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.

Subconscious Underachieving A student’s refusal to attempt a goal that he or she may not succeed at to preserve self-concept. A defense mechanism.

Subcultures Groups that are connected to and a part of the larger cultural groups. These can include gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religion, and more.

Subject Matter Expert (SME) Usually, an educator, a Subject Matter Expert (SME) can be used both to design and to deliver elearning modules and courses.

Subject-Centered Curriculum A model where the curriculum is divided into subject areas, and there is little flexibility for cross-curricular activity. Subjects are siloed. Emphasis is placed on acquisition, memorization, and knowledge of each specific content area. Within this curriculum structure, strong emphasis is placed on instruction, teacher-to-student explanation, and direct strategies. Direct strategies include lectures, questions, and answers, as well as teacher-student discussions. These curricula often encourage memorization and repetitive practice of facts and ideas. Traditionally, students had little choice about what they studied under these curricula. Now students are given some degree of freedom in choosing elective subjects. They are also given more independence to choose from among key topics for personal project work.

Subordinate Relationship A relational status created between the specific or supporting details in a passage and the overall text.

Subskills Breaking down skills into smaller parts to make the larger skill and long-term goal more accessible.

Subsocieties Groups that have developed in society with their own values, attitudes, and behaviors. Subsocieties often have values or behaviors that are different from society as a whole and are considered unacceptable.

Substantive Due Process Rights Means that any restrictions imposed on student’s rights must be demonstrated by a valid reason.

Substitute Teachers Replace full-time teachers when they must be out due to illness, family responsibilities, or other personal or professional reasons.

Substitution Method of Design Another name for the attribute modifying strategy. This method is used in college-level engineering design classes.

Successful Intelligence Developed by Robert Sternberg. The theory that posits a broader context for intelligence, including sociocultural context, an individual’s ability to react to changes in their environment, and the recognition of strengths and weaknesses.

Suffix Letters put on the end of a (base) word that changes its meaning. Examples include, but are not limited to -ed, -ly, -ful, or -less.

Summarizing A reading comprehension strategy that requires students to pull essential information from a given text.

Summative Assessment In K–12 learning environments is often a test given at the end of distinct periods of time and is meant to evaluate what students know. Authentic assessments can also be used as summative assessments. Summative assessments can be administered at the end of a learning module, grading period, or school year. They are also given at certain points in time that are not necessarily an endpoint; for example, a standardized test for fourth graders may be given halfway through the school year and is meant to test educational knowledge to that point—not for the entire grade level.

Summer Slide The well-documented phenomenon that students can unlearn some of the knowledge they worked so hard to attain when too much consecutive time is taken off from school. Research shows that it takes anywhere from 8 to 13 weeks at the beginning of every school year for new teachers to get their students back up to speed and ready to learn the new grade’s material.

Superordinate Relationship A relational status created between the general or main idea of a passage and the overall text.

Supports Education, behavioral or health service strategies that help a student with a mental disability develop and improve their quality of life.

Suprasegmentals Suprasegmentals, otherwise known as prosody can serve a linguistic function such as to affect the meaning of a phrase or word. This can also relate to a paralinguistic function such as to modify or enrich the meaning of spoken information (conveying emotion). Suprasegmentals include rhythm, stress, lexical and grammatical tones, and intonation.