Jargon

Terms to know in education today: self-regulation, play-based learning, scaffolding, authentic assessment, DIBELS, positive behavioral interventions and supports, inclusion, Kagan structures, and differentiated instruction.

Definitions below the fold.

Self-reg·u·la·tion

A child’s ability to make plans and follow through on them, resisting impulses and distractions and managing emotional upheavals along the way. Research says strong self-regulators are more likely to be successful — not just in school, but in relationships and in life. So teaching self-regulation is big in education these days, especially for the youngest kids.

Play-based learn·ing

Controlling impulses is not easy, as any serial dieter can attest. So how do you teach it? One method that’s in vogue: play. Not free-for-all play, but planned play. Children sit down to map out what they’re going to do beforehand (“Today, I’m going to pretend to be a hairdresser”). Afterward, they reflect on whether they stuck with their plan (“I got tired of being a hairdresser and decided to be a dragon”). This kind of play is a central part of Tools of the Mind, the early-childhood curriculum in many traditional D.C. schools.

Scaf·fold·ing

Not construction equipment, scaffolding is edu-speak for giving children a little extra support so they can do something they’re not quite ready to do independently. Training wheels are scaffolding for riding a bike; riding a bike is scaffolding for riding with no hands. In school, it might be a teacher demonstrating how to write a complete sentence or asking pointed questions to help children think through a difficult math problem. As kids learn the new concept, they need less and less scaffolding, until eventually, they’re writing the sentences solving the problems on their own.

Au·then·tic as·sess·ment

Pretty much the opposite of a multiple-choice test, an authentic assessment asks kids to use what they know. A road test before getting a driver’s license? That’s an authentic assessment. So is writing a short story or a play, or designing a science fair project.

DI·BELS

Pronounced “dibbles,” DIBELS is an acronym for “Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills.” It’s a test teachers use to gauge how well elementary school kids have mastered the building blocks of reading. Administered one-on-one, it measures a child’s ability to identify the different sounds that letters make, for example, and figure out how to pronounce unfamiliar words.

Pos·i·tive be·hav·ior·al in·ter·ven·tions and sup·ports

A Web site affiliated with the Department of Education says PBIS is “NOT a curriculum, intervention, or practice, but IS a decision making framework that guides selection, integration, and implementation of the best evidence-based academic and behavioral practices for improving important academic and behavior outcomes for all students.”

Huh?

PBIS means that adults in a school have a coordinated, consistent way to define, encourage and reward good behavior. For example, teachers might acknowledge students acting appropriately — being kind or working hard — by doling out tickets that can be cashed in for treats.

The thinking is that if school is a warm and caring place where children know how they’re supposed to behave — and get extra help when they need it — then grown-ups can head off a lot of punishment and harsh discipline.

In·clu·sion

Instead of being segregated in different classrooms, kids with disabilities and those without learn together. In schools that practice inclusion, a general-education teacher is joined either by a second teacher with special-education expertise or by special-education aides. The idea is that everyone can benefit from more diverse classrooms.

Ka·gan struc·tures

These are techniques, based on the work of researcher Spencer Kagan, that teachers can use to get kids talking, sharing ideas and learning from one another, all while practicing skills — such as listening patiently — that can be difficult even for adults. In “think-pair-share,” for example, teachers pose a question and give students a few minutes to think it over. Then the students pair up to discuss it with a neighbor, and finally they share their discussion with the whole class.

Dif·fer·en·ti·a·ted in·struc·tion

A child who’s still learning to add might sit beside another in the same class who’s memorized multiplication tables up through the nines. A teacher who’s good at differentiation can figure out ways to challenge every kid at his own level, a skill that’s becoming more important — and more difficult — as separating students according to ability falls out of favor. Differentation is particularly crucial in mixed-age classes, including in Montessori schools.

According to this source:

...People may use jargon to leave an impression of intelligence or to confuse a person....

Meanwhile, teachers and prospective teachers waste time learning the required jargon.

The best teachers that I ever had did not have degrees in education.  Instead, they taught, and knowing the names of the techniques mattered not one whit.