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.

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Requires that websites, edtech apps, and other digital vendors protect the privacy of children 13 years old and younger. Personal data must be masked and cannot be harvested for sale to other companies or vendors.

The Standard Error of Measurement The degree to which an assessment’s score may incorrectly measure skills, achievement or subject characteristics.

Theme The theme is what the author wants you to know about his literary work.

Themed Unit of Inquiry Sections of a learning plan or a curriculum with content organized thematically around topics of interest.

Theories-in-Use Are theories that we take for truths, often without consciously analyzing, evaluating, or questioning them in any way.

Theory A set of principles that explains certain phenomena and makes connections between certain precepts.

Theory of Disontogenesis Vygotsky’s theory of disability where compensation stems from cultural enlightenment and socialization. This sociocultural theory believes in two types of defects known as organic impairments (primary defects) and misrepresentations of high psychological functions (secondary defects).

Theory of the Mind The beliefs one individual creates to understand and make predictions about other people’s knowledge, beliefs, and actions based on observation and extrapolation. One’s perceptiveness of the mental state of another.

Therapeutic Preschools Programs that combine psychological therapy and educational goals.

Thesis A piece of writing on a certain subject that is required for a student to finish a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

Thick and Thin Questions A teaching idea that encourages students to ask questions about a given text and then discern what type of questions they are asking. The questions might be memory-level (thin) or evaluative (thick).

Think-Alouds A strategic model for active thinking during the reading process, which is used to demonstrate other reading comprehension strategies including monitoring, visualizing and summarizing.

Thinking Dispositions Intellectual characteristics which allow individuals to achieve stronger analytic skills. This theory was developed by Ritchart.

Thinking Skills Skills aimed at aiding students to be critical, logical and evaluative thinkers. They include analysis, comparison, classification, synthesis, generalization, discrimination, inference, planning, predicting, and identifying cause-effect relationships.

Thinking Style An individual’s mental response to a problem or challenge.

Think-Links A teaching strategy in which students write down keywords associated with a selection they have read, connect those words to specific examples, and then connect them to descriptive words thereby recreating important aspects of the selection. This process assists teachers in guiding their students to reflect on their reading.

Thought Units Short phrases selected from a text consisting of only one idea.

Three Ring Model A concept of gifted intelligence that visualizes giftedness with three rings: creativity, goal focus and above-average ability. The concept was developed by Joseph Renzulli.

Threshold Concept The idea that creative productivity requires a base level of intelligence. There exists almost no relationship between IQ and creativity in individuals with an IQ above the threshold level of 120.

Tickets Out An informal writing tool which facilitates student reflection on their learning whereby students answer two questions: (1)  the most important thing you learned in class today and (2) what questions do you have about what you learned today Students respond to the first and second questions, usually, by writing their answers on the front and back side of a graphic organizer, respectively.

Tiered Activities A tool for differentiating the learning processes of different learners to achieve common goals in a lesson.

Tiered Instruction The instructional method of creating the best lesson possible on a topic and then extrapolating from the base lesson to make it more challenging for students who are ready for advanced work and less challenging for students who are not ready for the requirements of the base lesson.

Time Sampling A written record for documenting a particular student or group of students’ activities at a given time.

Time-Management Tools Also known as productivity tools. These tools are variations on calendar software. They can be used to schedule your appointments, or you may want to take advantage of more complex features. Some tools can be viewed online, affording access for more than one student at a time. A teacher can arrange appointments or make a note of due dates for assignments so that all students in a class can keep track of such details.

Title I Federal legislation that makes funds available to improve the educational experiences of children from low-income families.

Title I Portability Much like the use of a voucher, Title I portability assumes that Title I funding should follow children to the school of their choice. Dependent upon the proposal terms, this may include participating private schools or public schools. This is a hot topic today as it implies that individuals pay for services and all eligible students receive the same funding regardless of need.

t-Level Testing A reading assessment that uses a uniform testing standard for each grade level.

Top-Down Approach A pedagogical method that encourages student input in their learning and emphasizes authentic learning activities in literacy instruction by including meaningful contexts.

Top-Down Processing A learning method in which students begin by solving complex problems and then, with teacher guidance, discover the necessary basic skills for completing such tasks.

Topic A major subject of a text or image, which is often represented by words or phrases.

Topping Out When a test cannot distinguish the scores and learning of gifted students who tend to be high achievers.