Capacity Building

Continuous Performance Management for Enhancing Professional Productivity via Capacity Building Training Program is key feature of Bright Vision. These services intend to apply the best practices and standards based global paradigm with regard to knowledge, skills and meaningful personalized attitude toward profession, job performance and productivity enhancement in order to raise and meet the standards of education and institutions up to dynamic role in future. Obviously, lack of updated research based knowledge, growing self-managerial skills, passive skills and low morale of professionalism have correlation to productivity. In educational institutions who have taken this value addition services, the benefits are almost immediate. Staff, if get trained, keep engaged to increase performance and productivity constructively.

“Marcus Buckingham (First, Break All the Rules) asserts that ‘People Leave People, Not Organizations”.

Diversity in Employees and Work

The reason our employees play a crucial role in advancement of our institutions is that they are the ones who interact on daily basis with people. Think of it the way: our people are actually the last hands that face to serve. If we want to ensure quality work, our people must have updated and instrumental professional skills.

“Stephen Covey explains it: In a top-down management system, employees do not interact with executives, but multiple times a day they interact with their direct managers and that is the reason front-line employees are ones who need training. They have the most influence over morale, commitment, engagement, performance and productivity”.

Front-line Employees

Front-line employees have the single largest impact on institutions. An employee brings significant healthy changes in performance, satisfaction, productivity, efficiency and overall image-branding of institutions. If we have to serve the common cause, it goes without saying that continuous capacity building is a smart move.

Dynamic Leadership

Dynamic leadership does not just happen. Employees do not inherently know how to manage delicate personnel issues and effectively encourage themselves and others. Moreover, capable and effective employees have to be trained to stay updated in employment practices, workplace productivity, safety requirements and multitude of other trends keeping the quality of life in view.

Practical Learning Outcomes

Instrumental participation in workshops will enable you to integrate following Practical Learning Outcomes (PLOs):

Building Capacity

Through continuous professional development, teacher experience the significant impact with regard to professional teaching attitude. They feel more empowered towards subject-matter mastery and welcome even the critical enquires from the student.

Experienced Mentoring

According to the best practices and paradigm, capacity building of teacher helps them to apply their potential in mentoring the student with respect to holistic development of students, parents, teachers and institution.

Context of Teaching

Capacity building provides opportunity by allowing teachers time to learning of practical aspect of concept, problem, question and subject-specific content for students to get mastery in real classroom teaching.

Proactive Approach / Preventive Measures

After capacity building, teachers practice efficiently to manage the common day-to-day academic and behavioural issues of students that have direct influence on academic and social development of students.

Innovation and Result

In real classroom teaching, constraints including the time, rarely allow teacher to use innovative learning methods of students to get mastery over topic. Hence, an out-standing result can be secured yet incorporating new learning techniques.

Knowledge, Skill and Attitude-KSA

A refined attitude to deliver and inculcate a rewarding skill set based on objective and subject knowledge is possible only due to the professional development of teachers.

Developing Methodology

The mindful participation in learning through brainstorming, solving the case studies as well as sharing of best practices and worldwide paradigm assure the role of teacher as mentor. For effective learning, following methodology can be adapted:

1. Presentation
2. Case Studies
3. Group Presentation
4. Individual Presentation
5. Cross Questioning
6. Brainstorming
7. Discussion
8. Training Project Presentation

Continuous Evaluation & Sustainability Cycle

         

Evaluation & Feedback on Learning Session

To take tangible feedback tools will be applied after three months subsequent to the session. Session will be conducted by keeping the quality and productivity in view that will also be reflecting through feedback and instrumental learning and working during the classroom learning sessions. However, impact analysis feedback will explore the level of development.

Capacity Building Topics for Teaching Staff

Pedagogical Skills for Teaching-Learning Management

Topics	Practical Learning Outcomes
Team Building for High Performance and Results	1.          Introduction to Team 2.          Comprehension of Cohesiveness 3.          Significance of Diversity in Team 4.          Techniques for Team Building 5.          Team Building for Succession
Lesson Planning	1.          Introduction to Lesson Planning 2.          How to Prepare Lesson Plan 3.          Strategic Lesson Planning 4.          Evaluation of Lesson Planning 5.          Apply Lesson Planning for Effectiveness
Communication Skills	1.          Introduction to Communication 2.          Information Channels 3.          Presenting Information 4.          Communicating Instructions of Tasks 5.          Giving and Receiving Feedback
Classroom Management	1.          Introduction to Classroom Management 2.          Approaches/Measures of Management 3.          Proactive Classroom Management 4.          Methods to Manage Bigger Classrooms 5.          Teaching the Chronic Students

Positive Attitude for Strengthening Learning Behaviour

Topics	Practical Learning Outcomes
Personality Development	1.        Introduction to Personality 2.        Personality Types and Attitudes 3.        Personality Styles 4.        Techniques for Personality Development
Teaching-Learning Methods	1.        Introduction to Teaching 2.        Introduction to Learning 3.        Teaching Approaches, Methods & Techniques 4.        Learning Methods
Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation	1.        Introduction to Motivation 2.        Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation 3.        Techniques to Enhance Motivation 4.        Motivation and Academic Achievement
Teachers’ Attitude and Students’ Behavior	1.        Introduction to Professionalism 2.        Teacher-Student Relationship Management 3.        Introduction to Attitude and Behavior 4.        Techniques to Develop Positive Attitude 5.        Behavior Modification Methods

Holistic Development: Personal, Social & Professional Growth

Topics	Practical Learning Outcomes
Improvement in Learning Behavior of Students	1.        Introduction to Thinking, Behavior and Attitude 2.        Learning Type of Students 3.        Approaches to Improve Learning Behaviors 4.        Learning for Exam Success
Role of Intellectual Management in Academic Achievement	1.        Introduction to Intelligence 2.        Basic and Applied Intelligence 3.        Verbal and Non-verbal Intelligence 4.        Techniques to Improve Intelligence 5.        Role of Intelligence in Academic Career
Role of Emotional Intelligence in Teaching-Learning Success	1.        Introduction to Emotional Intelligence 2.        Significance of Self-awareness 3.        Role of Social Skills 4.        Benefits of Self-control 5.        Comprehension of Motivation
Zone of Proximal Development (Nature V Nurture Theory)	1.        What is Zone of Proximal Development 2.        Role of Social Interactions in Mature Learning 3.        Scaffolding: Practicable Supportive Activities 4.        Self-Explanatory Skills

Capacity Building Topics for Administration / Management

Topics	Practical Learning Outcomes
Effective Leadership and Managerial Skills	1.        Introduction to Leadership & Management 2.        Introduction to Leadership Theories 3.        Comprehension of Managerial Skills 4.        Building Leading Decisions
Principal A Change Agent	1.        Principal a Change Agent 2.        Essential Skills for Change Agent 3.        Roles & Responsibilities of Change Agent 4.        Challenges for Change agent
Decision Making and Personality Styles	1.        Introduction to Decision-making 2.        Comprehension to Decision-making 3.        Personality Styles and Decision-making 4.        Making and Taking Effective Decisions
Effective Communication for Maximizing Performance	1.        Introduction to Delegation 2.        Importance of Delegation 3.        Power of Empowerment 4.        Effective Job Instructions 5.        Feedback Deliverance
Child Psychology	1.        Introduction to Child Psychology 2.        Comprehension of Personality Structure 3.        Psycho-social Developmental 4.        Cognitive Developmental Theory of Child
Strategic Time Management	1.        Introduction to Time Management 2.        Principles of Time Management 3.        Strategies of Time Management 4.        Time Waster/Savers 5.        Time Management Plan
Holistic Development	1.        Introduction to Holistic Development 2.        Philosophy of Holistic Development 3.        Domains of Holistic Development 4.        Role of Leadership in Holistic Development
Comprehensive School Counseling Program	1.        Introduction to School Counseling Program 2.        History and Significance of Program in Pakistan 3.        Best Practices of School Counseling Program 4.        Application School Counseling Program
Succession Planning of Institution	1.        Introduction to Succession Planning 2.        Monitoring & Evaluation 3.        Continual Training & Development 4.        Leadership Development
Counselling and Guidance	1.        Introduction to Counseling and Guidance 2.        Difference between Counseling and Guidance 3.        Principles of Counseling & Guidance 4.        Qualities of Counselor and Counselee 5.        Skills Required for Effective Counselor
Marketing Plan of Institution	1.        Identification of Annual Goals 2.        Assess Needs and Required Resources 3.        Prioritizing the Marketing Techniques 4.        Implement a School Marketing Plan 5.        Assess Success for Development

 

 

 

Glossary of Education

A

Attitude Learning

The mental state shaping our behaviour either positive or negative based on attitudinal predisposition.

Active Learning

The students’ deliberate learning through observation, instructions, physical activities, reading and listening.

Agile Management

It is based on philosophy of iterative management which states that innovative products/services require constant refinement through iterative experimentation.

Attitudinal Barriers

Discrimination on basis of gender, race or religion hampers communication. Prejudice, suspicion and emotional aggression affect communication. They arise because of refusal to change. Effective listening, feedback, problem-solving and being open to change can help you to eliminate attitudinal barriers in communication.

Affiliation & Social Motivation

Humans are social creation and social motivation also known as affiliation motivation stating that people are motivated by social factors like belonging and acceptance. Human has innate desire to connect with others and social motivation causes to seek connections by contributing to society. Evolutionary psychology tells us that human is motivated by social factors. For this reason, it is important to seek new connections as well as continue to grow the connections you already have. Finding people who love and accept you can motivate you to new heights and result in true happiness.

Approach

Approach can be defined as looking teaching-learning process based on set of beliefs and principles about nature of learning which is translated into classroom. Approach leads to choosing the methods or techniques to help learners. Students in modern classroom learn through techniques drawn from variety of approaches/methods labelled an ‘eclectic approach’. Teachers select techniques according to varying needs of their students.

 

Alternative Assessment

The measuring what students know and are able to do other than traditional tests. Written reports, projects, experiment report, portfolios, collections of students’ work and class participation are examples of this assessment.

Alternate Assessment System (AAS)

The system designed and administered to students for assessment of students’ learning: language, memory, attention, reasoning, abstract thinking, judgment, problem solving, sensory, perceptual & motor abilities, psychosocial behavior, physical functions, information processing and speech.

Associative Learning

It occurs when students makes connections between stimuli/events that occur together in environment. It is central to basic learning processes i.e. classical conditioning/learning tends to involve unconscious processes, conditioning/learning tends to involve conscious processes and observational learning adds social as well as cognitive layers to associative processes

Alternative School

The school established to educate students whose needs are not met in traditional public schools.

Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID)

AVID is designed to assess school students’ general educational development and their ability to complete college level work.

Apprenticeship

On-job training under the supervision of trade professional.

Aptitude Test

A test predicting (Assess) a person’s ability to do job.

Assessment

A standardized testing process used to measure the students’ knowledge.

Associate Degree

A degree awarded to students after completing two-year course of study in college.

Average

Usual, expected or ordinary performance.

Average Daily Attendance (ADA)

The number of students’ attendance divided by total number of days in regular schooling.

Ability Grouping

Assigning students with similar skills to learning groups.

Absence

Any part of school day when student is not in school.

Academic Achievement

What a student has learned from classroom instructions.

Academic Advisor

The member of teaching staff assigned to provide schooling to students.

Accountability

Schools staff is responsible for students’ achievement and maintain the required standard of school to ensure that school meets the defined standards of education.

Accreditation

The recognition of person/organization meets requirements to deliver instruction.

Accuracy

The ability to correctly read, write and solve problems.

Achievement Gap

A consistent difference in academic test scores between groups of students.

Achievement Tests

The tests used to measure how much students have learned in various school subjects.

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)

The optimum level of improvement that schools must achieve yearly.

Administrator

An employee i.e. principal who is responsible for managing a school or program.

Advisory Group

A group of students meet regularly with school staff to discuss school work.

Affective

A term which refers to emotions and attitude.

After-school Program

Educational program runs by schools to provide recreational learning activities to students after the end of regular school day or on weekends.

Asynchronous Collaboration

Asynchronous where the interaction can be time-shifted as when uploading documents or annotations to shared workspaces or making contributions.

Active Teaching-learning Approach

An approach which engages students in learning process through activities that stresses in higher-order thinking as opposed to passively listening.

Asynchronous Instructional Material

Asynchronous instructions foster students’ learning similar at different time and location and is often associated with online learning where students complete reading, assignment and project at their own pace and chosen time. This approach is particularly useful when students are spread across different time zones.

Authentic Assessment

The assessment in which learners demonstrate learning by applying their knowledge to authentic, complex, real-world tasks or simulations. Proponents of authentic assessment argue that these types of checks help students rehearse for the complex ambiguities of adult and professional life.

Academic Intervention Services (AIS)

The services required to provide additional support to students who are not meeting the learning standards.

Attitude Motivation

Attitude motivation is cultivated through the desire to change the way you think and feel. People motivated by attitude engage in actions and interactions with the express intent of making themselves and the people around them feel better in positive and uplifting way e.g. if you are motivated to work for a non-profit or volunteer because making people feel good makes you feel good, you are motivated by a change in attitude. Similarly, if you are teacher and you get joy out of helping your students grow and succeed, you are also taking part in attitude motivation.

