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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