Principles of Learning and Teaching

Practical advice for PRAXIS test takers (from PDE web site)

Pennsylvania has adopted the PRAXIS series of professional educator assessments as one of the means to attract and maintain a quality teaching force in the state. Materials published by PRAXIS, specifically the "Registration Bulletin", the Pennsylvania Supplement to the PRAXIS Registration Bulletin, and the "Test at a Glance" series are excellent and may be obtained at your school, through calling or writing to Educational Testing Service (ETS) or the Bureau of Teacher Certification and Preparation of the Commonwealth. Addresses and phone numbers are at the end of this sheet.

1. Prepare for the tests:

• ETS has found that most of the test takers who failed the tests did not prepare for them in any way. Therefore, you should start preparing several months before you plan to take the tests.
• The primary source for information on the tests should be the Test-at-a-Glance publications. The booklets are free and may be obtained at your college or university or by contacting the Praxis program at 609-771-7395 or via the Internet at http://www.teachingandlearning.org/licnsure/praxis/index.html. If there is a test guide for the test you are taking, consider buying it. Also, consider purchasing the Praxis II: Subject Assessments Study Guide. This booklet contains general information about testing and test taking tips.

 

• Read over the booklet carefully and take the practice test
• Take any practice that you can find.

I am providing term lists that have been recommended  by educational specialists.  Please look over the list.  There are several lists (some of which may overlap).  I have included a list (along with brief definition and links) of major terms that I believe are very important.  If time is short please do the following:

1. Read over the terms below - do a quick look over the the links.
2. Take the ETS practice test to become familiar with the type of questions asked.

Accommodation
Piaget's term that refers to a change in cognitive structures that produces corresponding behavioral changes.
 Cognitive Constructivism
 Piaget
 

Advance organizers
David Ausubel's term to describe a type of teaching that explains what is to come. It could be an outline, a list, an introductory paragraph, etc.
 Organizers
 Meaningful Learning Model
 

Authentic assessment
A means of securing information about a student's success or failure on meaningful and significant tasks. There is a performance component where the student actually shows what he/she can do, unlike a paper-and-pencil objective type of test.
 Authentic Assessment Overview
 Authentic Assessment
 http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/2.15.html
 

Behavior modification
A deliberate attempt to control student behavior by using positive and negative reinforcement.
 http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/2.5.html
 

***Bloom's Taxonomy***
A taxonomy is a classification system. Bloom's Taxonomy features six major classes of cognition: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Knowledge is the lowest level of thinking; evaluation is the highest.
 Learning Skills Program - Bloom's Taxonomy
 Major Categories in the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives
 

***Classroom Mamangment***
Fifteen ways to bring your class to order
 

Concept Mapping
 Learning Skills Program - Concept Mapping
 Walker TRC-Concept Mapping and Curriculum Design
 Concept Mapping Homepage

***Cooperative learning***
Peer-centered learning experiences; students of different abilities work together in small groups to solve a problem. Everyone in the group must participate.
 http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/2.10.html
 Cooperative Learning Center
 

Desists (see also classroom managment)
A teacher's actions to stop misbehavior.
The Facilitative Teacher
Classroom management
 

Discovery learning
Bruner's term for learning that involves the rearrangement and transformation of material that leads to insight.
 http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/7.4.html
 http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/2.7.html
 

***Inquiry teaching***
Bruner's belief that teaching should permit students to be active partners in the search for knowledge, thus enhancing the meaning of what they learn.
 http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/2.7.html
 

Lesson Plan
An outline designed to present objectives and content to be taught in a logical, systematic manner.  Objective, Teacher Input, Guided Practice, Independent Practice, and Closure.
 Lesson planning and lesson plans
 Writing Lesson Plans--Instructional Scaffolding
 

Multiple intelligences
Gardner's seven relatively autonomous intelligences. They are: bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, and spatial.
 Multiple Intelligences
 

***Rubrics***
 Using Rubrics in Middle School
 Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators - Assessment Rubrics
 

***Seat Arrangements***
 Seating Arrangements
 

Scaffolding
Scaffolding is an instructional technique whereby the teacher models the
desired learning strategy or task, then gradually shifts responsibility to the students.
Temporary aid provided by one person to encourage, support and assist a lesser skilled person in carrying out a task. These skills are gradually transferred to the learner.
Scaffolding
 Scaffolding for Success
 

Semantic Mapping
Simliar to concept mapping but more like a web
 ILTweb: LiveText: Semantic Mapping
 

Formative and Summative Assessment
Formative assessment is used to give students an indication of how they are progressing in terms of their skills, knowledge, attitudes and understanding in a subject. Students can use this type of assessment as a diagnostic tool to identify and improve areas of weakness and as a means of practicing a skill. Summative assessment is the attempt to summarize student learning at some point in time.
 The Value of Formative Assessment
 Assessment
 The Assessment Principle
 Using WebMC for Formative and Summative Assessment
 

Think/Pair/Share
Think/Pair/Share is a strategy designed to provide students with "food for thought" on a given topic enabling them to formulate individual ideas and share these ideas with another student.
 Teaching Strategies...Think/Pair/Share
 
 

Dr. J. Zisk