Achievement Motivation

People are driven by the desire to pursue and achieve specific goals. People who are driven by achievement motivation desire to achieve a task or goal itself not necessarily because of attached reward. For example, teacher may develop students for the goal of nurturing a healthy citizen, not necessarily because of fame involved. If you are driven by achievement motivation, you are typically self-motivated, meaning that you value the process of getting better more than the end result itself.

Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR)

An annual evaluation of staff that conducts in accordance with laws regulations.

Analysis

Analysis is the process of breaking a complex topic/substance into smaller parts in order to get better understanding.

Average Daily Attendance

The aggregate attendance during the reporting period divided by the number of schooling days in an academic session.

Assertive Mindedness

Optimism is a learnt mental state. In order to keep you motivated, optimism should be learnt and sustained. The first step to learning optimism is to acknowledge the moments when you are being pessimistic. Once you have been acknowledged, you have the power to debate pessimism away.

Accessibility

A barrier-free environment where students even with disabilities can have maximum participation in programs and activities offered in school setting.

Accommodations

Changes in the way instruction, assessment and instructional materials are designed and used to respond to the needs of students.

Adaptive Skills

Age appropriate self-help skills including independent eating, toileting, personal hygiene and dressing skills.

Administrative Hearing

A formal process for parents and school to resolve disagreements about discipline and education services.

Assistive Technology Device

Any piece of equipment or product used to increase, improve or maintain the abilities of a child with a disability.

Assistive Technology Service

Any service that directly assists a child with a disability in using or choosing an Assistive Technology Device.

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

Children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder tend to have problems in staying on task and focusing on conversations or activities.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Children with ADD who are also hyperactive may be diagnosed with ADHD. Hyperactivity, a disorder of central nervous system, makes it difficult for affected children to control their motor activities and they move rapidly from one task to another without completing any of them.

Audiology

A service addresses the impact of hearing loss for student in educational setting through evaluation, identification, modifications, maintenance of student and classroom equipment or devices and other services.

Autism

A developmental disability affecting verbal and non-verbal communication and social interactions that is often observed before age. It is part of a group of disorders known as autism spectrum disorders (ASD). These disorders are often characterized by impaired communication skills and social abilities and by repetitive behaviors. Symptoms can range from very mild to quite severe.

Aversive Intervention Plan

A plan describes the systematic use of treatment which student finds unpleasant for the purpose of discouraging undesirable behavior on the part of student. The purpose of an aversive intervention plan is to assure that students eligible for special education are safeguarded against the use and misuse of various forms of aversive interventions. Aversive interventions should not be used with student until a plan is developed to clearly define what specific aversive interventions will be used, how often and under what circumstances.

B

Brain Storming

It is a group centred interaction which focuses on collecting the data and ideas through group discussion in a creative way.

Basic Education Data System (BEDS)

The system for collecting basic information on elementary and secondary schools.

Backwards Design

A process starts with instructors identifying students’ learning goals in order to design course content and assessment.

Blended/Hybrid Course

The classes in which some percentage of seat time has been reduced and replaced with online content and activities. This course continues to meet in person for some percentage of class time but content, activities, assessments and other ways for students to engage with content are delivered online. It is important that these courses are intentionally designed to utilize both in person and online class time to achieve effective student learning.

Behavior Modification in Children

Parents and teachers use behavior modification techniques to change behavior. Behavior modification uses the principles of operant conditioning/learning to accomplish behavioral change so that undesirable behaviors are switched to socially acceptable ones. Some teachers and parents create a chart in which several behaviors are listed. Charts are a form of token economies, as described in the text. Each time children perform the behavior, they get a chart and after a certain number of charts, they get a prize or reinforcer. The goal is to increase acceptable behaviors and decrease maladaptive behavior. In the classroom, the teacher can reinforce a wide range of behaviors, from students raising their hands, to walking quietly in the hall, to turning in their homework. At home, parents may create a behavior chart that rewards children for things such as putting away toys, brushing their teeth and helping with dinner. In order to make the behavior modification effective, reinforcement needs to be connected with the behavior; reinforcement must matter to the child and be done consistently.

 

Benefits of Spoken Communication

Spoken communication is a conversation, meeting or even speech which allows for input from every part of communication model. You encode your thoughts into spoken word and look to your audience to decode and understand the message. You can ask for feedback directly to confirm understanding of your message. In a world where we do most of our talking by email and text, spoken communication is a breath of fresh air. Leverage the power of spoken communication to create relationships, you can establish a rapport and a sense of trust with your audience when you speak with them. It allows you to walk away from conversation with a higher degree of certainty that your message is received.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

A cognitive framework of learning hierarchically structured in six categories: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, evaluation and synthesis. It is often used as helpful tool to create learning objectives that help in defining and measuring the learning experience for both student and instructor. It has three learning domains as under:

• Cognitive (Head) stresses on mental/intellectual development of students.
• Affective (Heart) emphasis on emotional growth of students.
• Psychomotor (Hand) narrates learning through practical skills.

Basing the head, heart and hand, it also called 3H taxonomy.

Bachelor’s Degree

A certificate awarded after completing four years full time study courses.

Basic Skills

The fundamental skills needed to succeed in school and eventually in life. These skills include the ability to read, write and calculate.

Below Average

Under the usual, expected or ordinary quality or performance.

Benchmark

The students’ performance should show by a particular point in their schooling.

 

 

Best Practices

Classroom instructional strategies demonstrated and accepted by professional community to improve student learning.

Bilingual Education

School program where two languages are used to teach the curriculum so that students gain knowledge of both languages.

Block Scheduling

It is usually used in middle/high school allowing students to have fewer classes per day and longer time in each class.

Boosters

A volunteer organization usually parents and alumni whose sole objective is to provide ongoing financial assistance in support of schools’ co-curricular programs, for example athletic program boosters.

Bulletin

A printed news publication.

Bullying

Repeated maladaptive behavior that student uses to take advantage of someone. A bully is someone who uses bullying behavior.

Build Self-esteem

You will succeed if you develop confidence, so recognize each small thing you accomplish, realize that value has come from you and reside in you.

Baseline Data

The level at which skill or behavior occurs before an intervention is implemented. Baseline data should be collected at the beginning of assessment and used to compare against post-intervention data to determine the change as a result of intervention.

Behavior Intervention Plan

The plan of action designed and implemented to address behavior that may negatively impact the success of student. The plan includes positive strategies, program modifications and supports that address students’ disruptive behaviors and allows the child to be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE).

C

Career

A gradual progress throughout the life called career. There are two major phase of career 1) student/learning/academic phase and 2) professional/occupational career.

Career Counseling

The scientific process empowering the students in choosing the suitable academic and professional path in the light of aptitude, personality and intellectual capacity.

Competence & Learning Motivation

Competence motivation also called learning motivation states that people are motivated by the process itself rather than by the reward. The people motivated by competence motivation are literally motivated by the act of learning or getting better as they move towards the completion of goal. For example, if you want a promotion because you will learn valuable skills and not because of higher salary, you are motivated by competence or learning motivation. This is an extremely valuable motivator and should be used in almost any motivational strategy. This is because new skills are valuable than even money because, unlike material things, they are assets that no one can take away from you.

Creative Motivation

People are motivated by creativity or innate drive for creative expression. When you are motivated by the desire to express yourself, you are tapping into creative motivation e.g. creative motivation include things in which you feel compelled to create such as the motivation to write a book, be an exemplary Muslim, build a product or start a job. Whether you want the entire world to see your art or just a few people, anything you create in an attempt at self-expression is driven by creative motivation.

Classroom Management

It refers to skills that teachers use to keep students organized, attentive and academically productive in classroom. When classroom management is applied effectively, teachers are successful in minimizing the behaviors that impede learning of students while maximizing the behaviors that facilitate or enhance learning. Generally speaking, effective teachers tend to display strong classroom management strategies whereas inexperienced teachers has a disorderly classroom filled with students who are not paying attention.

Conducive Learning Environment

The classroom setting enabling exchange of ideas, thoughts and skills among the teachers and learners to achieve the SLOs by considering the physical, psychological, social and cultural needs of the learners.

Computer Skills

Computer skills are divided into two categories 1) hardware skills and 2) software skills.

Computer Hardware Skills

Hardware skills allow you to physically operate a computer and can be as simple as knowing how to turn devices on and off. These may also involve more complex tasks like connecting machines to networks, changing parts or fixing broken devices.

Computer Software Skills

These skills help you to use computer programs and applications efficiently. Some of the software skills that employers may consider as prerequisites to employment. Employers may not include some software skills on job posts under the assumption they are universally understood. For example, many employers may believe all applicants have a basic knowledge of word processing programs, like Microsoft Word.

Cohort

The group of students educated at the same time i.e. grade level or class of students.

Co-teaching

An instructional structure in which two teachers are equally accountable for class.

Core Curriculum

The body of knowledge that all students are expected to learn.

Cognitive Development

The way we think, process information and learn is called cognitive development. It is operated by sensory perception, memory and observation from the birth.

Cognitive Learning

The mental process involves in learning such as remembering and understanding facts.

Competence/Achievement Tests

Tests created by school for students and is must to pass before promotion to next class.

Complex Sentences

Sentences with more than one clause or verbal phrase.

Comprehension

A term used to describe the interpretations what readers assimilate after reading.

Content Standards

Standards that describe what students be able to do in academic subjects at each grade.

Content-related Vocabulary

The words a student must know to communicate effectively about subject such as math, social studies, science, etc.

Context Clues

The words, phrases and sentences surrounding the unfamiliar vocabulary which helps the students to arrive at possible definition.

Credit

A unit of coursework given for satisfactory completion of the course.

Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs)

A learner-centred, teacher-directed, mutually beneficial, formative, context-specific, ongoing, firmly rooted and good practicing approach designed to help teachers in assessing how well students are learning in classroom through gathering formative feedback from students.

Classroom Climate

The intellectual, social, emotional and physical environments in which students learn. This climate is determined by factors like faculty-student interaction, tone of instructor, course demographics and student-student interactions.

Cognitive Load

The demands and limitations on working memory that can occur simultaneously in the verbal and visual processing channels of brain.

Collaborative Learning

An umbrella term covering different methods in which students work together to solve a problem, complete a task or create a product. Collaborative learning is founded in concept that learning and knowledge building is social and requires active engagement from students.

Constructivism

The theory of learning which argues that knowledge is actively constructed rather than passively absorbed by learners. Constructivists contend that when learners acquire new knowledge, it is through a dynamic process in which learner recreates existing mental models, situating this new information in terms of what they already know. Social constructivists additionally recognize the role of social interaction (co-construction) and communication as key forces in learning. Foundational constructivists include John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky and Jean Piaget. Constructivist pedagogical strategies are grounded in constructivist theory include opportunities for experiential learning, active exploration, student interaction and reflection.

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

A pedagogical framework where instructors centre students’ cultural identities as an important aspect of learning. Those committed to this framework deliberately work to make connections between courses content and students’ lived experiences in order to prompt student involvement and motivation. Culturally responsive course design includes cooperative, student-centred instruction and diverse course readings from a variety of voices and perspectives, particularly those voices which may fall outside of traditional collegiate canons.

Calendar Day

Refers to all days of the year, including weekends and holidays.

Career & Technical Education (CTE)

Classes allowing students to get credit for training in a skill or trade at high school. CTE classes may be held on-site or at a skill centre.

Character Education

A method that teaches students about basic human values.

Charter School

A school that is run by a group of organizers other than the school board and free from most state and local regulations.

Classroom Management

The way a classroom is organized to make instructional time productive for students.

Class Size

The number of students enrolled in a school classroom.

Closed Campus

A school where students are not allowed to leave school grounds during the school day.

Communication

A process to exchange the information between sender and receiver through common system of words, symbols, signs or behaviors. It is transfer of ideas, thoughts or emotions from one person/group to another and is an integral part of our society. It is a two-way process to knowing and understanding the others’ perspective in which both parties have to be an active while exchanging ideas or information usually leads to logical conclusion.

Creating Mutual Bonding

Communication creates long-lasting mutual bonds.

Creating Strong Influence

Communication has a great influence on the human psychology. Do you know why biopics such as ”Boom Boom and Ufone Tum Hi To Ho” bring attractive influence. The real reason is that these words strike a chord in your heart. They inspire you and add value to your life through constructive communication.

Continuity in Communication

Communication flows continuously depending upon its content and context. Classroom teachings, group discussions, coffee break conversations, counseling sessions and question-answer sessions are examples of an ongoing cycle of communication which is rewarding for personal and professional growth.

Cognitive

A term refers to reasoning or intellectual capacity.

Cognitive Development

The changes in the way children think, process information and learn as they grow up.

Cognitive Learning

The mental process involves in learning as remembering and understanding.

Collaboration

Individuals working together to accomplish goals.

 

Collaborative Learning

An instructional strategy where students of different abilities and interests work together in small groups to solve a problem, complete project, or achieve a common goal.

Competence Tests

Tests created by school that students must pass before promoting to next level.

Computer-assisted Instruction (CAI)

Educational programs delivered through the use of educational software.

Conflict Management

A strategy that is used to prevent and address conflict.

Conflict Resolution

A practice based understanding that there are various perspectives to solve a problem.

