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.

GPA (Grade point average) A calculation of the students’ academic performance, which is based on the grades that the students has received in all of the courses that they have taken.

Grade A score that denotes a students’ academic performance on an assignment or in an entire course.

Grade Inflation The awarding of higher grades than students have earned, due to decreased teacher expectations or to protect the academic reputations of the school or university.

Grade Norm Expected achievement levels on a standardized test for students in a given grade.

Grade-equivalent Score A derived score based on adjusting a student’s raw score on a standardized test by a factor that reflects normal performance for a particular grade.

Graduate School The division of an institution which administers degree programs that awards master’s degrees or doctorates.

Graduate Student A student who has already obtained a bachelor’s degree and is enrolled in a program of student that leads to a master’s, doctorate or graduate certificate.

Grant Financial aid that is comprised of an amount of money that is given to the students, without any financial obligations to repay.

Grapheme A written symbol for a phoneme (unit of sound). Examples include f for
/f/or ph for /f/ and oy for /oi/ as in boy.

Graphemes One or several letters that represent a sound in a word.

Graphic Organizers Visual representations of ideas that can be used to help students organize their thoughts.

Graphic Rating Scale A rating scale designed along a continuum with descriptors that identify points from low to high along the continuum for different aspects of the evaluation. The descriptors aid the assessor in making their evaluation.

Graphophonic Cue System A structure for literacy development in which the reader uses clues from sounds and symbols to recognize words and predict meaning.

GRASP (Guided Reading and Summarizing Procedure) A reading strategy under teacher guidance in which students read to collect information and try to remember as much as possible, list what they remember after the reading, reread the material to add to, delete, and correct information, and then organize information according to their details.

GRE (Graduate Record Examination) A uniform graduate school entrance assessment. That is administered by the nonprofit Educational Testing Service (ETS), which measures verbal, quantitative and analytical writing skills.

Great Man Theory A view of leadership which identifies a leader as a person who has a vision for the future, charisma, and the ability to rally support and make things happen.

Grit Regular and continued hard work towards achieving a goal. Considered possibly more important in achieving positive outcomes than intelligence.

Gross Motor Skills Are needed to control the movement and coordination of the larger muscles found in the arms, legs, and torso.

Group Contingencies Rewards distributed in the classroom that are subject to the behavior of all students.

Group Test An assessment that can be administered to a group in one sitting.

Growth Mindset A student’s belief that they can grow and improve their capabilities over time through learning.

Growth Needs The requirements, identified by Maslow, essential for knowing, appreciating, and understanding. These needs are often satisfied after basic needs are met.

GRS (Guided Reading Strategy) A version of the GRASP strategy, which includes the following steps: surveying the chapter or section, talking about what the student remembered from the survey, scanning the chapter for missing information, discussing with the teacher about the survey results and organizing information into an outline by topic, careful independent reading of the chapter or selection, a true or false quiz of 10 questions and, after a week, a 10-question pop quiz on the material.

Guided Comprehension Model An instruction process based on explaining, demonstrating, guiding, practicing, and reflecting that can scaffold comprehension.

Guided Imagery A teaching idea that encourages readers to tap into their prior knowledge, create visualizations, solve problems, and use their imaginations. This technique can be utilized with narrative or informational texts that elicit a mental image.

Guided Practice An activity in which students apply recently acquired information at a stage when the teacher remains available to assist.

Guiding Student Thinking Encouraging students to make connections, ask themselves questions, monitor their own understanding, visualize the text, summarize what they are learning, and evaluate where they are at.

Guiding Students’ Thinking The process of helping students to interact with the text to improve comprehension while reading.