Clarifying jargon in education

Every profession has jargon. Jargon is the language that a particular group uses to communicate with one another. Jargon can be helpful to a group because it provides a common language for its members to express specific situations. However, many times jargon can become pretentious and convoluted and instead of describing something precisely, it can mean absolutely nothing at all.

Education is no exception. It has its own jargon, and like all languages, it has dialects. In Maine, we have MEAs, EdTechs and PETs. Connecticut has CMTs, Paras, and PPTs. (MEAs and CMTs are statewide standardized tests, EdTechs and Paras are aides, and PETs and PPTs are Special Education team meetings.) Educational jargon may be less familiar to noneducators than other professional jargon. After all, anyone who watches shows such as “CSI,” “Crossing Jordan” or “Law and Order,” is familiar with law enforcement jargon as medical jargon has become familiar to those watching “Grey’s Anatomy,” “ER” or “Scrubs.” Unfortunately, there is no popular culture medium that has made educational jargon familiar to those outside the field – “Welcome Back, Kotter” doesn’t count.

Educational jargon can be a barrier to parents and students understanding expectations and achievements. It can also be a barrier for teachers and administrators. It’s easy to use jargon instead of words that can be misconstrued. It’s also tempting to use jargon to sound like you have all the answers. In the interests of breaking down the jargon barrier, I have selected a few examples to define.

My Top 10 List of Educational Jargon:

10. Time Out. This is a tool that helps children learn self-control. Ruth Charney, the author of “Teaching Children to Care: Management in the Responsive Classroom,” reminds us that:

“For time-out to work, it is vital for teachers to believe in and feel capable of implementing it as a strategy that enhances autonomy and classroom participation. At best, time-out is a useful way to teach children to refocus and return to successful participation in class activity. At worst, when it is seen as simply punitive, time-out kindles resentment and can escalate disruptive or defiant behavior.”

9. Manipulatives. These are things you experience with one or more of the five senses. Teachers use them to make learning concrete and obvious. It’s a fancy word for stuff. The stuff can be specifically designed for a particular learning objective. Unifix Cubes, colorful interlocking cubes, are an example of a specifically designed manipulative in mathematics. The stuff can also be random everyday objects. Fruit Loops can teach almost anything that Unifix Cubes teach. One is expensive and reusable and the other is cheap and disposable.

8. Process-Product. Teachers use the word “process” to describe learning. This is reading, writing, research, thinking, listening, practicing and problem-solving. Teachers use the word “product” to describe the way the student demonstrates their skills, knowledge and understanding. Products include tests, essays, posters, movies, reports, diagrams or oral presentations.

7. Phonemic Awareness. This is the knowledge that words are made up of individual sounds. The jargonized word for individual sounds is phonemes. Phonemic awareness allows students to identify individual letters and corresponding sounds when spelling and sounding out words in reading.

6. Formative Evaluation. This type of evaluation is usually done during a process. Its purpose is to see if the instruction is effective. Formative evaluations help both the teacher and the student identify areas of weakness and strength. Educational leader Robert Stakes is cited as the originator of this quote that begins, “When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative;”

5. Summative Evaluation. This type of evaluation is the end product, the test, the essay, the poster, the movie, the report, the diagram, the oral presentation. It’s final and there is no opportunity to improve. Stakes’ quote continues, “when the guests taste the soup, that’s summative.”

4. Anecdotal Records. An anecdotal record is when the teacher writes a description of a student’s behavior or academic achievement. Done well, it is an objective report of a student’s school performance.

3. Spiraling Curriculum. In the best of all possible worlds, a spiraling curriculum introduces complex concepts in small steps and in multiple ways over time to facilitate the development of the skills needed for mastery of a given concept.

2. Differentiated Instruction. This is just good old-fashioned effective teaching. It is adapting and modifying curriculum and instruction so that every student is a successful learner. One-room schoolhouse teachers are the real experts at differentiation.

1. Standards Based Curriculum. This is the current philosophical approach to public education. Standards tell teachers, students and parents what needs to be learned and how that learning needs to be demonstrated. In theory, it doesn’t dictate how teachers teach. In reality, many teachers are compelled to teach to the test rather than to teach for depth and breadth of understanding. Standards done right increase consistency of expectations, clarifies those expectations and increases academic achievement. Standards done wrong centralize our decentralized system of public education, stifle innovation and limit local creativity.

Now, I want to hear from you – teachers, students, parents, administrators, school committee members, taxpayers – what is the most outrageous educational jargon you have ever heard? What is the most convoluted educational jargon you have ever used? What jargon do you think is necessary in the classroom? E-mail me at conversationswithateacher@gmail.com. Let’s continue this conversation.