Continuous Progress

A system of education in which individuals or small groups of students go through the sequence of lessons at their own pace rather than at the pace of the entire classroom group.

Criterion-referenced Tests

The tests designed to measure how thoroughly a student has learned a particular subject compared to an established benchmark.

Critical Thinking

Logical thinking based on sound evidence.

Cultural Competence

A set of attitude, awareness, knowledge and skills that enables effective teaching in racially, culturally and socio-economically diverse classrooms.

Curriculum

The subject matter to be learnt by students which are also known as National Goals.

Curriculum Materials

Text, audio, video and/or electronic media used to teach the curriculum or subject area.

Cut of Score

The minimum score needed to pass a test.

 

Cyber Schools

Educational institutions which offer most or all instruction by computer.

Constructive Approach

Students are taught to be trained to construct knowledge and comprehend the meaning out of what they are taught by connecting it with prior knowledge and experiences.

Collaborative Approach

This approach welcomes group work teaming, partnership and group discussion in order to make the leaning mature and long term.

Counseling

A professional relationship based on confidentiality and non-discriminatory attitude for empowerment of students in domains of academic achievements, personality growth, social intelligence (I.Q. & E.Q.) management, career development and spiritualism. Counseling services may be deliver to students in both individual and group counseling as well as in classroom guidance format as well for sensitization at bigger level.

Concept Learning

The learning associated with higher order cognitive processes like intelligence, thinking, reasoning, etc. which we learn right from our childhood. Concept learning involves the processes of abstraction and generalization which is useful for identifying or recognizing things.

Channels of Communication

Uses of single channel for communication i.e. human voice (Verbal Communication) which speaks a single word at a time and use of multiple channels for communication including your entire body, facial expressions and tone of voice (Non-verbal Communication).

Consciousness in Communication

Verbal communication is a conscious which involves thinking, processing and articulating whereas non-verbal communication happens on an unconscious level. One doesn’t really think about it actively.

Communication Barrier

Mirha had to make a presentation on project. She had worked hard on in front of bigwigs. Everything was going fine, sudden the moment came, Mirha went blank. She suddenly lost her train of thought and stood there trying to remember the next point. Thankfully, her favorite quote came to her rescue: “F.A.I.L. means First Attempt in Learning, E.N.D. means Effort Never Dies and N.O. means Next Opportunity”. So let’s be positive. She remembered the link between the two points, she was making and continued with her presentation. What Mirha faced that day is something called a ‘Communication Barrier’ which hinders the communication flow between two or more people or groups. It can occur at any stage and make the process of relaying key information less effective which can jeopardize your success. Let’s understand different barriers to effective communication.

Cultural Barriers

The global market has opened up lots of opportunities. However, due to cultural barriers, students often miss out on these opportunities. Language differences can lead to misinterpretations, the activity of labeling people can create stereotypes, and behavioral patterns can form mental blocks. Also, different cultures in different places can turn into strong communication barriers. So, how would you handle such cultural barriers? Conscious nurturing of cross-cultural sensitivity is the answer.

Classical Conditioning/Learning

In classical conditioning/learning, the process of learning is described as a Stimulus-Response connection or association. This model has been explained with the help of Pavlov’s Classic Experiment, in which the food was used as the natural stimulus which was paired with the previously neutral stimuli that’s a bell in this case. By establishing an association between the natural stimulus (food) and the neutral stimuli (sound of the bell), the desired response can be elicited.

Collaboration

Collaboration is a working practice whereby students work together for a common purpose to achieve benefit.

Change of Placement

A change of placement occurs anytime a student is, for disciplinary reasons, removed from the placement identified for more than 10 days. A change of placement may also occur if the team meets and decides that services should be provided in different location. It is not a change of placement if the school moves the student from one general education classroom to another or from one resource room to another.

Cognitive Development

The ability to think and is often thought of in terms of intelligence.

Communication Development

The ability to effectively use or understand age- appropriate language, including vocabulary, grammar, and speech sounds.

Consent

When parent or guardian understands and agrees in writing to evaluation, the provision of education services or to release educational records for their student. Granting consent is voluntary and can be revoked at any time. The parent should be fully informed of all information relevant to the activity for which consent is sought, in his/her native language or other mode of communication

Continuum of Services

The range of services which must be available to the students so that they may be served in the least restrictive environment. School management must have the opportunity to consider placement in the general education classroom, special education classroom, home or hospital setting with whatever supports or services that are necessary.

D

Discrimination Learning

Learning which distinguishes between various topics with its appropriate and different content is regarded as discrimination stimuli.

Direct Method

This is a teacher-directed method which emphasizes on teaching / pedagogical skills and each explaining step shows the mastery of teacher on content, examples, topic and subject. Students learn the lessons with the involved procedures of the topic.

Deductive Method

A teacher dominated method which begins with the abstract rule, generalization, principles and ends up with specific examples and concrete details after covering a wider details and scope of subject matter. In this method learning is a passive process as learners do not take part in generation of conclusion or generalization. Students perform exercises after explanation.

Development Team

This will be your functional specialists, all collaborating on a daily basis to construct a facet (or perhaps the entirety) of a new piece of software. In scrum, this is quite often cross-functional.

Diverse Communication

When meeting an old friend at a cafe, you usually begin the conversation with an informal, “So what’s up?”. But when you begin class with “Dear Students/Sir/Madam”. During a class, your body language speaks a lot about your confidence and your presentation proves your competence. There are various tools of communication verbal, non-verbal, formal and informal. Then it is interpersonal or professional communication. Every type of communication serves a specific purpose. Mastering these diverse communication tools makes you a more effective communicator.

Data-driven Decision Making

Analysis of data to identify educational strengths/weaknesses to plan and implement improvements in student achievement as well as monitoring trends and using the information to make decisions about the effectiveness of continuation or changes in curriculum, programs, procedures and policies.

 

Dynamic Communication

Communication is an ever-evolving process. You discuss with well-informed, enriched and constructive person. That is why you share an excellent rapport with a certain students, but are at a loss for words with another.

Detention

A disciplinary action which leads to removal of student from classroom to another designated space within the school.

Developmentally Appropriate

Curriculum and instruction based on the mental and physical development of the student.

Developmental Screening Tests

The tests used to identify students who have physical, behavioral and/or developmental disabilities or delays or sensory impairments.

Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS)

A testing tool which helps teachers to determine at what level students stands mentally.

Decoding

The process of translating individual letters or groups of letters into sounds so that the reader can pronounce.

Descriptive Sentences

Sentences that contain modifying words or phrases

Differentiated Instruction

An instructional technique that includes various ways to teach content and assess learning. It is used to meet student needs and differences in readiness, interests and learning styles.

Develop a Conclusion and Preview

Go over the material covered in class by summarizing the main points of the lesson. You can do this in a number of ways: you can state the main points yourself (Today we talked about), you can ask a student to help you summarize them or you can even ask all students to write down on a piece of paper what they think were the main points of the lesson. You can review the students’ answers to gauge their understanding of the topic and then explain anything unclear the following class. Conclude the lesson not only by summarizing the main points, but also by previewing the next lesson.

Diploma

A certificate conferred by institution as recognition after completion of study program.

Direct Instruction

A teaching technique in which teachers present the content and students are expected to respond in a specific manner.

Discipline

All forms of corrective action or punishment used with students.

Distance Learning

Taking classes in locations other than classroom or places where teachers present the lessons including online, DVD or telecommuting.

Diversity

Diversity involves recognizing the variety of students’ characteristics including ethnicity, language, socioeconomic class, disabilities and gender.

Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)

A tool used by teachers to assess and record Kindergarten to 3rd grade students’ reading.

Dropouts

Students who leave school before primary.

Defeat Nervousness

Avoid from shyness. If you have not already, then you need to do so.

Dual-language Program

A school program designed to serve both language minority and language majority students at the same time. Students from two language groups receive instruction in both languages. Also known as Dual Immersion Program.

Dyslexia

A neurological learning disability characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and poor spelling and decoding abilities.

Direct Teaching Approach

In this approach, teachers directly tell or show or demonstrate what is teach to students.

Decoding the Communication

Verbal communication is fairly easy to decode if you understand the language and the words being used. When you pay close attention to the person who is speaking, you will understand what they are saying whereas non-verbal communication is a little harder to decode than verbal communication. You have to pay attention to many factors including the speaker’s body language, facial expressions and tone to decode what the other person is trying to convey.

Diary Keeping

Write a diary at night before sleeping. It works as both cathartic and enlightening.

Develop the Introduction

Because class students with different academic and personal experiences, they may already be familiar with topic. That is why teachers may start with a question or activity to gauge students’ knowledge of subject or possibly, their preconceived notions about it. Teachers can use a variety of approaches to engage students i.e. personal anecdote, historical event, thought-provoking dilemma, real-world example, short video clip, practical application, probing question, etc.

Deafness

Deafness means a hearing impairment that is so severe that student is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification that adversely affects the student’s educational performance.

Developmental Delay

When a student does not reach their developmental milestones when expected. These can be major or minor delays. For a student aged 3-8 years old, this includes a child whose disability adversely affects educational performance in one or more of the following areas: Physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social or emotional development or adaptive development and shows delays of at least 2 standard deviations in one area or at least 1.5 standard deviations in 2 or more areas on standardized testing. For children and adults applying for Developmental Disability services, it includes a diagnosis of mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism or another neurological condition closely related to mental retardation or that requires treatment similar to require for individuals with mental retardation which occurs before age 18, can be expected to continue indefinitely and results in substantial limitations to an individual’s intellectual or adaptive functioning.

Developmental Screening Tests

A tool used to identify disabilities, sensory impairments (Near-sightedness or reduced hearing), or behavioral and developmental disabilities.

Disability

A physical, sensory, cognitive or affective impairment that causes the student to need special education and related services.

Due Process of Law

It ensures that a person will be notified and have an opportunity to be heard before any public entity can change her/his rights.

Due Process Hearing

An administrative hearing presided over by an administrative law judge, not only in special education.

Dyslexia

A language-based disability that affects both oral and written language.

E

Educational Alignment

How well the skills and knowledge taught in schools match the requirements of National Learning Standards.

Eye Contact

Maintaining eye contact with students keeps them engaged in conversation. Good eye contact often conveys the trait of honesty.

Early Childhood Education

The education of pre-school age children.

Electronic Media

The different electronic sources i.e. television, web pages, e- mail, CDs, etc. that may provide information or be used to share information.

Emergency Expulsion

Immediate removal of a student from school or class for an indefinite period of time.

Emergent Literacy

The view that reading and writing begins at birth and is supported by adult interactions.

Emotional Development

The ways in which individuals learn to interact in socially acceptable ways, establish and maintain relationships and view themselves in positive ways.

Emotional Intelligence

The ability to recognize one’s own and others’ emotions. It helps students in identification of feelings, naming the emotions appropriately, use emotional information in a healthy direction and guide thinking & behavior in accordance with emotional state. emotional Intelligence also known as emotional quotient (E.Q) is latest behavioral model, rising to prominence with Daniel Goleman’s work on ‘Emotional Intelligence’. It is personal, social, professional and organizational development, because its principles provide directions to understand and assess people’s behaviors, management styles, attitude, interpersonal skills and potential. E.Q emphasizes effective awareness, control and regulation of one’s own emotions and those of other peoples including understanding of yourself, goals, thoughts, feelings and behaviors as well as understanding of others and their feelings.

Entrepreneurship

The art or science of innovation and risk-taking for profit in business.

Students can make them positively specialized by following the techniques:

Empathy

Sensing the emotions of others. The ability to step into the shoes of other persons, aiming to understand their feelings & perspectives and to use that understanding to guide our actions. Empathy encompasses both mental and emotional processes. It is natural, but it also can be learned. This habit can cultivate to improve the quality of lives. Practicing empathy can lead to a greater connection with others in which you become more loving and less judgmental. Empathy may be foster by the following means.

Enrichment

Topics and activities which are not considered part of basic education.

Environmental Education

Educational practices build the students’ awareness about natural world and how to protect it from hazards.

Equal Access

Non-discriminatory law which allows co-curricular participation of students in school.

Experiential Learning

A process to acquire knowledge and skills from experiences in outside the traditional academic setting which may be form internships, service learning, field studies and also may include study abroad, community-based learning and research opportunities.

Evaluate

To conduct a careful appraisal or study to determine its worth or value.

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation represents all the things that motivate you based on external rewards like money or praise. This motivation is common than intrinsic motivators and include achieving things due to a tangible incentive, fear, or expectation all of which depend on external factors e.g. people want to get a promotion because of the expected raise. Like intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation can sometimes be negative. For example, you can be motivated to perform better at your job due to fear of being fired. This shows that extrinsic motivation, like its high-level counterpart, has many different motivational-types that highlight specific external motivational driver and explains how effective it is at motivation. As you can see, motivation is more complex than simply categorizing it as either an internal or external incentive.

Early Intervention Services

Services that meet the needs of infants and toddlers with disabilities. Typically refers to services from birth to three years of age.

Emergency Expulsion

The removal of students when superintendent or designee has good and sufficient reason to believe that students’ presence poses an immediate and continuing danger to the student, to other students, or to school personnel, or an immediate and continuing threat of substantial disruption of educational process.

