Lessons · Teaching · Quick reference
Teaching quick reference
205 topics, one line each, in the order Hone teaches them.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This sheet is the whole Teaching track at a glance: every idea it covers, in the order they are taught, one line each. It is a map rather than a lesson. Read opens the full explanation of an idea; Practise gives you a question on it. Both are free, and reading needs no account at all.
In beta. This sheet was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a state certification officer. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
From a blank room to a lesson that lands · How learning actually works
how much a person can hold at onceWorking memory is the small desk where thinking happens and it holds only about four new things at a time; long-term memory is the warehouse behind it, and that is effectively unlimited. Read: What a person can hold at once · Practise how much a person can hold at once
the three kinds of cognitive loadThree things compete for that small desk: the difficulty of the idea itself, which is intrinsic load; the effort wasted on how the lesson is presented, which is extraneous load; and the effort that actually builds the understanding, which is germane load. Read: The three kinds of load, and the only one you cut · Practise the three kinds of cognitive load
new learning sticks to what is already knownNothing is learned in a vacuum. New material is understood by attaching it to something a learner already has, so the first job of a lesson is to find that hook and put it where they can reach it. Read: New learning has to stick to something · Practise new learning sticks to what is already known
the forgetting curveWithout being brought back, most of what is taught today is gone within days, so one good explanation is not teaching; it is the first of several appointments with the same idea. Read: Forgetting is the normal case · Practise the forgetting curve
spaced practiceThe same total practice time produces far more durable memory when it is cut up and spread out than when it is done in one block. Read: Spacing: the same minutes, further apart · Practise spaced practice
retrieval practicePulling something out of memory strengthens it far more than putting it back in, so a question is not only a measurement; it is the strongest teaching move you have. Read: Being asked is how it sticks · Practise retrieval practice
interleavingMixing the kinds up has a name, interleaving, and you will hear it in training. Practising one kind of problem twenty times in a row teaches the method; mixing several kinds teaches which method to pick, and picking is what a test and a job actually ask for. Read: Mixing the problems up · Practise interleaving
the illusion of fluencyFluency is the feeling that something is easy, and it comes from things being familiar rather than from them being known, so a class that follows you perfectly may have learned nothing at all. Read: A class that nods has not learned · Practise the illusion of fluency
From a blank room to a lesson that lands · Designing a lesson
an objective you can watch happenAn objective names what a learner will do that you can observe, so understand, know and appreciate are not objectives; and the success criteria say what a good one looks like, drafted at planning time rather than at marking time. Read: An objective is something you can watch happen · Practise an objective you can watch happen
backward design: write the check firstDesign a lesson from its evidence backwards: write the question you will ask at the end, then the practice that makes it answerable, then the explanation, in that order. Read: Write the check first · Practise backward design: write the check first
gradual release of responsibilityResponsibility moves from the teacher to the learner in three steps: the teacher does one while thinking aloud, the class does one together, then each person does one alone. Read: I do, we do, you do, and the trap in the middle · Practise gradual release of responsibility
worked examples, and fading themBefore a learner can solve a problem they need several fully worked examples, because solving without a method spends all of working memory on searching and leaves none for learning the method. Read: A novice needs to see it done · Practise worked examples, and fading them
modelling by thinking aloudModelling is not showing the steps; it is saying the decisions out loud, including the ones that turn out wrong, because the choosing is invisible and the choosing is the skill. Read: Thinking aloud is the part they cannot see · Practise modelling by thinking aloud
checking for understanding mid-lessonChecking for understanding is something you do several times inside a lesson, from everybody at once, so that you find out while there is still time to do something about it. Read: Check every few minutes, not at the end · Practise checking for understanding mid-lesson
wait time and cold callAsk the question, name nobody, wait several seconds, then choose who answers; hands up hands the lesson to the people who already knew. Read: Wait time, cold call, and the hand that is always up · Practise wait time and cold call
the exit ticketAn exit ticket is one or two questions answered by everybody in the last three minutes, and its whole value is in what happens to the pile before tomorrow morning. Read: The exit ticket, and what you do with it tonight · Practise the exit ticket
From a blank room to a lesson that lands · Teaching reading
