Assessments
This continuous process is often called "Assessment for Learning" because it guides both instruction and student action while the learning is ongoing.
What is Formative Assessment?
The basic observational tool that involves simply ticking off observed behaviors from a pre-determined list during a lesson.
What is a Checklist?
This instructional shift involves moving the low-level content delivery (like lectures) to outside of class time, reserving classroom hours for collaborative, high-order application and problem-solving.
What is the Flipped Classroom?
The coaching philosophy where feedback is delivered by sharing neutral data and asking the coachee what they notice, thereby maximizing their cognitive engagement and minimizing defensiveness.
What is Cognitive Coaching (or Non-Evaluative Data-Driven Feedback)?
This instructional principle advocates for providing multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression to remove barriers to learning for all students.
What is Universal Design for Learning (UDL)?
The highest-stakes form of evaluation that summarizes student achievement at the conclusion of a unit, course, or instructional period.
What is Summative Assessment?
The deliberate, objective capture of classroom events, stripped of immediate judgment or inference, forms the raw data for this practice. The term is also used in the medical field.
What is Clinical Observation?
The Greek term that literally translates to "to lead the child," representing the method and practice of teaching.
What is Pedagogy?
A long-term, relationship-based process where an experienced individual guides a less-experienced colleague in professional and personal growth.
What is Mentoring?
A conversational move in which a teacher or coach intentionally remains silent after asking a question to give the other party sufficient time for deeper cognitive processing.
What is Wait Time (or Think Time)?
This type of assessment is administered before instruction begins to gauge students' prior knowledge and clarify existing misconceptions.
What is Diagnostic Assessment?
The observational bias where the observer's expectations about a teacher's performance subtly leads the observer to only notice evidence that confirms that expectation.
What is Confirmation Bias?
A teaching approach that begins with presenting a specific case or examples, leading students to discover or formulate a general rule or principle themselves. The term is also used to describe a Kitchen appliance.
What is Inductive Teaching?
The cognitive tool a mentor uses to help a mentee look at a limiting belief or problem by presenting an alternative, positive, or growth-oriented perspective.
What is Reframing?
An intrinsic drive arising from a state of internal psychological disequilibrium, suggesting that learning is motivated by a desire to resolve the conflict between what is known and what is perceived.
What is Cognitive Dissonance?
A dialogue technique used formatively where the teacher asks a question, accepts a student's answer, and then immediately asks a follow-up question to probe the reasoning or process.
What is Probing (or Deeper Questioning)?
An observation method where the observer records everything said and done during a specific, brief interval (e.g., 5 minutes) without filtering or judgment.
What is a Verbatim Record (or Running Record)?
A systematic process for instructional design that focuses on defining desired results first, then determining acceptable evidence of learning, and finally designing learning experiences and instruction.
What is Backward Design (or Understanding by Design/UbD)?
The coaching stance that emphasizes helping the teacher tap into their own internal resources and problem-solving skills, rather than prescribing solutions.
What is Non-Directive Coaching?
An instructional method that relies on learners working in small, interdependent groups to maximize their own and each other's learning.
What is Collaborative Learning (or Cooperative Learning)?
This specific type of assessment, often called "Assessment as Learning," requires students to actively monitor, evaluate, and reflect on their own progress and strategies.
What is Self and Peer Assessment (or Metacognitive Assessment)?
This specific type of bias involves an observer's pre-existing, positive perception of a teacher or student influencing their subsequent interpretation and recording of classroom events.
What is the Halo Effect?
The cognitive framework that describes the difference between what a learner can achieve independently and what they can achieve with guidance from a more knowledgeable other.
What is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)?
This ethical pitfall in mentoring occurs when the mentor's personal needs or unresolved issues unconsciously influence the advice or direction they provide to the mentee.
What is Countertransference?
The belief that intelligence and abilities are malleable and can be developed through effort and dedication, a key concept for fostering resilience.
What is a Growth Mindset?