Emotional/Behavioral Disability

When the students exhibit one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a student’s educational performance: (A) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors. (B) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers. (C) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances. (D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression. (E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. An emotional/behavioral disability includes a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Extended School Day

A provision for special education students to receive instruction for a period longer than the standard school day.

Extended School Year (ESY)

Special education and related services provided to students qualified for special education outside of the normal school year to ensure the student continues her/his educational progress.

Extracurricular Activities

The activities that students engage that are outside the required or elective coursework. These activities are voluntary, non-paying and usually involve students of same age. Students often organize and direct these activities under paid faculty supervision. Schools teams must consider what supplementary aids and services may be necessary to ensure that every student has ability to participate in same non-academic and extracurricular activities as are available to non-disabled peers.

Exit from Special Education

When a school stops providing special education services.  This may be as result of lack of continued eligibility or aging out of services at age 21. School are required to provide a “Prior Written Notice” to parent or student over age 18 before special education services cease.

F

Fixed Mindset

Mindset refers to the beliefs of students and their effect on learning outcomes. Students with a fixed mindset according to entity theory are outcomes focused, don’t view intellectual ability as being malleable and give up quickly on learning the new skills when learning becomes more challenging and difficult.

Flipped Classroom

A flipped classroom is a teaching approach where students at first exposed to content before coming to a class session and then spend class time engaging more deeply with the concepts. This model encourages active learning during in person class sessions allow students to explore concepts, solve problems and discuss ideas with each other and the instructor.

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment is the process of providing feedback to students during the learning process. These are often low stakes activities that allow the instructor to check student work and provide feedback. An instructor writing comments and suggestions on a draft version of a paper is an example of formative assessment.

Fine Motor

Functions which require tiny muscle movements, for example, writing or typing.

Fluency

The ability to read the text accurately, quickly and with proper expression.

Formative Test

A test that determines what students have learned at a particular time in order to plan further instruction.

Free or Reduced-Price Meal

A program designed by government to provide breakfast, lunch, and/or after school snacks for students from low-income families.

Functional Illiteracy

The inability to read or write well enough to perform basic and necessary tasks in life.

Familiar Sounds

The sounds that students hear or speak in their primary language.

Fear Motivation

Fear motivation is a motivational type that uses consequences to drive people into action. Fear motivation can be thought of “Negative Motivator” in that you are not motivated by a reward but by the avoidance of pain or consequences. Rather than incentivizing yourself or others with positive motivators, fear motivation uses punishment or negative motivators like getting fired as a way to keep you productively moving towards specific goals, tasks or deliverables. While fear motivation sounds bad, it can actually be used as a positive. For example, if you need to get in shape, you can plan a summer pool party at your house or apartment complex, and use the fear of showing up out of shape as motivation to stick with the gym and your diet. Think of fear motivation as positive stressors or positive constraints that help you outsmart your future self, overcome bad habits, and live the life you want, but may be too afraid to go after.

Formal versus Informal

We use spoken communication informally while we use written communication formally.

Facial Expressions

Your teenage cousin might have told you he was happy, but his apathetic facial expression may have communicated different information. Facial expressions, happy, sad, angry help to convey your message. Be aware of your facial expression when you talk and particularly when you are in class.

Fine Motor

Functions which require small muscle movement for some activities, for example: writing or typing.

Free & Appropriate Education

The right of student with disability to the education and support services necessary to meet each of his/her identified needs at no cost to the parent.

Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA)

A problem-solving techniques to identify what triggers the behaviors, select appropriate interventions and teach the student alternative behaviors.

G

Growth Mindset
Growth mindset refers to the beliefs and attitude held by a person which affect their learning outcomes.  Individuals with a growth mindset also referred as incremental theory / process-focused, assess their performance relative to mastery of the material and believe that intellectual ability is malleable.  Having a growth mindset involves sustained effort toward learning new knowledge and reflection on past failures so that one can increase their knowledge and ability.

Generalization

When a student demonstrates skills and behaviors in multiple environments and under a variety of conditions.

GEAR-UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs)

A grant program created to increase number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in college.

Gender Bias

The idea that one gender or the other is short changed by school practices and expectations.

General Educational Development (GED) Test

A high school equivalence test certifies that a person has the skills and knowledge equal to those of a high school graduate.

General Vocabulary

The key words which are critical to understanding the main idea, characters and theme of a lesson.

Generalize

Arriving at a broad conclusion based upon a small piece of evidence. May also be referred to as Generalization.

Gestures

When you speak, a gesture makes your message stronger. Pointing out something you want your students to look at more attentively and closely is an example of non-verbal communication that makes your message understood. Motioning warmly toward a topic who deserves special recognition, making a fist to show frustration or anger, such gestures help further engage your audience when you speak.

Genres

A term used to classify literary and informational works into categories such as biography, mystery, historical fiction, etc.

Gifted and Talented Program

A program that offers advanced coursework to students identified as being academically gifted or talented.

GLE (Grade Level Expectation)

The essential content/subject matter to be learned by students at a specific grade level.

Grade Point Average (GPA)

A system of scoring student achievement. Students’ GPA is computed by multiplying the grade received in each course by the number of credits offered for each course, then dividing by the total number of credit hours studied.

Graduate

A student who has received certificate after completing a program’s requirements.

Graduate School

University level that provides instruction and degrees beyond the bachelor degree.

Graduation Requirements

The courses and number of credits required by institution to receive a certificate. The state provides a minimum set of requirements.

Graphic Features

Maps, diagrams, graphs, charts or pictures that help to make the text meaningful and interesting to readers.

Graphing Calculator

A calculator with a larger display that draws and displays math functions and data.

Gross Motor

Functions which require large muscle movements, for example, walking or jumping.

Guided Practice

A teacher-led activity that the class completes together.

Goals

The measurable annual benchmarks for growth in academic and functional areas of instruction

Graduation

Students with disabilities have the right to participate in high school graduation activities with their age peers without forfeiting their right to Transition Services from age 18-21 years of age.

Gross Motor

Functions which require large muscle movements. For example, walking or jumping.

Guardianship

When court assigns someone else to handle the affairs for incapacitated individual, such as their finances, health care decisions or where to live.

H

Hidden Curriculum

The hidden curriculum is a collection of unwritten norms, values, rules and expectations that one must have awareness in order to successfully navigate educational settings. The hidden curriculum includes an understanding of school structures, resources, financial aid systems and institutional rules, along with an awareness of cultural expectations for participating in class and communicating with peers and instructors.

Head Start Program

A government sponsored preschool program for children of low income families.

Health Education

Curriculum that addresses physical, mental, emotional and social health also called holistic development.

Hearing Examiner/Officer

The decision- maker in school discipline hearings.

Heterogeneous Grouping

The practice of grouping together students of varying abilities, interests or ages for instruction.

Higher Education

Study beyond high school at a college or university that results in an associate, bachelor, or higher degree which is also known as Post-secondary Education.

Higher-order Questions

Questions that require thinking and reflection rather than single solution responses.

Higher-order Thinking Skills

The ability to understand complex concepts and apply conflicting information to solve problem that may have more than one correct answer.

High Frequency Words

High utility words which make up 50% of printed text, for example: A, the, this, that, etc.

High School

Generally grades 9th through 10th.

Homework

Regular assignments to be completed outside the classroom.

Humorous Tone of Voice

Keeping your speech humorous with funny anecdotes or quotes keeps the audience in positive mood. But you should be aware of keeping your tone cheerful and genuine, not mocking or sarcastic.

I

Inductive Teaching Method

It begins with specific details, concrete examples and data while ends up on abstract idea. Learners are more engaged in teaching-learning process by performing exercises, discussion, high order thinking, discussion and analysis to arrive at conclusion and generalization.

Innovation

Innovation is practical implementation of ideas that results in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. Innovation can refer to something new or to a change made to an existing product, idea or field.

Informative Tone of Voice

An informative tone of voice enhances knowledge, imparts information and inspires personal growth.

Incentive Motivation

Incentive motivation, unlike achievement motivation, says that people are motivated more by reward than by achievement of goal itself. Instead of being motivated by pursuing task, those who are motivated by incentives are driven to take action because of expected reward. For example, if you want a promotion because of the higher salary and not because the new responsibility makes you feel fulfilled, you are motivated by incentives over achievement. However, incentive motivation is not bad thing. In fact, while it seems like the opposite of achievement motivation, the two can actually be used together. For example, if you want a promotion, you can be motivated both by higher salary as well as the more complex and fulfilling work. In this scenarios it is a win-win, because you are externally rewarded as well as internally fulfilled.

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is based on internal rewards like self-improvement or helping a friend in need for contentment e.g. you may be motivated to get a promotion because you will learn valuable skills. Conversely, you might be motivated to succeed because you want to positively affect the lives of the people around you. However, while the above examples are positive, intrinsic motivation can also have negative drivers e.g. you can motivate yourself to learn new things because otherwise you will feel unfulfilled. The outcome of your actions is positive, but the specific type of motivation you used was focused on stopping a negative outcome rather than creating a positive outcome. So, there are types of intrinsic motivation that all focus on a specific motivational reward or driver. Regardless of positive or negative, intrinsic motivation is typically more sustainable than extrinsic motivation because it usually focuses on positive or altruistic things you can control.

Inclusive Teaching

A mode of teaching that intentionally designs course content and curricula to engage with students of diverse backgrounds, abilities and lived experiences. The ultimate goal of inclusive teaching is to create a learning environment where all students feel valued and supported to succeed.

Instincts

Innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events, such as maturation and the change of seasons. They are more complex patterns of behavior, involve movement of the organism as a whole e.g. sexual activity and migration and involve higher brain centers.

Interpersonal Skills/Abilities

Interpersonal skills are the behaviors and tactics one uses to interact with others effectively. In career, it refers to ability to work well with others. Interpersonal skills range from communication and listening to attitude and deportment helping us interact with others effectively, on the job and in the larger world. Some people are born with such skills but everyone can improve them with practice. Expressing appreciation, resolving disputes and listening well are all interpersonal skills worth practicing.

Idiom

An expression that does not mean what it literally says, for example, “you drive me crazy”, “hit the deck”.

Illiteracy

Lack of reading and/or writing skills.

Immersion

A program that teaches children to speak, read and write in another language.

Inclusion

The practice of educating all children in the same classroom.

Incomplete Academic Session

A temporary grade stating that a student has not finished all class assignments at the end of a grading period.

Independent Study

An opportunity for students to conduct self-directed learning and receive credit.

Inquiry-based Learning

It is an umbrella term that includes pedagogical strategies such as problem-based learning and case-based learning that prioritize students exploring, thinking, asking and answering content questions with peers to acquire new knowledge through a carefully designed activity. Such activities build in opportunities for students to authentically engage and apply scientific process rather than following a predetermined protocol.

Individualized Instruction

A practice provides each student with the lessons and assignments according to ones strengths and needs. Students work at their own pace to learn the material.

Iterative Development

The agile management philosophy is an adaptation of iterative management. The concept is fairly simple. All production of new and innovative products and services will require constant refinement and improvement through iterative experimentation.

Individualistic Approach

It focuses and encourages the individual student to work and learn by themselves in close supervision of teacher.

Inference

The conclusion drawn after reading text and using past knowledge to understand it.

Informal Knowledge

Knowledge about a topic that students learn through experience outside of the classroom.

Inquiry

A process in which students explore a problem and create and work through a plan to solve the problem.

Iteration

Repeating the process in pursuit of incremental improvement.

Integrated Curriculum

The practice of using a single theme to teach a variety of subjects.

Internship

Workplace learning providing an opportunity to apply knowledge and learn new skills.

Instructional Aide

A school employee assigned to help teachers with the education of students. Also known as an Instructional Assistant, Para-educator, or Paraprofessional.

Interactive Learning

It occurs when teacher or computer software adjusts the instruction in response to the learner’s needs.

Interdisciplinary Curriculum

A way to organize curriculum in which content is drawn from two or more subject areas to focus on a particular topic or theme. It is also referred Multidisciplinary Curriculum, Integration, or Integrated Curriculum.

Interpretation

The process of verbally communicating information from one language into another language keeping the intent and meaning of the original information.

Inter Personal Communication

At school, college, university, work, grocery store or at any other place, communication is powerful tool to enhance social skills.

Interactive Approach

An interactive classroom approach definitely have more students to take part in sharing ideas for learning and less from teacher side. Students not only provided the opportunity, but also encouraged to interact with teachers and other students with solid arguments for assertiveness and self-confidence.

Indirect/Guided Teaching Approach

Teacher guides the learners to discover content, material and application of the lesson by themselves whereas teachers facilitate the learning process by allowing the leaners to be engaged through guidance.

Integrated Approach

It makes teachers and students connected what they teach and learn about the subject with relation or explanation of other subjects. It is multi discipline approach.

Individualized Education Program (IEP)

A program describes the education services that a student qualified for special education will receive. It is specific to each student and tailored to his or her individual educational needs.

IEP Team

The group of people, including educators, parents and others with knowledge of the student’s needs which is responsible for creating and reviewing the student’s IEP and determining where, what and how services will be delivered.

Inclusion

The practice of educating children in general education classroom including children with physical, mental and developmental disabilities. In order to meet the individual needs of the student, it is often necessary to provide additional supports in the general education classroom.

Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE)

An evaluation conducted by a qualified examiner who is not employed by the school district at the public’s expense.

Individualized Education

The practice of giving lessons and assignments according to each student’s needs and strengths. Also called Individualized Instruction.

Instructional Aide

A school employee who is assigned to help teachers with the education of student also know as an Instructional Assistant, Para-educator or Para-professional.

Instructional Placement

Phrase used to describe the situation in which a child spends at least half of his/her school day receiving special education. See also Resource Placement.

J

Job Coach

A person who provides specialized employment training and support on-site.

K

K-12

Refers to kindergarten through 12th grade education.

Kindergarten Entry Age

The age when children are eligible to enroll in Kindergarten, usually at least 5 years old.

 

 

L

Learning

More or less permanent change in behavior OR change in behavior.

Learning Disability

A child can be, but not always, identified as having a learning disability when he/she does not achieve adequately for child’s age or to meet state-approved grade-level standards when provided with learning experiences and instruction appropriate for the child’s age or state-approved grade-level standards.

Learning Styles

Learning to better understand how when and why different methods effectively work for different students. These are called learning “styles.”

Lesson Plan

Teachers’ road map to accomplish the students’ learning with quality assurance during the class. Before planning the lesson, teachers need to enlist the learning outcomes and designing appropriate learning activities. The lesson plan integrates outcomes for students’ learning, teaching/learning activities and strategies to check students’ understanding. To be effective, lesson plan must provide you outline of teaching goals, learning outcomes and means to accomplish them. It is a reminder of what you have to do and how to do it. A productive lesson is not one in which everything goes exactly as planned, but one in which both students and instructors learn from each other.

Learning of Principles

Learning which is based on principles helps in managing the work effectively. Principles based learning explains the relationship between various concepts.

Language Arts

Another term for English curriculum. The focus is on reading, speaking, listening and writing skills.

Learner-centered Classroom

Classroom in which students are encouraged to choose their own learning goals and projects. It is also known as a Student-Centered Classroom.

Learning Contract

An agreement between a student, teacher and parent detailing how the student will work toward specified learning objectives.

Learning Disability

A condition that interferes with student’s ability to learn.

Learning Disorder

A condition that interferes with a student’s ability to learn.

Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)

Commonly refers to removing a student from the general education environment as little as possible by providing specially designed instruction and supplementary aids and services in the general education classroom to the maximum extent appropriate for the student.

Learning Styles

The way students learn the best whether through hearing, seeing or doing task.

Limited English Proficient (LEP) Students

Students who are reasonably fluent in another language but who have not yet achieved comparable skills in reading, writing, listening or speaking English.

Literacy

Ability to read and write which also includes scientific literacy, computer literacy, etc.

Literal

The common or ordinary meaning of words.

Long-term Suspension

Exclusion from school for more than 10 days.

Learning Management System (LMS)

A platform that enables instructors to organize and distribute course materials in a digital format. While features may vary, a typical LMS allows instructors to communicate with students, share readings, create and collect assignments, assess student work and post grades. LMS may be used to compliment a face to face course for entirely online course.

Learning Objective/Learning Goal/Learning Outcome

Statements that articulate the knowledge and skills you want students to acquire by the end of the course or after completing a particular unit or assignment. Learning objectives help instructors to shape course content and assessments as well as increase transparency for students by clearly communicating expectations.

Looping

A school practice where teacher moves with students to the next grade level rather than sending them to another teacher the next school year.

Learner Centered Approach

A believe that learner is also an important resource of learning as students also know and familiar to knowledge and is also capable to share and learn through experiences.

Language Barriers

Language is needed for any kind of communication and communication becomes tough if people do not understand each other’s language. This is known as a language barrier to communication. But a difference in language is not the only kind of communication barrier. The use of jargon and technical language also creates barriers to communication. You may have heard lawyers discussing a case or doctors talking among themselves about a patient, but not necessarily understood the conversation. Not everyone can understand legal and medical jargon. However, lawyers and doctors regularly interact with their clients who are not from the same profession and are able to convey their points to them by explaining the case, legal or medical, in simple language. Excessive use of jargon, ambiguous words or technical terminology is another kind of language barrier. You can overcome this by keeping communication clear and appropriate for the target audience. If you practice doing this, you will be able to make an impact at your workplace.

 

 

M

Motor Learning

Day to day learning through activities like walking, running, driving, etc. is learnt for ensuring a good life. These activities to a great extent involve muscular coordination hence called motor learning.

Montessori

A system/method of education for children that seeks to develop natural interests and activities rather than use formal teaching methods. It was developed by physician Maria Montessori. It emphasizes independence and it views children as naturally eager for knowledge and capable of initiating learning in a sufficiently supportive and well-prepared learning environment. Montessori developed her theories in the early twentieth century through scientific experimentation with her students; the method has since been used in many parts of the world, in public and private schools alike. A range of practices exists under the name “Montessori” which is not trademarked. Popular elements include mixed-age classrooms, student freedom including their choices of activity, long blocks of uninterrupted work time and specially trained teachers.

Mainstream

The practice of placing students with disabilities into regular classrooms with the supports defined in their IEP. The students usually also receive some assistance and instruction in separate classrooms, or resource rooms.

Manifestation Determination

A process conducted by student’s IEP team to identify and address the relationship between a student’s disability and behaviors that would normally be subject to expulsion or suspension.

Mediation

A voluntary process where a trained, neutral mediator helps parents and/or advocates and school districts reach a mutually acceptable solution to disagreements over special education services and/or supports.

Multidisciplinary Team

A team of teachers, parents, specialists, and administrators who assess the individual needs of a student and make educational recommendations.

Motivation

Applying emotional factors to achieve goals, enjoy learning process and persevere in face of obstacles. Reaching a desired state or outcome. Research suggests that motivation plays a vital role in directing and sustaining student learning. The most motivated students see value in the task, believe that they can accomplish the task and feel that they are in a supportive environment. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are two types of motivation and represent all motivational drivers. Intrinsic motivation describes all motivational-types driven by internal rewards while extrinsic motivation describes all motivational-types driven by external rewards.

Mind Mapping

Application of guidelines for devising content in holistic way. This is a technique which can be used whether in an individual working situation or group working simultaneously.

Method

A teaching method comprises of principles and methods used by teachers to enable student learning. These strategies are determined partly on subject matter to be taught and partly by the nature of the learner. For a particular teaching method to be appropriate and efficient it has to be in relation with the characteristic of the learner and the type of learning it is supposed to bring about. Suggestions are there to design and selection of teaching methods must take into account not only the nature of the subject matter but also how students learn. In today’s school the trend is that it encourages much creativity. It is a known fact that human advancement comes through reasoning and reasoning enhances creativity. Teaching method refers to general principles, pedagogy and management strategies used for classroom instructions. Choice of teaching method depends on what fits you, your educational philosophy, classroom demographic, subject area(s) and school mission statement.

Mainstream

Placing and teaching students into regular classrooms.

Magnet Schools

An alternate schooling that focuses on a particular area of study such as performing arts or science and technology in addition to the core curriculum.

Metacognition

Metacognition involves metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation. Metacognitive knowledge is defined as thinking or having an awareness of one’s cognitive processes. Metacognitive regulation is the active monitoring of one’s cognition through planning (identifying appropriate learning strategies), monitoring (forming an awareness of one’s task performance) and evaluating (assessing and refining one’s learning through reflection).

Monologue

Start listening your thoughts, writing a journal about the thoughts you have about yourself and analysing why you have such thoughts. Think about the good things about yourself and the things you can do well and the things you like.

Maintain Inner Peace

People will like you when you are comfortable with yourself. You can help to grow these feelings by building your sense of self-worth.

Management

Management is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Management’s primary function is to get people work together for the attainment of goals and objectives. Management processes include planning, organizing, directing and controlling. An important aspect of management’s function is the allocation of finite resources. Since organizations can be viewed as systems, management can also be defined as human action, including design, to facilitate the production of useful outcomes from a system. This view opens the opportunity to manage oneself, a pre-requisite to attempting to manage others.

Manipulatives

Any object i.e. blocks, toothpicks or coins that can be used to represent or model a problem situation or develop a mathematical concept.

Measurement of Student Progress (MSP)

Assessment of students abilities in math (grades 3rd through 8th), reading (grades 3rd through 8th), science (grades 5th and 8th), and writing (grades 4th and 7th).

Mentor

A person serving as a role model for another person.

Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA)

The MESA program assists academically disadvantaged students, especially students of color, girls and students in poverty by helping them to prepare and successfully complete 4 year college program.

Middle School

Schools for adolescent students generally grade 6th through grade 8th.

Modeling

The practice of demonstrating to learner how to do task, so that the learner can copy the model. It often includes thinking aloud or talking about how to work through a task.

Multi-age Classroom

A classroom that includes children from different grades.

Multi-disciplinary Curriculum

Generally refers to learning a particular topic area through the viewpoint of more than one subject.

Multiple Intelligences

A theory of intelligence developed in the 1980s by Howard Gardner that broadly defines intelligence beyond mathematical and linguistic to include musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic and intrapersonal.

Medium of Communication

There are two major medium of communication 1) Verbal communication which is use of language, words, sentences and voice as the medium of communication and 2) Non-verbal communication which is use of body language, facial expressions, tone and pauses in speech as the medium of communication.

Mode of Communication

In mode of communication verbal communication is linear and voluntary and teachers set out to say something, gather thoughts, form sentences and then start delivering lesson. It is a well-thought process in which teachers focus on communicating their message effectively and nonverbal communication is a continuous process. It is not well-thought-out and is largely involuntary, although teachers can train themselves to use it more purposefully. Unlike verbal communication, nonverbal communication is not linear. It depends more on how one uses their body language and other cues.

Motivating Tone of Voice

A motivational tone keeps people engaged and inspires their personal as well as professional lives. Motivational speaker speaks with conviction and motivates people to tap into their potential and plan for success.

Monotonous Tone

A monotonous tone could be boring and cause disinterest. You can mix the formal tone, informal tone, factual tone, directive tone, assertive tone, friendly tone, questioning tone and conversational tone in your communication to make it more vibrant, impactful and result-oriented

N

Non-verbal Intelligence

Innate mental capacity to solve the real life challenges, problems and concerns without the use of language/words i.e. through the use of signs and gestures.

Non-verbal Communication

Non-verbal communication uses body language, facial expressions, tone and pauses in speech as the medium of communication. It is true that nonverbal communication can make or break your message.

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

The test used for 4th, 8th and 12^th students across the country to assess the progress in reading, mathematics, science, writing, history, civics, geography and arts.

Navigational Plan

A program for grades 6th through 12^th students with the goal to help them to chalk out plans, set classes schedule and prepare for life beyond high school.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

A government law that requires yearly student testing, consequences for schools that do not meet standards and requires all teachers and assistants to be highly qualified.

Non-verbal Communication

Messages sent by way of gestures and other body language and drawings.

Negative Punishment

Taking away a pleasant stimulus to decrease or stop the unacceptable behavior.

Negative Reinforcement

Taking away an undesirable stimulus to increase a desirable behavior.

Need for Management

Management needed to coordinate the activities of teaching and make sure all students are learning together for accomplishment of the defined goals. It is based on the activities of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Good leaders are needed to keep their schools on track by ensuring that everything that’s being done is ethically geared toward providing what students want. It requires to inject motivation, creativity, discipline and enthusiasm into areas in which they either do not exist or they are not necessarily wanted. People who work for leader must realize that it is their job to make their leaders value them. Since school is viewed as system, management can also be defined as human action to facilitate and ensure the learning outcomes from system. Therefore, management is needed in order to facilitate a coordinated effort toward the accomplishment of goals. Managers are responsible for more work than one person can normally perform, a good manager delegates and integrates work. A manager does this by acting as a clear channel of communication.

Native Language

The language used by someone, or, in the case of student, the language used by the parents of student in their home or learning environment.  For an individual with deafness or blindness, or for an individual with no written language, the mode of communication that is used by the individual, such as sign language, Braille or oral communication.

Natural Supports

The system of supports that are available to all individuals as a natural result of typical family and community living.

Non-academic Services

The services may include counseling services, athletics, transportation, health services and recreational.

 

 

O

Observational Learning

Observational learning extends the effective range of both classical and operant conditioning. In contrast to classical and operant conditioning in which learning occurs only through direct experience, observational learning is the process of watching others and then imitating what observed. The most of learning comes from observations.

Outline Learning Objectives

The first step is to determine what you want students to learn and be able to do after completing the lesson. Once teachers outline the learning outcomes, rank them in terms of their importance. This step prepares for managing class time and accomplishing more important learning outcomes in case you are pressed for time.

Ombudsman

A person that helps resolve conflict or disputes.

On-time Graduation Rate

The number of students who started grade 9th in fall and are expected to graduate six years later.

Open-ended Question

A question that can be answered in more than one way.

Organizational Leadership

The ability to lead groups of individuals toward fulfilling an organization’s mission.

Object-based Learning (OBL)

It is a teaching method whereby students engage with authentic or replica material objects in their learning in order to gain discipline specific knowledge or to practice observational or practical skills that can be applied in practical fields. “Objects” can include a number of different material items often housed in museums: specimens, works of art, architectural forms, relics, manuscripts & rare books, archival documents or artifacts of various kinds. Research on OBL suggests that “objects can inspire, inform, fascinate and motivate learners at all stages of their education”.

