To be considered a competent educator, there are almost 2000 strategies, concepts, and terms that you must know. However, since teachers wear so many hats, who has the time to learn them all? Don’t worry; we have you covered. In this series, we will discuss all the teaching and learning strategies, concepts, and terms that you need to know to be considered an effective educator. There are over 70 articles in this series, so pace yourself. We recommend reading one piece per weekday, which will allow you to complete the series in three to four months. We hope you enjoy it.
Click here to read all the articles in this series.
Athroposophy Developed by Rudolph Steiner. The philosophy that there is a spiritual world and that it is accessible to humans through personal development.
Attachment The bond that forms between a child and his or her parents or primary caregiver and provides the child with a feeling of safety.
Attention A conscious focus on certain stimuli over others.
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) Students with this disorder often struggle to stay focused on lessons, to perform time-consuming tasks, and to follow instructions during class. Educators can become frustrated by the amount of class time spent prompting students or redirecting them to little avail. However, assistive technology may provide students with the solutions they need to find real academic success.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) A disorder marked by an inability to focus. Educators might find themselves continually prompting and redirecting students with ADHD to perform routine tasks. It can be frustrating for the student and their classmates when their need to move around the classroom disrupts the learning experience. Gains in assistive technology could help to promote better learning for students who struggle with ADHD.
Attention Our ability to focus on a specific task, our alertness and allocation of energy to the desired task.
Attention Regulation The ability to avoid distraction and focus on a particular task for the time necessary to complete it.
Attentive Listening The act of focusing carefully on sounds in spoken language with the goal of acquiring the message being communicated.
Attitude Measure An assessment of how a child is predisposed to respond to a referent.
Attribute Listing A technique used to encourage creative thinking in which the parts of a subject, problem or task are listed, and then ways to change those component parts are examined.
Attribute Modifying A technique used to encourage creative thinking in which the parts of a subject, problem or task are listed, and then options for changing or improving each part are considered.
Attribute Transferring A technique used to encourage creative thinking in which the parts of a subject, problem or task listed and then the problem solver uses analogies to other contexts to generate and consider potential solutions.
Attribution Theory A theory of motivation that examines how people understand and give reasons for the causes of their successes and failures.
Attributional Retraining An approach to teaching that encourages students to accept personal responsibility for their learning, successes, and failures. For the latter instance, this method involves reminding students that they can overcome failure through diligence and perseverance.
Attunement The subtle alignment of a parent or caregiving adult to the needs of a child by means of close attention to the child’s nonverbal communication.
