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Praxis III(TM) Guide
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How The Act of Teaching meets requirements of Praxis III

Praxis III is a system for assessing the skills of beginning teachers. At this time, it is used in 38 states. For those interested in preparing novices for beginning teacher assessment, here is a list of Praxis III criteria and references to where related material is found in The Act of Teaching.

Criterion A1: Becoming familiar with relevant aspects of students' background, knowledge, and experience.

  • See Chapter 2: The Changing Nature of Childhood and Youth.
  • See Chapter 3: Student Diversity.
  • See Chapter 5: Getting to Know Your Students and Motivating Them to Learn.

Criterion A2: Articulating clear learning goals for the lessons that are appropriate to students

  • See Chapter 4: Cognitive Approaches to Teaching and Learning; The Behavioral School of Thought.
  • See Chapter 6: Writing Specific Objectives; When Are Objectives Good; The Nature of Learners; Preparing Lesson Plans.

Criterion A3: Understanding the connections between the content that was learned previously, the current content, and the content yet to be learned

  • See Chapter 4: Beliefs about Long-Term Memory; Reception Learning; and Behavioral School of Thought.
  • See Chapter 8: Constructivism.
  • See Chapter 11: Establishing Set.

Criterion A4: Creating or selecting teaching methods, activities, and materials appropriate to students and aligned with lesson goals

  • See Chapter 4: Cognitive Approaches to Teaching and Learning; Humanistic Approaches to Teaching; Behavioral Approaches to Teaching.
  • See Chapter 7: Presentation, Discussion, Independent Study, and Individualized Instruction.
  • See Chapter 8: Cooperative Learning, Discovery Learning, Constructivism, and Direct Instruction.

Criterion A5: Creating or selecting evaluation strategies appropriate for students and aligned with lesson goals

  • See Chapter 6: Parts of a Lesson Plan—Assessment.
  • See Chapter 9: Teacher-Made Assessments.

Criterion B1: Creating a climate that promotes fairness

  • See Chapter 1: How Gender Influences Our Teaching; How Student Differences Affect Our Teaching.
  • See Chapter 3: Student Diversity.
  • See Chapter 10: Encouraging and Supportive.

Criterion B2: Establishing and maintaining rapport with students

  • See Chapter 2: The Changing Nature of Childhood and Youth.
  • See Chapter 10: Warmth and Humor; Credibility; Encouraging and Supportive.
  • See Chapter 12: Planning the Psychological Environment.
  • See Chapter 13: Affiliation.

Criterion B3: Communicating challenging learning expectations to students

  • See Chapter 10: High Expectations for Success.

Criterion B4: Establishing and maintaining consistent standards of classroom behavior

  • See Chapter 12: Establishing Classroom Rules and Routines; Monitoring Students' Behavior; Holding Students Accountable; Reacting to Misbehavior.
  • See Chapter 13: Control.

Criterion B5: Making the physical environment safe and conducive to learning

  • See Chapter 12: Establishing the Physical and Psychological Environment.

Criterion C1: Making learning goals and instructional procedures clear to students

  • See Chapter 7: Good Presentations; Good Discussions; Good Independent Study; Good Individualized Education Programs.
  • See Chapter 8: Good Cooperative Learning; Good Discovery Learning; Good Direct Instruction.
  • See Chapter 11: Providing Clear Instruction.

Criterion C2: Making content comprehensible to students

  • See suggestions for Criteria A1, A3, and A4 above.
  • See Chapter 11: Providing Clear Instructions.

Criterion C3: Encouraging students to extend their thinking

  • See Chapter 6: Kinds and Classifications of Learning Outcomes.
  • See Chapter 8: Discovery Learning.
  • See Chapter 11: Using Questions.

Criterion C4: Monitoring students' understanding, providing learners with feedback, and adjusting learning activities

  • See Chapter 10: Adaptable/Flexible.
  • See Chapter 11: Ensuring Student Understanding; Monitoring Students' Progress. Providing Feedback and Reinforcement.

Criterion C5: Using instructional time effectively

  • See Chapter 11: Using Instructional Time Efficiently.
  • See Chapter 12: Establishing Classroom Rules and Routines.
  • See Chapter 13: Time.

Criterion D1: Reflecting on the extent to which learning goals are met

  • See Chapter 6: Parts of a Lesson Plan: Assessment, Evaluating Lesson Plans.
  • See Chapter 14: Characteristics of Reflective Practitioners, Benefits of Reflecting on Teaching.

Criterion D2: Demonstrating a sense of efficacy

  • See Chapter 10: Orientation Toward Success.

Criterion D3: Building professional relationships and so forth

  • See Chapter 6: Cooperative or Team Planning.
  • See Chapter 13: Affiliation.

Criterion D4: Communicating with parents-guardians

  • See Chapter 2: The Changing Family.
  • See Chapter 13: Parent Relationships and Home Conditions.







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