Operant Conditioning/Learning

It stresses on the fact that the consequences of actions shape and strengthen the behavior. The intensity of a response is either increased or decreased as a result of reinforcement or punishment. Skinner explained how with the help of reinforcement one can strengthen behavior and with punishment reduce or curb behavior. It was also analysed that the behavioral change strongly depends on the schedules of reinforcement with focus on timing and rate of reinforcement.

Observational Learning

A Social Learning model which focused on learning by imitation or observing others’ behavior. For observational learning to take place effectively, four important elements will be essential: Motivation, Attention, Memory and Motor Skills.

Organizational Barriers

Organizational hierarchy can be a communication barrier. Even a family may have a power hierarchy, leading to a lack of transparency or communication barrier. The solution to this is to establish a clear dialogue with right people. Choose appropriate words and communication channels, be an active listener, let other person feel you are involved in conversation, minimize distractions such as noise, analyze feedback and implement the required change, be compassionate, unbiased & inclusive and focus on forming constructive & long-lasting bonds are here some of the ways to remove communication barriers. Removing communication barriers is a gradual but essential process. This skill is the need of the hour in today’s highly competitive world.

Occupational Therapy

A special education service which is usually focused on the development of students’ fine motor skills and strategies for daily life.

Other Health Impairment

Other health impairment means having limited strength, vitality or alertness including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment that adversely affect educational performance.

Orientation and Mobility Services

The services that teach blind or visually impaired child navigation skills to know where he is in space and how to plan to get where he wants to go within the school setting and community.

Orthopedic Impairment

Physical impairments caused by congenital anomaly, impairments caused by disease (Poliomyelitis & Bone tuberculosis) and impairments from other causes (Cerebral Palsy, Amputations & Fractures or Burns that cause Contractures) that adversely affect a students’ educational performance.

 

 

P

Passive Learning

It is the trial and error process that we all use every day to find out what works and what doesn’t and the most efficient ways of accomplishing tasks.

Power Motivation

In power motivation people are motivated by control over their own lives and others. Everyone wants choices and people are often motivated to increase their overall life-options and control the environment around them. For this reason, power motivation manifests itself in the desire to affect the direction of our lives and the lives of those around us. Power motivation can be seen in real-world horrors like Nazi Germany and other scenarios where the hunger to control others outweighs any moral obligation or code.

Proximity

How close you are to your students when you speak sends a non-verbal message. If your size is imposing and you leave very small distance between you and your students, it is likely your non-verbal communication will be a bit threatening. On other hand, giving someone much space is an awkward non-verbal communication that may confuse your students.

Product Owner

It focuses on being voice of students and the representation of stakeholders in the team environment. Stakeholders, in this context, represent anyone with an interest in the output of that team primarily students.

Physiological Motivation

Humans are driven by internal forces e.g. actions are motivated by primal physiological needs/feelings regardless of how hard we try. This represents physiological motivational factors that are both internal and outside of our control i.e. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Humans are motivated by basic needs such as food and shelter as well as higher-level psychological needs and self-fulfilment. These needs are innate in all of us and we are internally-motivated to achieve them at all costs, making it helpful when trying to understand the thought process of yourself or others.

 

Appearance

Your clothing, hair and jewellery are also a part of non-verbal communication. Similarly, quality and condition of your clothing, how it fits, if it is appropriate to season all of these speak non-verbally about communicator. Non-verbal communication reveals a lot about communicator and how you relate to other people. It pays to be aware of the elements of non-verbal communication so you can maximize the impact of your lesson deliverance.

Presenting Lesson Plan

Letting your students know what they will be learning and doing in class will help keep them engaged and on track. You can share your lesson plan by writing a brief agenda on board or telling students explicitly what they will be learning and doing in class. You can outline on board or handout the learning outcomes for the class. Providing a meaningful organization of the class time can help students not only remember better, but also follow your presentation and understand the rationale behind in-class activities. Having a clearly visible agenda will help you and students stay on track.

Parents Involvement

The participation of parents in the education of their children.

Practice Norms

Learn to respond acceptably anywhere you are according to norms.

Plan Specific Learning Activities

Prepare different ways of explaining the material i.e. real-life examples, analogies, visuals, etc. to catch the attention of more students and appeal to different learning styles.

Plan to Check for Understanding

Now teachers have explained the topic and illustrated it with different examples, it is need to check for student understanding, how will you know that students are learning? Think about specific questions you can ask students in order to check for understanding, write them down and then paraphrase them so that you are prepared to ask the questions in different ways.

Personal Schema

Schema determines how confident we are in ourselves. We can change it. Use mental photo shopping skills and work on your self-image. If it is not a good one, change it.

Positive Attitude

Replace negative thoughts with positive one. With this tiny little skills, you may be able to achieve and change whole thought pattern in a short time frame.

Psychological Barriers

Sometimes people have a habit of starting an argument when someone counters their opinion. As a result, people tend to avoid them and this affects their personal and professional relationship. Psychological barriers such as anger, fear, jealousy, insecurity, shyness and close mindedness can always damage communication and in turn relationships. If you know how to connect with your students, you can avoid the complicated situations that arise due to these barriers.

Parent Teacher Association (PTA)

A national, non-profit organization, independent of the school system that supports family involvement in schools and advocates for children. When student members are included, the name often becomes PTSA or Parent Teacher Student Association.

Parent Teacher Meeting/Conference

A meeting where parents and teachers discuss present and future academic progress of student.

Pedagogy

The art or profession of teaching. It is method, practice and study of effective teaching. In order to be effective, instructors must have both subject-based knowledge and pedagogic knowledge and skills.

Peer Mediation

Programs in which students are trained in conflict resolution and assist other students to work through problems without using violence.

Physical Barriers

Physical barriers such as hearing impairment, defects in vision, speech problems, or learning disabilities such as dyslexia affect communication, but they can be overcome with proper training and practice.

Performance Assessment

A test that determines what students know through their ability to perform certain tasks.

 

Performance Criteria

The skills and knowledge that will be evaluated as a student completes a task.

Performance Tasks

Activities, exercises or problems that require students to show what they can do.

Per-pupil Expenditures

Expenditures incurred by schools/state divided by total number of students in school/ state.

Phonemic Awareness

The ability to identify and combine individual sounds (phonemes) into spoken words.

Problem-based Learning

A form of student-centred teaching that focuses on having students work through open-ended problems to explore course material. Students are asked to define the problem as part of the process, research content outside of class time and iterate solutions to arrive at their final response. It is a student-centred teaching that engages students with course content as they work through a complex project. These projects are typically real-world scenarios and multifaceted. Project-based learning encourages interdisciplinary conversations and groups work.

Phonics

An instructional strategy used to teach reading. It helps beginning readers by teaching them letter-sound relationships and having them sound out words.

Picture Dictionary

A dictionary that defines words using pictures and graphics.

Placement Exam

A skill test given to new students to determine what class / courses are best for their abilities and interests.

Policy

A piece of legislation, norm or regulation.

Portable Classroom

A building often with one or two rooms that is used as a classroom and can be moved when it is no longer needed.

Portfolio

A collection of work that demonstrates the progress over time.

Pre-requisite

A course that must be completed before student is allowed to register for advanced course.

Primary Language

A student’s first language. The language spoken at home.

Principal

The person manages, supervises and evaluates the day-to-day activities of school.

Professional Development

Program that allows teachers or administrators to acquire knowledge and skills they need to perform their jobs successfully.

Proficiency

The ability to do something at grade level.

Prompt

Pictures or words to which a student responds orally or in writing.

Pull-out Programs

The practice of providing instruction in small groups outside of regular classroom in order to provide particular students additional learning opportunities.

Pupil

A student.

Punishment

Many people confuse negative reinforcement with punishment, but they are two different mechanisms. Remember that reinforcement, even when it is negative, always increases behavior.

In contrast, punishment always decreases a behavior. In positive punishment, you add an undesirable stimulus to decrease an unacceptable behavior i.e. positive punishment is scolding students to get the students stop noising in class. In this case, a stimulus (Reprimand) is added in order to decrease the behavior (Noising). In negative punishment, you remove a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behavior. For example, when a child misbehaves, a parent can take away a favorite toy. In this case, a stimulus (Toy) is removed in order to decrease the behavior.

Punishment, especially when it is immediate, is one way to decrease unacceptable behavior. Imagine your children, Haadi, hit his younger brother. You ask Haadi to write 50 times “I will not hit my brother” (Positive Punishment). Chances are he would not repeat this behavior. It is important to be aware of some drawbacks in using physical punishment for children. First, punishment may teach fear. Haadi may become fearful of the hitting, but he also may become fearful of the person who delivered the punishment you, his parent. Similarly, children who are punished by teachers may come to fear the teacher and try to avoid school. Consequently, most schools in have banned corporal punishment. Second, punishment may cause children to become more aggressive and prone to antisocial behavior and delinquency. They see their parents resort to spanking when they become angry and frustrated, so, in turn, they may act out this same behavior when they become angry and frustrated.

While positive punishment can be effective in some cases, it should be weighed against the possible negative effects. Today’s psychologists and parenting experts favor reinforcement over punishment, they recommend that you catch your child doing something good and reward them for it.

Positive Punishment

Adding an undesirable stimulus to stop or decrease an unacceptable behavior

Positive Reinforcement

Adding a desirable stimulus to increase the desirable behavior.

Primary Reinforcer

Having innate reinforcing qualities e.g. food, water, shelter and respect.

Punishment

Implementation of consequence in order to decrease an unacceptable behavior.

Primary and Secondary Reinforcers

Rewards such as stickers, praise, money, toys and more can be used to reinforce learning. People can be rewarded with food each time they do acceptable behaviors. Primary reinforcers are reinforcers that have innate reinforcing qualities. These kinds of reinforcers are not learned. Water, food, sleep, shelter and respect are primary reinforcers. Pleasure is also a primary reinforcer. Organisms do not lose their drive for these things.

Planning Skills

Planning is a fundamental cognitive skill that forms part of our executive functions. It can be defined as ability to think about the future or anticipate the right way to carry-out a task or reach a specific goal. Planning is the mental process that allows us to choose the necessary actions to reach a goal, decide the right order, assign each task to the proper cognitive resources and establish a plan of action. This executive function depends on elements like neuroplasticity, establishing new paths as synaptic connections, etc. In order to plan efficiently, you need the necessary information, but you also need to be able to mentally establish an adequate synthesis of all the data. In the planning ability, deterioration/alteration makes some things more difficult for example organizing an event, shopping, following instructions, completing a task, packing a backpack for school etc. It is also possible that they have a hard time understanding an idea or final goal. People with poor planning may present the following symptoms or characteristics:

• Difficulty when making decisions
• Difficulties anticipating the consequences of their actions
• Unable to correctly calculate the time it will take to do a determined task
• Trouble prioritizing and deciding the importance of steps in a task
• Easily distracted and forgetful
• Tend to have low productivity or creativity
• May do tasks quickly and carelessly, or slowly and incomplete
• Difficulties thinking or doing more than one thing at a time
• Have a hard time with surprises or unexpected problems
• Take longer than others to change from one activity to another

Purpose of Management

The purpose of management is to serve customers. Yet, if one looks through most management books for a definition of management, 99.9 percent of the time the word customer will not be mentioned. This is astonishing because serving customers in order to obtain a profit is the crux of every business organization. Equally remiss is the fact that most definitions of management neatly filter out service in their descriptions of management. Good managers constantly streamline their organizations toward making a sale. In other words, good managers are needed to keep their organizations on track by ensuring that everything that’s being done is ethically geared toward providing what customers want. In this regard, a good manager is responsible for reducing waste and ambiguity, keeping costs down, and motivating others to do the same. In the same vein, good managers regularly take educated risks and exercise good judgement (the basis of entrepreneurship).

Para-educator

A school employee who is assigned to help a teacher with the education of student(s). Also known as an Instructional Aide, Instructional Assistant, or Paraprofessional.

Parent Participation

A school must ensure that one or both of the parents of a student eligible for special education are present at each IEP team meeting or are afforded the opportunity to participate, including: (1) Notifying parents of the meeting early enough to ensure that they will have an opportunity to attend and (2) scheduling the meeting at a mutually agreed on time and place indicating the purpose, time, and location of the meeting and who will be in attendance. Parents must be informed about the participation of other individuals on the IEP team who have knowledge or special expertise about the student. Parents must also be included in the development of a transition plan. If neither parent can attend an IEP team meeting, the school district must use other methods to ensure parent participation, including video or telephone conference calls. A meeting may be conducted without a parent in attendance if the school district is unable to convince the parents that they should attend. In this case, the public agency must keep a record of its attempts to arrange a mutually agreed on time and place. The school district must take whatever action is necessary to ensure that the parent understands the proceedings of the IEP team meeting, including arranging for an interpreter for parents with deafness or whose native language is other than English. The school district must give the parent a copy of the student’s IEP at no cost to the parent.

Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)

A term used to describe a certain type of disability on the autism spectrum.

