EduSpeak Dictionary: A-M

The original EduSpeak Dictionary page was getting too long.  (Imagine that!)  So I split it into two parts.  Here is N-Z.

accelerated reader -

accountability - blaming teachers for the stupid decisions made by students, parents, administrators, and politicians

achievement gap - lazy kids are dumber than industrious kids; poor kids are dumber than rich kids

active learning - 

administrator - an individual, typically an ex-teacher, who likes to make money, but has no particular talent or interest in education or teaching

analytic phonics - 

assessment - testing 

authentic - as pertaining to real life, because everything done in a classroom is just a figment of someone else's demented imagination

balanced literacy - learning to read by memorizing all the words in the English language and a few random, incorrect phonics rules

best practice - something that worked one time for one teacher, usually in a land far away and in a classroom that looks nothing like yours, that you are being forced to emulate

Bloom, Benjamin -

Building Learning Muscles -

Calkins, Lucy - the creator of the Writer's Workshop and the Reader's Workshop; the person currently responsible for destroying literacy in the United States; quite possibly The Devil.

chalk talk (or chalk and talk) - teaching using a chalkboard (or whiteboard) to illustrate and diagram the substance of the topic; heavily frowned upon by administrators and progressives

challenge - a problem, can be either large or small

child-centered - letting the blind lead the blind

classroom management - getting the little buggers to sit down, shut up, and do the assignment

collaboration - allowing everyone a chance to speak, then doing whatever the administrator (or consultant) wants

collaborative learning -  see cooperative learning

Common Core - U.S. educational standards for English and math; adoption is "voluntary" meaning if you do not use them, your state looses the right to feed at the federal money trough.

conceptual - devoid of any ideas or facts

conceptual math - mathematics for poets, completely devoid of algorithms, calculations and, quite possibly, numbers

constructivist - rather than advancing civilization by standing on the shoulders of giants, students should be forced to recreate all human knowledge, starting from caveman days

cooperative learning - forcing the smart kid to teach both himself and his lazy classmates

core subject - the subjects actually taught in school.  For 95% of U.S. schools there two core subjects: math and reading.

critical thinking - the politically correct way of saying "smart"

curriculum - the specific knowledge and skills which are supposedly taught

deep learning - knowing everything about nothing

Dewey, John - the guy who started this whole mess

differentiate - coming up with six different lessons on the same topic because your administrator eliminated tracking resulting in a 120 IQ point spread in your classroom

direct instruction - the most efficient and effective way of teaching (as proven by science)

discovery learning - reinventing the wheel, and fire, and the printing press, and .....

educator - a person who has taken courses in "educational leadership" and who has lost (or never had) their ability to teach

educational leadership - a form of indoctrination designed to perpetuate progressive and constructivist ideologies

emotional intelligence - being civilized to other people

engaged - result of allowing students to do whatever they feel like, whenever they want

essential questions - standards in the form of a question (kind of like Jeopardy)

Everyday Math -  a math curriculum designed to lead students to be confused by, and ultimately hate, math.  Parents in Seattle sued their school district to prevent its adoption.

extra credit - additional work demanded by parents when they come to realize their child will fail because he refused to do the original work

facilitator - 

fixed mindset - aware of your own limitations

formative assessment - giving a test without telling the students you are testing them

framework - 

Gardner, Howard -  creator of multiple intelligence theory, later disassociated himself with it because of its gross misinterpretation by educators.

grit - 

growth mindset - unaware and/or ignorant of your own limitations

guide on the side - someone who prevents "engaged" students from doing harm to themselves or others, a.k.a. a babysitter

heterogeneous grouping - mixing the motivated students with the lazy students in hopes the smart ones will motivate/teach/inspire the lazy ones.  In reality, the motivated students end up doing all the work while being verbally/emotionally abused by the lazy ones.

homogeneous grouping - tracking that's contained within a single classroom

inquiry based learning - students trying to teach themselves subjects they know nothing about

instructivism - teaching

invented spelling - the wrong way to spell a word that is never corrected or even acknowledged

issue - a problem, typically a big one

just right reading level -

learnacy - 

learning to learn -

learning muscles -

learning outcome (aka SLO or student learning outcome) - results

learning strategy -

learning styles - the theory that individuals learn in different ways.  (Leading to the ridiculous scenario of teaching science through the medium of dance.) It has been disproved by science many times.

lecture -

literacy - 

mainstreaming - putting special ed kids in regular classes.  The result being the teacher has to spend all of her time and energy corralling the special ed kids and has none left to teach all the normal students

multiple intelligences theory - a widely rejected view of human intelligence which at essence says everyone has different talents.

multiple cueing strategy -