a phoneme is a sound, not a letterA phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a spoken word, and the number of sounds in a word is very often not the number of letters in it. Read: A phoneme is a sound, not a letter · Practise a phoneme is a sound, not a letter
blending and segmentingBlending is pushing separate sounds together into a word and segmenting is pulling a word apart into its sounds; blending is what reading needs and segmenting is what spelling needs. Read: Blending and segmenting are two different jobs · Practise blending and segmenting
phonics, where letters map to soundsPhonics is the teaching of which letters and letter groups spell which sounds, in an order, so that a reader can turn print they have never seen before into a spoken word. Read: Letters map to sounds, and the map is teachable · Practise phonics, where letters map to sounds
the six syllable typesEnglish has six syllable types, and the type a syllable is tells you what its vowel says; dividing a long word turns it from unreadable into several short readable pieces. Read: Six syllable types, and where to cut a long word · Practise the six syllable types
prefix, root and suffixLong words are built from parts that carry meaning: a root in the middle, a prefix in front of it, a suffix behind it, and knowing about thirty of these unlocks thousands of words. Read: Prefix, root and suffix · Practise prefix, root and suffix
words correct per minuteFluency is reading accurately, at a workable pace, with expression; the number usually taken is words correct per minute, which is words attempted minus errors, scaled to sixty seconds. Read: Words correct per minute, and what it does not tell you · Practise words correct per minute
the running record and its three bandsA running record is a count: the running words in the passage, the errors made, and accuracy as a percentage, which then falls into one of three bands that describe what the text is good for. Read: The running record, and its three bands · Practise the running record and its three bands
vocabulary in three tiersWords sort into three tiers: everyday words almost everybody already has, the useful words that turn up across every subject, and the technical words that belong to one topic. The middle tier is where teaching time pays. Read: Words come in three tiers · Practise vocabulary in three tiers
decoding times language comprehensionReading comprehension is decoding multiplied by language comprehension, so a zero in either one is a zero overall and a weak one caps the whole thing. Read: Decoding times language comprehension · Practise decoding times language comprehension
From a blank room to a lesson that lands · The numbers a teacher actually does
a weighted gradeA weighted grade multiplies each category's score by that category's weight and adds the results; the weights add to one, and if they do not, the grade is wrong before you start. Read: A weighted grade · Practise a weighted grade
scoring against a rubricA rubric scores several named criteria on a small scale; the total is points earned over points possible, and the percentage comes from that rather than from an impression. Read: A rubric, and turning it into a percentage · Practise scoring against a rubric
percentile against percentageA percentage says how much of the paper was right; a percentile says how many others in the comparison group scored at or below this person. Different questions, and the same number means different things. Read: A percentile is not a percentage · Practise percentile against percentage
growth against proficiencyProficiency asks whether a learner has reached a bar; growth asks how far they moved. A class can be low on one and high on the other, and the two questions need two different answers. Read: Growth against proficiency · Practise growth against proficiency
mean, median, and the average that hides two groupsThe mean is the total divided by the count and the median is the middle value once the scores are in order; when a class splits into two groups, the mean describes nobody in the room. Read: The mean, the median, and the average that hides two groups · Practise mean, median, and the average that hides two groups
attendance and the minutes lostAttendance is a percentage of sessions present, and the version of it that is useful to a teacher is the number of teaching minutes a learner has lost. Read: Attendance, and the minutes that are gone · Practise attendance and the minutes lost
pacing a unitPacing is arithmetic: the minutes you really have, divided by the objectives you really have, gives the minutes each one gets, and if that number is too small then something comes out of the unit. Read: Minutes per objective, and what has to come out · Practise pacing a unit
From a blank room to a lesson that lands · Running the room
teaching a procedureMost of what looks like misbehaviour is a routine nobody ever taught: how to come in, how to hand something in, what to do when you have finished. A procedure is taught like any other content, practised, and retaught. Read: A procedure taught is a behaviour problem prevented · Practise teaching a procedure
the first five minutesThe start of a lesson is a routine that runs without you: something on the board before they arrive, done alone, that needs nothing from you to begin. Read: The first five minutes · Practise the first five minutes
what a transition costsA transition is every move between one activity and the next, and each one costs minutes; they are small, they are frequent, and across a year they come to weeks. Read: What a transition costs · Practise what a transition costs