Physical Development

Fine and/or gross motor skills requiring precise, coordinated, use of small muscles and/or motor skills used for body control such as standing, walking, balance, and climbing that adversely affect a student’s educational performance.

Physical Therapy

A treatment of physical disabilities, under a doctor’s prescription, that helps a student improve the use of bones, muscles, joints, and nerves in order to better access education programs and services.

Placement

The how and where students who have an IEP or Section 504 Plan receive the special education services or accommodations outlined in their plans.

Positive Behavior Support

An approach to changing student behavior that interferes with learning that is focused on scientifically- based, best evidence-based practices, data, and positive outcomes for students. Generally, the goal of positive behavioral support is to increase a student’s integration and access to their peers and the educational environment, and to prevent isolation, restraint or disciplinary actions for a student.

Post-secondary Education

Instruction and training that occurs after graduation from high school.

Prior Written Notice

A written document that describes any changes to a student’s eligibility, evaluation, placement, or services that is provided to the parent before the changes occur. This written notice must be provided in the parent’s native language. The district must also provide this notice when it refuses to make a change that is requested by the parent.

 

 

Q

Quick Write

An exercise, students quickly write down everything they know about a topic.

Quota

The number constituting a proportional share.

Quotation

The repeated statement from a person or from text. When written, it is enclosed in quotation marks.

Quorum

The minimum number of members of a group required to be present at a meeting in order to make decisions for an organization.

 

 

R

Reinforcement & Punishment

In operant conditioning/learning, we use several everyday words i.e. positive & negative reinforcement and positive & negative punishment in specialized manner. In operant conditioning, positive and negative do not mean good and bad. Instead, positive means adding something and negative means taking something away. Reinforcement means increasing a behavior and punishment means decreasing a behavior. Reinforcement can be positive or negative and punishment can also be positive or negative. All reinforcers (Positive or Negative) increase the likelihood of behavioral response. All punishers (Positive or Negative) decrease the likelihood of a behavioral response.

Description	Reinforcement	Punishment
Positive	Something is added to increase the likelihood of a behavior	Something is added to decrease the likelihood of a behavior
Negative	Something is removed to increase the likelihood of a behavior	Something is removed to decrease the likelihood of a behavior

 

Reinforcement

The effective way to teach students something new is with reinforcement.

In positive reinforcement, a desirable motive is added to strengthen the behavior. For example, you tell your students that if they learn their lesson or cleans their room, they will get a pen. They quickly do the same because they want a new pen. Some teachers may assume, “Why should I reward my students for doing what is expected?” But in fact we are constantly and consistently rewarded in our lives. Our paychecks are rewards, as are high grades and acceptance into our preferred school. Being praised for doing a good job and for passing a test is also a reward. Positive reinforcement as a learning tool is extremely effective. It has been found that one of the most effective ways to increase achievement in schools with below-average reading scores was to pay the children to read. Specifically, students be reinforced each time they passed test. The idea was that students would spend additional time studying the material to increase their chance of being reinforced the next time.

In negative reinforcement, an undesirable stimulus is removed to increase a behavior e.g. car manufacturers use the principles of negative reinforcement in their seatbelt systems, which go “beep, beep, beep” until you fasten your seatbelt. The annoying sound stops when you exhibit the desired behavior, increasing the likelihood that you will buckle up in the future. Negative reinforcement is also used frequently in schools. Teachers apply pressure and then remove when the students perform desired behavior, such as writing or passing the test with high grades. The pressure is the negative stimulus that the students want to remove.

Reflexes

The motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment. They tend to be simpler than instincts, involve the activity of specific body parts and systems (e.g., the knee-jerk reflex and the contraction of the pupil in bright light), and involve more primitive centers of the central nervous system e.g. spinal cord and the medulla.

Reflecting on Your Lesson Plan

A lesson plan may not work as expected due to a number of extraneous circumstances. You should not get discouraged, it happens to even the most experienced teachers. Take a few minutes after each class to reflect on what worked well and why and what you could have done differently. Identifying successful and less successful activities would make it easier to adjust to the contingencies of the lesson plan / classroom.

Re-admission

A request to have a student readmit to school before end of an expulsion or suspension.

Readability

The level of difficulty in a written passage.

Resource

Something that one uses to achieve an objective. An examples of a resource could be a raw material or an employee.

Reference Tools

Materials for students to refer in order to check spelling, word meaning, grammar, etc. such as picture dictionaries and/or bilingual dictionaries.

Remedial Class

Instruction, in addition to regular classroom learning, that provide additional time and attention for a student to learn what’s expected at their grade level.

Report Card

The record of student attendance and performance for entire schooling year.

Recorded versus Unrecorded

Written communication is generally archived and recorded for later retrieval while spoken communication is generally not recorded.

Response to Intervention (RTI)

A tool that helps educators to identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes, provide evidence based instructional strategies, monitor student progress and apply additional value added interventions.

Respectful Tone of Voice

One of the important examples of tones is the respectful tone of voice. A respectful tone enhances the quality of your communication. It conveys your kindness, humility and truthfulness.

Rubric

A grading or scoring system that lists what work students must show to be proficient. Running Start

A college preparation option that permits students in grades 11th and 12th to take courses on local community and technical college campuses and earn credit toward both high school graduation and college degree.

Retrieval Practice

Retrieval practice involves retrieving new knowledge from memory in order for durable retention in long-term memory. The process is supported by experiments which explore students’ recall of new material. Retrieval practice can take the form of frequent, low-stakes quizzes or students may employ methods like flashcards for self-testing.

Reinforcement
Implementation of a consequence in order to increase the desirable behavior.

 

 

Reasonable Accommodation

Educational program adaptation or modifications that allow students with disabilities to more fully participate in school.

Re-evaluation

Evaluation which occurs for student who is already eligible for special education services to determine their continued eligibility for services or if any changes to the educational program need to occur.

Referral

The written request made to a school to evaluate a student for special education.

Related Services

Various support services, for special education students. For example: transportation, social work and counseling.

Resolution Session

A meeting between the parents, school district, and IEP team that occurs after a due process hearing request has been made in order to discuss the complaint and try to solve the problem before the hearing occurs.

Response to Intervention (RTI)

Refers to scientifically-based interventions a school district may use to determine if a child has a learning disability.

Resource Room

A special education classroom where students can go for additional help mastering academic skills. A student’s IEP designates the number of minutes a day and/or week a student will receive resource room support.

S

School Counselor

School staff member who provides counseling services to students and their families to help them address learning problems and assists students in career and personal development.

Students Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

What students are supposed to learn and able to do is called students learning outcomes.

Scaffolding

A process in which instructors build on students’ previous experience / knowledge by adding specific timely support structures in form of activities for students to master new knowledge/skills and achieve learning goals.

Social Belonging

Social belonging is a state when students feel welcomed and included into a community where they can engage freely and foster positive relationships with others.

Summative Assessment

A process of measuring students’ learning at the conclusion of a course or a portion of course. It is typically associated with grades and can take the form of quizzes, exams or papers.

Stereotype Threat

Stereotypes are negative generalizations about groups of people. When students are subtly or overtly made aware of these stereotypes while performing challenging academic tasks in domains that are important to them, they begin to underperform in these tasks. Anxiety about confirming a negative stereotype creates additional cognitive load that reduces the capacity of working memory in the brain.

Student-centred Teaching

Instructor-centre teaching refers to instructors teaching content solely through a passive approach such as lecturing while students listen and take notes with minimal interaction with other students whereas student-centered teaching consists of instructors using a wide range of pedagogical approaches for students to learn and actively engage with the course content by having students construct knowledge with peers through collaboration, discussion, group projects, and problem solving.

Student Engagement

Student engagement describes the ways in which students actively participate in learning process for their own development. An increase in student engagement is thought to be linked to an increase in student learning. Student engagement is often tied to active learning techniques and student motivation.

School-based Management

A system of school governance by which school level decisions are taken by the individual school rather than other level.

School Board

The school board is formed by School Board Members. They set goals and policy, hire and supervise the Superintendent and manage the finances of the school district.

School Choice

The opportunity for families to choose which schools their children will attend.

School Culture

The values, cultures, safety practices and organizational structures that cause a school community to function and react in particular ways.

School Day

Any day, including a partial day, when students attend school for instruction.

School-family Partnership

Collaborative relationships between educators and family members based on mutual respect, trust, equality and shared goals that support and focus on student academic success.

School Improvement Plan (SIP)

The long term plan schools create with staff and parents to ensure that all students are achieving at high grades.

School Improvement Status

The consequences faced by schools that do not meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) required by No Child Left Behind.

School Readiness

The knowledge that children are usually expected to have upon entering kindergarten.

School Records

Any information about a student kept by the school.

Self-awareness

Knowing what one is feeling and understanding the impact.

Self-regulation/Self-control

Controlling or re-directing one’s emotions and anticipating consequences before acting.

Social skills

Managing relationships, inspiring others and inducing desired responses from them.

School-to-work

A curriculum that integrates academic study with up-to-date career and technical education and work-readiness skills.

Scientific Research

Research about educational programs and activities that uses systemic and objective procedures that provide results considered reliable and valid.

Self-correction

Student recognizes and corrects error without input from others.

Self-efficacy

Learners’ beliefs about their capacity of succeeding when learning specific topics or tasks.

Self-esteem

An affective / emotional reaction to the self.

Shaping

In operant learning, BF Skinner used the approach called shaping. Instead of rewarding only the target behavior, in shaping, we reward successive approximations for target behavior. Why is shaping needed? In shaping, behaviors are broken down into many small and achievable steps. The specific steps used in the process are the following: Reinforce any response that resembles the desired behavior. Then reinforce the response that more closely resembles the desired behavior. You will no longer reinforce the previously reinforced response. Next, begin to reinforce the response that even more closely resembles the desired behavior. Continue to reinforce closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior. Finally, only reinforce the desired behavior.

Shaping is often used in teaching a complex behavior or chain of behaviors. It is easy to see how shaping is effective in teaching behaviors, but how does shaping work with humans? Let’s consider parents whose goal is to have their child learn to clean his room. They use shaping to help him master steps toward the goal. Instead of performing the entire task, they set up these steps and reinforce each step. First, he cleans up one toy. Second, he cleans up five toys. Third, he chooses whether to pick up ten toys or put his books and clothes away. Fourth, he cleans up everything except two toys. Finally, he cleans his entire room.

Secondary Reinforcer

A secondary reinforcer has no inherent value and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer. Praise, linked to affection, is one example of a secondary reinforcer, as when you called out “Great” every time students do well. Another example, money, is only worth something when you can use it to buy other things, either things that satisfy basic needs (Food, Water, Shelter, Primary Reinforcers) or other secondary reinforcers. If you are on a remote island in the middle of the Ocean and you had stacks of money, the money would not be useful if you could not spend it.

Secondary Reinforcer

Having no inherent value unto itself and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with something else e.g. money, gold stars and poker chips

Shaping

Rewarding successive approximations toward a target behavior.

Sign Language

A communication through signs with hands, facial expressions and body movements.

Sight Vocabulary

Words that a reader can immediately read without having to decode, also known as Sight Words.

Snow/Sun Day

Refers to a day that schools are closed because of unsafe weather. It can also refer to the day added to the school calendar that replaces the missed school time.

Social Study

The study of civics, geography, economics, history, skills of research, reasoning and analysis that students should be able to use in their studies of these subjects.

Social Promotion

The practice of promoting students to the next grade whether or not they have accomplished the goals of their current grade.

Special Needs Students

The students who require special instructional programs to reach their learning potential.

Standardized Achievement Tests (SAT)

A test widely used for college entrance examination, also known as the SAT Reasoning Test and formerly called Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Standardized Testing

A test provided in the same format for all who take it.

Standards

Statements of what students should know and be able to demonstrate.

Story Elements

The critical parts of story include character, setting, plot, problem and solution.

Student-centered Classroom

Classroom in which students are encouraged to choose their own learning goals and projects. Also known as Learner-centered Classroom.

Student Learning Plan (SLP)

A formal education document to provide regular communication to parents about the student’s continued academic progress and to assure that students are on track for high school graduation.

Student-led Conference

A parent-teacher meeting/conference in which students prepare for conference and lead it by showing the parents samples of their work and discussing areas of strengths and weaknesses.

Student Study Team

A team of educators and school staff that comes together at the request of a classroom teacher, parent or counselor to develop a support system to meet the needs of particular student. It is also referred as Multi-disciplinary Team or Student Intervention Team.

Summary

A condensed form of a particular piece of information.

Supplemental Education

Additional instruction to basic education.

Soft Tone of Voice

Soft types of tone are used for intimate conversations. A soft helps form a bond and nurture a relationship. It also helps express empathy and gentleness during difficult conversations. Soft tones, as opposed to harsh or angry tones, make people feel safe. This is why people tend to use a soft tone while talking to a child.

Suspension

A disciplinary action that removes a student from school for a definite period of time. Long-term suspensions last for more than 10 days; short term suspensions last fewer than 10 days.

Syllabus

An outline and description of a course.

Subject Mattered / Centered Approach

Subject matter gains primacy over that of the leaners and teachers come up with the examples and explanations from the same subject or topic.

Self-assessment

Set time in morning/evening or before work for self-assessment. Solitude is needed for this kind of introspection.

