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.

Leadership Skills Inventory A measurement of leadership abilities and aptitude developed by Karnes and Chauvin.

Learned Helplessness A situation in which a child decides there is no point in trying to achieve goals based on repeated experiences in which they’ve found no linkage between work toward goals and outcomes.

Learning Disabilities Challenges with learning in one particular area.

Learning Experience Describes any class, activity, or experience in which learning takes place, whether it’s a typical school setting or outside of the school location.

Learning Glass Allows for dramatic illumination of ideas in lectures. The latest in presentation board technology consists of two sheets of glass framed by LED lights. Fluorescent marker ink attracts and refracts the LED light.  The instructor stands behind the glass to illustrate essential points in lectures. The results are impressive because instructors can create a dynamic and active learning environment that engages students in what might have otherwise been a passive learning environment. Learning glass technology incorporates real-time integration, allows for face-to-face instruction, and improves student learning.

Learning Goals The objectives of students who are driven first and foremost by a desire for self-improvement and knowledge acquisition. They are also referred to as mastery goals.

Learning Objectives Are terse statements that explain what students are expected to learn by the end of a lesson, unit, class period, course, etc.

Learning Pathway Describes the classes, programs, and learning activities that students complete during their high school matriculation. Learning pathways can be academic and vocational in nature.

Learning Probes Techniques which assist teachers to ascertain whether or not students understand a lesson. Questioning is an example of such techniques.

Learning Stories The use of story to document and reflect on student learning from events of the school day.

Learning Style Refers to the various methods by which students can learn information presented to them, and which style suits them best.

Learning Style The preferred teaching style, learning methods and classroom conditions for an individual student.

Learning Targets Concrete expectations of what students will learn from an individual lesson.

Learning The acquisition of knowledge through various means and experiences, which usually results in a change in the learner.

Least-Restrictive Environment (LRE) Ensures that children with disabilities do not become unnecessarily segregated from their peers who attend general education classes. This means that, as much as reasonably possible, children with disabilities should be educated with those who do not have disabilities to reduce the chances of their feeling isolated.

Lecture Capture Lecture capture is typically used in colleges and universities. It gives professors a way of not only recording lectures (the original intent was as a backup to class lectures), but it lets the lecturer interact and supplement the information they teach in class. For example, a professor makes the lecture available. Students can then go back and post comments at any point during the recording and receive responses almost immediately from other people in the class, as well as from the professor.

Lesson Clarity A high degree of organization, directness, simplicity, and effective use of language involved in a teaching session or presentation of concepts.

Lesson Plan Is a written reminder of how a lesson is to be presented and how important information and essential skills should be practiced and learned.

Letter Recognition The capacity to call out a letter that is shown or pick out a letter in a group of letters.

Leveled Texts Texts about a topic that have a lower readability level than the course textbook.

Levels-of-Processing Theory A rationale for the way in which memory recollections of stimuli is related to the amount, depth, and strength of mental processing involved.

Liability Is the state of being legally obliged and responsible for performing certain actions, whether instructed to or not by an official of a judiciary court.

Liberal Arts College A college or university that stresses an undergraduate education in liberal arts.

Liberal Arts The study of topics in humanities, social sciences, and the sciences, with a focus on broad knowledge

Liberalism Is the ideology that all people should enjoy the greatest possible individual freedom and that it should be guaranteed by due process of law. Liberalists are known to be open to change. They believe in progress and oppose any restrictions on individual liberties. They believe that this liberation of human rights will lead to progress. The key elements of liberalism include the liberal concepts around property and the economy, rationality and the power of reason, secularism, individualism, progress, representative political institutions, and education for general citizenship.

Licensed Professional Counselors Mental health professionals who can offer the same services as psychologists and social workers.

Licensure Refers to the granting of a teaching license, which permits a state to instruct and supervise school-age students.

Limbic System The part of the brain which controls motivation and moderates emotion.

Limited Buffer Theory A theory that students with an intellectual disability have a smaller than average capacity to retain information and must purge old information to make room for new.

Linguistic Competence The level of knowledge that a reader has about language and its phonological and syntactic structures, which includes aptitude in the use and comprehension of a standard system of language.

Listening Capacity The threshold at which a student can comprehend 75% of the content read aloud, which often serves as an indicator of a reader’s ability to comprehend oral language or for reading expectancy. It is also known as listening comprehension level.

Listening Comprehension The capacity and ability to understand speech.

Listening Processing language and other sounds through the sense of hearing and decoding the sounds to make meaning of them.

Listening Style An individual’s biases and beliefs about the process of receiving information through the sense of hearing.

Listening Vocabulary A set of words understood within or through verbal language.

List-Group-Label A categorizing method, developed by Hilda Taba, which aims to improve vocabulary development and concept comprehension.

Literacy Coach A reading professional who provides professional development, support, and mentorship to classroom teachers so that they can be well versed in evidence-based practices that can be used to help students become literate. In certain duty configurations, the literacy coach may be called upon to screen students for reading disabilities, assess student’s present level of literacy, or perform interventions on students who are experiencing reading difficulties.

Literacy The capacity to read and write.

Literary Genres Categories of writing styles which are determined by various characteristics such as narrative technique, tone, or content.

Literature Circles Groups of students who meet to read and discuss the book they have selected. They often create and assign particular roles within the group such as summarizer or discussion director.

LMS As noted above, this stands for Learning Management System (here are some US-based examples). These systems enable you to deliver instructional content and assess your students online and can be tailored to suit your needs.