positive narrationPositive narration is saying out loud, without praising anybody, what people are already doing correctly, so that the room hears the instruction again from somebody who is following it. Read: Positive narration · Practise positive narration
de-escalation, in orderWhen somebody has escalated, the order of your moves matters far more than the words: your own volume first, then the audience, then a short private sentence, and the consequence later when everybody is calm. Read: De-escalation, in order · Practise de-escalation, in order
a consequence ladderA consequence ladder is written before the week starts, has a small number of steps, and is applied in order; the point of it is that it is predictable, not that it is severe. Read: A ladder you follow rather than invent · Practise a consequence ladder
where a learner sitsA seating plan is a teaching decision made in advance: who is near the front, who is near you, who is not beside whom, written down so that it is not remade under pressure. Read: Where a learner sits · Practise where a learner sits
From a blank room to a lesson that lands · The duties that are law
mandated reportingA teacher who suspects that a child is being harmed reports it, and the report is a suspicion rather than a conclusion; the finding out is done by somebody else. Read: Mandated reporting: you report a suspicion · Practise mandated reporting
student records and who may see themA student record is anything the school keeps that identifies a learner, and it is seen by the family and by staff who need it to teach or protect that learner, and by nobody else without a written request. Read: Student records, and who may see them · Practise student records and who may see them
the parts of an individualised education programmeAn individualised education programme is a written plan for a learner with a disability: where they are now, targets that are measured, the services provided, the supports you give in class, how much of the day is with everybody else, and when the team meets again. Read: The parts of an individualised education programme · Practise the parts of an individualised education programme
a 504 plan against an education programmeBoth remove barriers for a learner with a disability. An individualised education programme changes the teaching itself and carries measurable goals; a 504 plan provides accommodations so that the ordinary programme is reachable, and carries none. Read: A 504 plan against an education programme · Practise a 504 plan against an education programme
supporting a multilingual learnerA multilingual learner is learning your subject and the language it is taught in at the same time, so the support is to keep the content at full difficulty and take the language load off the things around it. Read: A learner who is learning the language as well as the subject · Practise supporting a multilingual learner
when a student reports harassmentWhen a learner reports harassment to you, you pass it on promptly to the person your school names for it, you keep it away from anybody who does not need it, and you do not decide whether it counts. Read: When a student reports harassment · Practise when a student reports harassment
confidentiality, and the staffroomWhat you learn about a learner is shared only with people who need it to do their job, and the staffroom is not that test; the test is whether this person needs it to teach or protect this learner. Read: Confidentiality, and the staffroom · Practise confidentiality, and the staffroom
From a degree to a classroom, in whichever state you are in · Getting in, and what you will sit
the approved programme every route runs throughHowever a candidate reaches the classroom -- an undergraduate degree in education, a post-graduate programme after a degree in something else, or a paid route where the training year is a job -- the preparation is done by a programme the state has approved, and it is the programme rather than the state that admits you. Read: Every route runs through a programme the state has approved · Practise the approved programme every route runs through
the three kinds of examination, and who decides which applyThe papers a candidate meets fall into three recognisable kinds: a basic skills test, usually before or at admission; a subject content test for the field being certified; and a pedagogy test about planning, the learning environment, assessment and a teacher's legal and ethical duties. Which of them apply to you is set by your state and your field together. Read: Three kinds of examination, and neither your route nor your opinion decides which you sit · Practise the three kinds of examination, and who decides which apply
From a degree to a classroom, in whichever state you are in · The parts that wait on other people
the background check, and whose queue it isEvery state requires a criminal background check, usually with fingerprints, before a credential is issued and often before a candidate may be in a classroom at all. The appointment is short. The processing is not, and neither the candidate nor the programme can speed it up. Read: The background check is the one step whose clock belongs to somebody else · Practise the background check, and whose queue it is
who applies, who recommends, and who issuesA credential takes two separate acts by two parties. The candidate makes an application to the state, usually through an account they create themselves; the programme sends the state a recommendation that the candidate has completed preparation. The state issues the credential when both exist, and it names a field and a grade band. Read: You apply, the programme recommends, the state issues · Practise who applies, who recommends, and who issues