Socialization/Social Participation

Stay mix and updated with your surroundings by following the social norms. Socialization and peopling skills can bring rise in self-awareness.

Self-confidence

Trusting our abilities and capacities is called self-confidence. There are two main things contribute to self-confidence.

Self-efficacy

Students’ belief in his/her ability to achieve goals. Albert Bandura defines it: a personal judgement “how well one executes action required to deal with prospective situations”.

Self-esteem

Confidence in students’ own worth or self-respect.

Synchronous Collaboration

Synchronous collaboration where everyone interacts in real-time as in online meetings, through instant messaging or via Skype.

Self-control

The ability to manage actions and decisions students take in routine life. One of the key parts of culture is to focus on self-improvement. A student with self-control is able to meet temptations and distractions calmly. Students should take charge of their life. By following simple steps, students can build, strengthen and maintain their self-control.

Social Skills

Ability to respond/act acceptably/according to norms of society for personal and community well-being is known as social skills. Here are below some common and essential social skills:

Servant Management

With this approach, the manager helps supply resources the employees need to meet company goals. In servant leadership, the organization recognizes employees as experts in their field and work to help them work efficiently.

Social Entrepreneurship

It is a recent emergence in management in which entrepreneurial management styles are being taken to the non- profit and community development sectors.

Scrum

A management philosophy predicated upon a feedback-driven iterative evolution of process. Scrum has been around since the late 1980s, but not particularly prevalent until the early 21st century. Scrum is defined as a feedback-driven empirical approach that highlights transparency, inspection, and adaptation. In terms of values, scrum discards traditional hierarchy and promotes commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect in a team -oriented, objectives-driven environment.

Scrum Framework

This is an excellent illustration of how scrum mentality works. It is intrinsically a horizontal management style, meaning there is no particular managerial presence. The idea that the process itself is self-sustaining in pursuit of agreed upon objectives via an iterative cycle of production.

Scrum Master

A facilitator, this individual focuses on removing impediments and acting as a buffer between the team and external distractions (usually integration with other teams). The scrum master will also assess progress holistically, and ensure alignment with the scrum mentality.

Software

The two big words in software management over the past decade or two have been Scrum and Agile. Each of these approaches is a management philosophy equipped for rapid construction, iteration and implementation.

Social Entrepreneurship

Utilizing the ever-evolving perspectives of start-up companies and entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations and other community-oriented groups have begun replacing traditional management approaches with a more grassroots perspective. A key metric to a social entrepreneur isn’t profit but community impact, usually in areas such as poverty alleviation, health care, education, and community development. This management style is small, focused, innovation-driven, and non-hierarchical.

System

A whole composed of relationships among the members.

Synchronous versus Asynchronous

Synchronous communication is communication that takes place in real time such as conversation with friend. In contrast, asynchronous communication is communication that is not immediate and occurs over longer periods of time such as letters, email or text messages.

Special Education

Special education is a service that some children with disabilities receive. Not all children with disabilities qualify for special education services. The instruction provided to students with disabilities according to the requirements of special education. Specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability who qualifies for special education. The services are provided at no cost to the parent. The services can be provided in many different settings.

Social or Emotional Development

The ability to develop and maintain functional interpersonal relationships and to exhibit age appropriate social and emotional behaviors.

Special Education Student

Any student who has a disability that adversely affects his or her academic performance.

Specially Designed Instruction

Instruction designed to address the specific needs of a student who qualifies for special education services. It is based on the results of the student’s individual evaluation. In order for instruction to be considered specially designed, it must differ from the instruction provided in the general education program, and cannot merely be accommodations or modifications.

Specific Learning Disabilities

A disorder of one or more psychological processes that interfere with the ability to process language,

Supplementary Aids and Services

Aids, services, and other supports that are provided in general education classes or other education-related settings that enable students with disabilities to participate to the maximum extent appropriate with nondisabled students in the least restrictive environment and in all programs and activities offered to students.

Supported Employment

A progressive approach to maximizing competitive employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Surrogate Parent

A person designated by the school district to assume all parent educational rights when a parent or immediate relative caring for the child cannot be identified, or when a child is a ward of the state. Written or spoken that may be noticed with difficulty in listening, speaking, writing, reading, spelling, or doing mathematical calculations.

Speech/language Impairment

A communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment or voice impairment that adversely affects student’s educational performance.

Speech Language Pathologist (SLP)

A professional who can help students who have language and speech disorders. This might include expressive and/or reception language as well as speech disorders.

Stay Put

The right of a student with a disability to remain in his or her current placement until disputes have been resolved. When a parent or the school district files for a hearing, there may be a stay put requirement until the dispute is settled.

 

T

Technique

A technique is actually an implementation of lesson in a classroom which is basically procedure or trick to accomplish the immediate objective. It is always consistent with methods approaches harmony.

Trends in Management

Modern trends in management favour agile processes that focus on innovation, software development and social impacts.

Team Management

In a team management arrangement the manager is a guiding hand to help the members of the team work together to solve problems but doesn’t dictate policy and the entire team receives the reward of meeting those goals.

Teacher Certification

Official state recognition that a person meets state standards and is qualified to be a teacher in public schools.

Touch

Shaking students’ hand, putting hand on shoulder of students are non-verbal cues that can affect the success of your lesson delivering. Touch communicates affection, but it also communicates power. In fact, when women touch a listener, it is often assumed that they are being affectionate or conveying empathy, but when a man touches a listener, it can be taken as a sign of communicating power or even dominance.

Teaching Development Plan (TDP)

A plan helping instructors to focus on teaching specific career goals. It encourages instructors to set goals and periodically reflect on both progress and barriers faced while working towards these goals.

Time-out

Time-out is a popular technique used in behavior modification with children. It operates on the principles of negative punishment. When a child demonstrates an undesirable behavior, he/she is removed from the desirable activity at hand. For example, say that Ariqa and her brother Mannan are playing with building blocks. Ariqa throws some blocks at her brother, so you give her a warning that she will go to time-out if she does it again. A few minutes later, she throws more blocks at Manna. You remove Ariqa from the room for a few minutes. When she comes back, she does not throw blocks. It is a popular form of negative punishment used by caregivers. When a child misbehaves he/she is removed from a desirable activity in an effort to decrease the unwanted behavior. For example, (a) a child may be playing on the playground with friends and push another child; (b) the child who misbehaved would then be removed from the activity for a short period of time.

Threshold Concept

Thresholds are crucial barriers in the learning process where students often get “stuck”. These ideas are essential in understanding a particular discipline and progress in the discipline and can be blocked until the barrier to understanding has been overcome. Examples of discipline-based threshold concepts include deep time in geology or the idea of constructed narrative in history.

Traditional Management

There is a hierarchy of employees, low level management, mid-level management, and senior management. In traditional management systems, the manager sets out expectations for the employees who need to meet goals, but the manager receives the reward of meeting those goals.

Transfer

A cognitive process by which learner takes what they have learned in one context and successfully applies it to another. Transfer is often broken down into “near transfer” (Transfer of Knowledge to a similar Task/Context) and “far transfer” (Transfer of Knowledge to Novel Tasks/Contexts).

Transparent Assignment Design

An inclusive teaching practice which helps students to understand the purpose of assessment, clearly describe the task and how it should be accomplished and plainly define criteria for success. Assignment transparency has been shown to significantly boost student success in terms of academic confidence, sense of belonging and metacognitive awareness of skill development.

Team Teaching

An arrangement by which two or more teachers teach the same group of students.

Tenure

The legal provision that people in certain positions may be fired only for specific cause.

Thematic Units

A unit of study that uses a specific theme. Sometimes thematic units include all core subject areas. Think, Pair, Share. A cooperative learning strategy where students first think about a topic, pair with another student to discuss their ideas and then share with the whole class.

Total Physical Response (TPR)

A learning approach emphasizing the use of physical activity to increase vocabulary retention.

Tracking Teaching

A teaching practice for groups of students to receive instruction according to abilities.

Transcript

A copy of students’ permanent school record that shows courses taken, grades, graduation status and attendance which may include assessments.

Transfer of Learning

The ability to apply previously learned knowledge or skills to new situations.

Translation

The process of transcribing written information from one language into another language keeping the meaning and intent of the original information.

Tutor

The person who provides additional help to students with their schoolwork. A tutor may be another student or an adult.

Teacher Centred Approach

The teacher is perceived only reliable source of exchange of information and focus remains on the content issued and delivered by teacher in and out the classroom.

Tone of Voice

The tone of voice in communication is defined as the way teachers speak to students. It is how teachers use voice to get their point across. If you do not do it right, there is a risk of your point getting lost or misinterpreted. An optimistic and positive tone of voice is always welcome. If you use a pessimistic or accusatory tone of voice in communication, the results may be negative. One of the examples of tones is humor. Genuine humor creates trust and hope and makes your speech memorable. Speaking with the correct tone of voice indicates your decisiveness and intelligence. Tone of voice conveys your feelings and has an impact on how people react to you.

Tangible Objectives

Measurable steps toward the achievement of a goal.

Therapeutic Day Program

An instructional placement for students with significant emotional disturbances in which treatment for the emotional difficulty is incorporated into the school program.

Transition Services

A plan of activities designed to assist and prepare a student in special education to move from secondary education to the workplace or to higher education.

Transition Planning

Planning for adolescents’ post-school lives. It must begin by age 16 and it requires transition goals to be incorporated into the IEP process.

Transfer of Rights

Parent rights transfer to the student at the age of 18.  Parents must be notified of the transfer of student rights in writing and in their native language.  Parents may remain involved in their student’s IEP team, and must be notified of IEP meetings once a transfer of rights occurs.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a student’s educational performance. Traumatic brain injury applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition;

U

Unit of Study

A segment of instruction focused on a particular topic.

Use Motivation

Meaningful and effective motivational strategy is to blend multiple types of motivation together, giving maximum motivation. The certain situations may call a specific blend of motivational forces and factors. Education is a unique setting because often you are trying to motivate students around you. Sometimes, you are trying to motivate others even more than yourself in achieving productivity for you and your students. It is important to consider following types of motivation.

• Achievement motivation
• Incentive motivation
• Fear motivation
• Competence motivation
• Creative motivation

University

An institution of higher education and research which awards academic degrees in a variety of subjects in both undergraduate and postgraduate education.

Unilateral Private School Placement

When a parent places their child with a disability in a private school without the agreement of the school district and requests payment or reimbursement for the costs of the private school.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Universal Design for Learning is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.  Designing a course according to UDL principles is centred on the key concepts of: engagement, representation, and action & expression.  These are sometimes summarized as the Why, What and How of learning.

Universal Design

A concept or philosophy for designing and delivering products, services and systems that are usable by everyone, including people with disabilities.

 

 

V

Verbal Learning

It is related with the language which we use to communicate and various other forms of verbal communication such as naming the symbols, words, languages, sounds, calling the names of figures and signs.

Verbal Intelligence

The mental ability to solve the problems through the use of language is called verbal intelligence. It is used in assessment whether at institutions or screening tests carried out at the induction time in commissioned positions at both civil and armed forces services.

Versatile Communication

Today, we are witnessing an historic global digital revolution. Work-from-home has become a buzzword. Everyone is attending meetings, reading posts/blogs and learning new skills online. There are various mediums of communication words, symbols, sounds, visuals and so on. Choose the medium of communication that is suitable for the purpose, audience and the message of communication.

Vocational Rehabilitation Services

Employment training and services designed to assist a person with a disability who wants to work but has a substantial barrier to finding or keeping a job.

Verbal Communication

Verbal communication uses language, words, sentences and voice as the medium of communication. In spoken versus written communication, we typically focus on speech. It is important to remember that writing is also a form of verbal communication. After all, writing uses words too. Imagine for a moment that you are a student/teacher who is struggling with material to comprehend. Rather than simply giving up, you will decide that you are going to ask your instructor/senior for the guidance you need to make it through the accomplishment of task. Now, you have a few choices for using verbal communication. You may choose to call, if they have provided contact information or talk in person. You may take a different approach and send an email. You can probably identify your own list of pros and cons for each of these approaches. But really, what is the difference between writing and talking in these situations?

W

Working Memory

An active memory system that holds information while it’s processed or examined.

Whole Language Approach

A teaching method that emphasizes reading for meaning in context.

Work-based Learning

Supervised learning activities of students at paid or unpaid workplace assignments.

Work-study Program

A Financial Aid program that provides jobs for students to earn part of their college related costs.

Writers’ Workshop

A classroom practice teaches students how to write through a short strategy lesson, an opportunity to write independently and discussion how the writing lesson was used to improve their skills.

 

Y

Year-round Schooling

A school calendar that gives students shorter breaks throughout the year, instead of a traditional three-month summer break.

 

Z

Zero Tolerance

The policy that defines specific punishment for students who break certain rules.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

This developmental zone stands between what the learner can already do on their own and what they cannot yet do. It is the range in which a learner is able to move from point A to point B with assistance from peers or an instructor; in other words, the zone in which learning takes place. The concept was originally described in the work of Soviet psychologist and social constructivist and Lev Vygotsky.

Zero Reject

A core principle of the IDEA which establishes that no student with a disability, regardless of the nature or severity of their disability, can be denied a free, appropriate, public education.