drives most differentiation decisions; interests and profiles add engagement, but readiness is primary.
- Negative reinforcement
- Removing an unpleasant condition to increase a behavior (ending a nagging reminder once work is done). It increases behavior, unlike punishment.
- Punishment vs. reinforcement
- Reinforcement increases a behavior; punishment decreases it. The PPR favors reinforcing desired behavior over punishing undesired behavior.
- Extinction
- Withholding the reinforcement that maintains a behavior so the behavior fades (e.g., not giving attention to minor attention-seeking).
- Token economy
- A system in which students earn tokens for desired behavior, exchangeable for rewards; an extrinsic-motivation tool to use sparingly.
- Group contingency
- A reward or consequence based on the behavior of a group, used to build positive peer accountability and a shared goal.
- Functional behavior assessment (FBA)
- A process to identify the purpose (function) of a challenging behavior so a support plan can address its cause.
- Behavior intervention plan (BIP)
- A plan, often following an FBA, that teaches replacement behaviors and supports a student with persistent behavior challenges.
- Establishing routines early
- Teaching and practicing procedures in the first days of school prevents most management problems all year.
- Overlapping (Kounin)
- Attending to more than one event at a time — e.g., helping one group while monitoring the whole room.
- Momentum & smoothness (Kounin)
- Keeping lessons moving without abrupt stops or 'jerkiness' so students stay engaged and off-task time shrinks.
- Ripple effect (Kounin)
- How a teacher's response to one student's behavior influences the behavior of others watching.
- Classroom community
- A climate of belonging, shared norms, and mutual respect that supports learning and reduces behavior problems.
- Choice as motivation
- Offering students appropriate choices (of task, partner, or product) increases autonomy and intrinsic motivation.
- Relevance as motivation
- Connecting learning to students' lives and goals raises engagement and the perceived value of a task.
- Locus of control
- Whether students attribute outcomes to factors inside (effort) or outside (luck) their control; an internal locus supports motivation.
- Learned helplessness
- When repeated failure leads a student to stop trying; countered by achievable success, effort attribution, and scaffolding.
- Fixed vs. growth mindset
- A fixed mindset sees ability as unchangeable; a growth mindset sees it as developable through effort and strategy.
- Trauma-informed practice
- Recognizing how trauma affects behavior and learning, and responding with safety, predictability, and support rather than punishment.
- Conflict resolution
- Teaching students to resolve disputes through communication and problem-solving rather than aggression.
- Classroom rules (effective)
- Few, positively stated, clearly taught, and consistently enforced; co-creating them builds student ownership.
- Engaging the disengaged
- Re-engage a checked-out student with relevance, choice, achievable challenge, and relationship — not just consequences.
- Seating arrangements
- Arrange seating to fit the activity — rows for direct instruction, clusters for collaboration, a circle for discussion.
- Nonverbal redirection
- Using a look, gesture, or proximity to redirect off-task behavior without interrupting instruction or drawing attention.
- Building belonging
- Greeting students, learning their names and interests, and creating shared rituals to make every student feel they belong.
- Equitable participation
- Structuring discussion so all students contribute (cold call, all-write, random call) rather than the same few volunteers.
- Cooperative learning structures
- Designs like jigsaw and think-pair-share that build positive interdependence and individual accountability.
- Jigsaw
- A cooperative structure where each student becomes an 'expert' on one part, then teaches it to their group.
- Bloom's verbs for objectives
- Action verbs at each level (define, explain, apply, analyze, evaluate, design) used to write measurable objectives.
- Higher-order questioning
- Questions that ask students to analyze, evaluate, or create — pushing thinking beyond recall.
- Open- vs. closed-ended questions
- Open questions invite extended reasoning and multiple answers; closed questions check a single fact. Mix both purposefully.
- Total participation techniques
- Methods (whiteboards, signals, all-write) that have every student respond at once, not just one volunteer.
- Exit ticket
- A brief end-of-lesson prompt that gives the teacher quick formative data on who learned the objective.
- Scaffolds for ELLs
- Visuals, sentence frames, word banks, native-language support, and partner talk that make content comprehensible.
- Sheltered instruction
- Teaching grade-level content to English learners using strategies that make the language and concepts accessible.