From a degree to a classroom, in whichever state you are in · Keeping it, and moving with it
the renewal clock, and what it asks of youA credential is issued for a term and then has to be renewed, and renewal normally takes two things: a quantity of approved continuing education, and an application made before the expiry date. Doing the first and forgetting the second still lets it lapse. Read: A credential is a licence with a clock on it · Practise the renewal clock, and what it asks of you
what reciprocity actually gets youAgreements between states exist and they do not move a credential. All fifty states and the District of Columbia have signed the long-standing interstate agreement, and a newer compact has been joined by fifteen of the fifty. What either one buys is the right to apply in the new state, normally for a provisional credential, with whatever additional tests or coursework that state requires and a limited window in which to finish them. Read: Reciprocity is the right to apply, not a licence that travels · Practise what reciprocity actually gets you
From a degree to a Texas classroom · The route in
the routes into a Texas classroomTexas certifies teachers who finish an approved preparation programme, and there are three kinds: a university programme taken inside a bachelor's degree, a post-baccalaureate programme taken at a university after a degree, and an alternative certification programme. The certificate at the end is the same one; what differs is when the money starts. Read: Three doors into a Texas classroom, and only one pays you while you train · Practise the routes into a Texas classroom
what a programme asks before it admits youAdmission is decided by the preparation programme against a bar the programme publishes: a degree from an accredited institution, a grade point average, evidence that you know the content of the field you want, and usually an interview. Read: What a programme wants before it will let you in · Practise what a programme asks before it admits you
the content examination for your fieldTexas will not certify you in a field until you have demonstrated subject-matter knowledge in that field by examination, and the examination is the content test that matches the exact certification field you applied for, in the state's own examination programme, which Texas calls TExES. Read: The content examination: proving you know the subject itself · Practise the content examination for your field
the examination on pedagogy and professional responsibilitiesBesides the content examination there is an examination on pedagogy and professional responsibilities, which Texas calls the PPR: planning and instruction, the learning environment, assessment, and the legal and ethical duties a teacher carries. Read: The second examination: how you teach, not what you know · Practise the examination on pedagogy and professional responsibilities
the reading examination elementary candidates takeA candidate seeking an early childhood or elementary field in Texas takes an additional examination on the teaching of reading, which Texas calls the Science of Teaching Reading examination, on top of the content examination and the pedagogy one. Read: The reading examination elementary candidates sit · Practise the reading examination elementary candidates take
From a degree to a Texas classroom · The classroom year
clinical teaching against a paid internshipAn approved Texas programme puts a candidate into a classroom in one of two ways: clinical teaching, unpaid, working beside a cooperating teacher who holds the class; or an internship, paid, as the teacher of record with your own class and your own roster. Read: Clinical teaching or a paid internship: the fork that decides your year · Practise clinical teaching against a paid internship
the intern certificate, and why it is not the probationary oneTexas issues two one-year certificates that both let you be the paid teacher of record. Which one you get depends on your examinations: the content examination alone reaches an INTERN certificate, which cannot be extended, and the content examination plus the pedagogy one reaches a PROBATIONARY certificate, which may be renewed for one further twelve months. Read: The intern certificate: the one that does not get a second year · Practise the intern certificate, and why it is not the probationary one
the probationary certificateA district cannot put an unlicensed adult in charge of a class, so before an internship begins the programme requests a probationary certificate: a time-limited certificate, issued on the programme's recommendation, that lets you be the teacher of record while you finish your preparation. Read: The probationary certificate: how a district can pay you before you are finished · Practise the probationary certificate
the observations a candidate must receiveEvery Texas candidate in a placement is assigned a field supervisor by the programme, who must carry out a published minimum number of formal observations spread across the placement, each one built from a pre-conference, the observation itself, and written feedback afterwards. Read: Somebody watches you teach, and it is written down · Practise the observations a candidate must receive
the mentor a first-year teacher is assignedA first-year teacher in a Texas district is assigned a mentor teacher from the same campus or field, for the first year, with scheduled meeting time; this is a district duty and it is separate from the field supervisor, who comes from your preparation programme. Read: The mentor: the person in the building whose job is you · Practise the mentor a first-year teacher is assigned
From a degree to a Texas classroom · Getting it and keeping it
fingerprinting and the background checkTexas requires a national criminal history record check based on fingerprints before a certificate is issued and before a district may employ you; the prints are taken through the state's approved vendor and the result is returned to the state, never to you. Read: Fingerprints: the step with a queue and no shortcut · Practise fingerprinting and the background check
the order the application is done inThe application is not one form. You create an educator account with the state, apply inside it for the certificate you want, pay, have the fingerprint check done, and then the programme sends its recommendation; the certificate is issued only once all of those have landed. Read: The order the application is actually done in · Practise the order the application is done in
the standard certificate and its termWhen the recommendation, the examinations, the background check and the application have all landed, the state issues a standard certificate naming a field and a grade band; it is valid for a term the state publishes and it has to be renewed at the end of that term. Read: The standard certificate, and the clock it starts · Practise the standard certificate and its term
continuing professional education across the cycleA Texas standard certificate is renewed by completing continuing professional education hours across the renewal cycle and applying before the certificate expires; the number of hours and the length of the cycle are figures the state publishes, so they are looked up and never remembered. Read: Keeping it: hours across the renewal cycle · Practise continuing professional education across the cycle
adding another field to a certificate you holdOnce you hold a Texas standard certificate, most additional fields are added by passing the content examination for the new field and applying to add it, with no second preparation programme; some fields do require additional preparation, and the state's page for that field is what says which. Read: Adding a field to a certificate you already hold · Practise adding another field to a certificate you hold
The mathematics on the content examination · Number and how it is written
place value, and why the position is the whole ideaIn base ten, a digit's value is the digit multiplied by the place it sits in, and each place to the left is worth ten times the one to its right. 4 in the tens place is not a 4, it is 40. That is the whole of the number system, and every algorithm taught after it is a consequence of it. Read: Place value: the position is doing the work · Practise place value, and why the position is the whole idea
comparing, ordering and roundingRounding a number to a place means replacing it with the nearest number that has zeros after that place. Look at the digit immediately to the right of the place you are rounding to: 5 or more rounds up, 4 or less stays. The digits after it all become zero. Read: Rounding is choosing which of two numbers you are nearer to · Practise comparing, ordering and rounding
adding and subtracting, and what regrouping really isCarrying and borrowing are the same move in two directions: ten ones are worth one ten, so ten of anything in one place can be traded for one of the place to its left. Adding trades upward when a place overflows past nine; subtracting trades downward when a place has too little to take from. Read: Regrouping is trading ten of one place for one of the next · Practise adding and subtracting, and what regrouping really is
multiplication, from an array to the algorithmThree times four means three groups of four, a row of three by a column of four, and the area of a three by four rectangle. All three are the same fact, and the third is the one that keeps working when the numbers stop being whole. Read: Multiplication is repeated addition, an array, and a rectangle · Practise multiplication, from an array to the algorithm
division: sharing, grouping, and the remainderTwelve divided by three asks one of two questions: share twelve into three equal groups, how many each? Or take twelve and make groups of three, how many groups? The answer is four either way, and the question matters because only one of the two survives dividing by a fraction. Read: Two different questions both called division · Practise division: sharing, grouping, and the remainder
factors, multiples and primesA factor of a number divides it exactly; a multiple of a number is what you get by multiplying it. Factors are finite and sit at or below the number; multiples are infinite and sit at or above it. A prime has exactly two factors, itself and one, which is why one is not prime. Read: Factors, multiples and the numbers that have neither · Practise factors, multiples and primes
The mathematics on the content examination · Fractions, decimals and percent
what a fraction actually isThree quarters is a single number that sits between zero and one. The denominator says how many equal parts one whole was cut into; the numerator says how many of those parts you have. It is also a division waiting to happen: three quarters is three divided by four. Read: A fraction is one number, not two · Practise what a fraction actually is
equivalent fractions and simplest formMultiplying the numerator and the denominator by the same number does not change the value, because it cuts every piece into the same number of smaller pieces and takes proportionately more of them. One half and two quarters are the same point on the number line. Read: Equivalent fractions: the same number, cut more finely · Practise equivalent fractions and simplest form