- Differentiation in delivery
- Adjusting how a lesson is delivered in real time — re-explaining, adding a visual, regrouping — based on student response.
- Anticipatory set (hook)
- A brief opener that grabs attention, activates prior knowledge, and previews the lesson's purpose.
- Guided practice
- Students practice a new skill with teacher support and feedback before working independently.
- Independent practice
- Students apply a skill on their own once they can do it successfully with support; the teacher monitors.
- Modeling / think-aloud
- Demonstrating a skill while narrating the thinking, so students see how an expert approaches the task.
- Differentiated questioning
- Posing questions at varied levels so every student can engage at their readiness while some are pushed higher.
- Purposeful technology use
- Using a digital tool only when it advances the objective — for feedback, collaboration, access, or personalization.
- Digital citizenship
- Teaching students to use technology safely, responsibly, and ethically — privacy, credibility, and respectful conduct online.
- Equitable tech access
- Ensuring all students can use required technology, accounting for differing devices and connectivity.
- Real-time monitoring
- Circulating, observing, and questioning during work time to catch misunderstandings as they happen.
- Feedback loop
- The cycle of assessing, giving actionable feedback, letting students revise, and reassessing — feedback only helps if students act on it.
- Adjusting pacing
- Speeding up or slowing instruction based on understanding — extending when ready, reteaching when needed.
- Data-informed grouping
- Forming temporary small groups from formative data to reteach or enrich, then regrouping as needs change.
- Reteaching a new way
- When students don't master content, revisit it with a different approach or representation — not just a repeat.
- Activating prior knowledge
- Connecting a new lesson to what students already know, so new information has something to attach to.
- Checking for understanding (CFU)
- Frequent in-the-moment checks (questioning, signals, quick writes) confirming students learn before you move on.
- SBEC
- The State Board for Educator Certification — sets the standards and rules for Texas educator certification and ethics.
- Educator Preparation Program (EPP)
- A TEA/SBEC-approved program (university, alternative, or post-baccalaureate) that prepares and recommends candidates for certification.
- Inclusion
- Educating students with disabilities in the general classroom with appropriate supports, reflecting the least restrictive environment.
- 504 plan
- A plan under Section 504 providing accommodations for a student with a disability who doesn't qualify for special education under IDEA.
- Directory information (FERPA)
- Information (like name or grade level) a school may disclose without consent, unless a parent opts out — narrower categories still need consent.
- Legitimate educational interest
- The standard under FERPA for which school officials may access a student's records — a real need tied to their duties.
- Copyright & fair use
- Educators must respect copyright; limited educational use may be allowed under fair use, but copying wholesale is not.
- Confidentiality of student info
- Keep student records and personal information private, sharing only with those who have a legitimate need to know.
- Professional boundaries online
- Maintain appropriate, professional relationships with students on social media and follow district policy to protect students and your certificate.
- Reporting timeline (Texas)
- Suspected child abuse or neglect must be reported within 48 hours; the duty is immediate, personal, and cannot be delegated.
- Non-delegable duty
- A teacher cannot satisfy the mandatory-reporting duty merely by telling a principal — each educator must make the report themselves.
- Code of Ethics: toward students
- Protect students from harm, keep their information confidential, and never engage in inappropriate or abusive relationships.
- Code of Ethics: toward colleagues
- Keep colleague information confidential; no harassment, discrimination, coercion, retaliation; give honest evaluations.
- Code of Ethics: professional conduct
- Honesty with funds and property; no falsifying records or misrepresenting qualifications; no misuse of an official position.
- Mentoring
- Pairing a new teacher with an experienced one for guidance and support, accelerating professional growth.
- Reflective journal
- A record of observations about one's teaching used to reflect, identify patterns, and plan improvements.
- Advocacy for students
- Acting in students' best interests — connecting them to resources, services, and supports — within legal and district procedures.
- Two-way family communication
- Communication that invites family input, not just delivers information — building genuine partnership.
- Strengths-based conferencing
- Opening parent conferences with what the student does well before discussing concerns, keeping the tone collaborative.
- Cultural competence with families
- Respecting families' languages, customs, and perspectives and removing barriers to their participation in school.
- Continuous professional improvement
- An ongoing cycle of reflection, learning, and applying new strategies to grow as an educator throughout a career.