comparing fractions without a calculatorWith the same denominator, compare the numerators. With the same numerator, the smaller denominator is the bigger fraction. Otherwise, cross multiply or convert both to a common denominator, or compare each to a landmark like one half. Read: Three ways to see which fraction is bigger · Practise comparing fractions without a calculator
adding and subtracting fractionsAdding fractions needs the same denominator, because a third and a quarter are different-sized pieces and there is no name for their total until both are cut to a common size. Find a common denominator, rewrite both, add the numerators, and leave the denominator alone. Read: You cannot add pieces of different sizes · Practise adding and subtracting fractions
multiplying and dividing fractionsTo multiply fractions, multiply the numerators and multiply the denominators. To divide, turn the second fraction upside down and multiply. No common denominator is needed for either, which is the opposite of addition and catches people out. Read: Multiplying is easy and dividing is multiplying upside down · Practise multiplying and dividing fractions
decimals, and the operations on themA decimal is a fraction with a denominator of ten, a hundred, a thousand and so on, written using place value instead of a bar. 0.7 is seven tenths, 0.07 is seven hundredths. Every operation follows from lining up the places, not the digits. Read: Decimals are fractions whose denominators are all tens · Practise decimals, and the operations on them
percent, and the three questions it asksPer cent means per hundred, so 25 per cent is 25/100 is 0.25 is one quarter. Every percent problem is one of three: find the part, find the percent, or find the whole. Knowing which of the three you are in is most of the work. Read: Percent is a fraction out of a hundred, and it asks three questions · Practise percent, and the three questions it asks
ratio and proportionA ratio of 3 to 2 says that for every three of one thing there are two of another. A proportion is a statement that two ratios are equal, and it is solved by cross multiplying. The trap is that a ratio's parts are not automatically the whole. Read: A ratio compares parts; a proportion says two ratios match · Practise ratio and proportion
The mathematics on the content examination · Algebraic thinking
negative numbers and the number lineA negative number is a position to the left of zero on the number line. Adding moves right, subtracting moves left, and subtracting a negative moves right because you are removing a debt. Multiplying two negatives gives a positive because you are reversing a reversal. Read: Negative numbers are directions, not smaller positives · Practise negative numbers and the number line
expressions, variables and the order of operationsBrackets first, then exponents, then multiplication and division together from left to right, then addition and subtraction together from left to right. Multiplication comes before addition because multiplication is a compressed addition, and unpacking it first keeps the meaning. Read: The order of operations is a convention, and it has a reason · Practise expressions, variables and the order of operations
solving an equation by undoing itAn equation is a balance. Whatever is done to one side must be done to the other, and the way to isolate the unknown is to undo each operation in the reverse order it was applied. Addition is undone by subtraction, multiplication by division. Read: Solving is undoing, in the reverse of the order it was built · Practise solving an equation by undoing it
patterns, rules and what a function isA pattern has a rule, and the useful rules say what to do to the position number rather than to the previous term. 'Add 3 each time' cannot tell you the fiftieth term without listing forty-nine of them; 'three times the position, plus one' can. Read: A rule that turns any input into its output · Practise patterns, rules and what a function is
The mathematics on the content examination · Shape, measure and data
measurement, and converting a unit without guessingBecause 100 cm equals 1 m, the fraction 100 cm over 1 m equals one, and multiplying by it changes the unit without changing the quantity. Metric conversions move the decimal point because the steps are powers of ten; customary ones do not, so they need the factor written out. Read: Converting a unit is multiplying by one · Practise measurement, and converting a unit without guessing
perimeter and areaPerimeter is the distance round the edge, measured in units of length. Area is the number of unit squares that cover the surface, measured in square units. They are different kinds of quantity and no amount of one tells you the other. Read: Perimeter is a length; area is a covering · Practise perimeter and area
volume and surface areaVolume is the number of unit cubes that fill a solid, found for a box by multiplying length by width by height. Surface area is the total area of all its faces, found by adding them. One is a filling, the other a wrapping, and they answer different practical questions. Read: Volume fills, surface area wraps · Practise volume and surface area
classifying shapes, and the angles inside themA square is a rectangle, because a rectangle is any quadrilateral with four right angles and a square has four. Classification is by properties, and the categories nest: every square is a rectangle, every rectangle a parallelogram, every parallelogram a quadrilateral. Read: Shapes are classified by what they must have, not what they look like · Practise classifying shapes, and the angles inside them
the coordinate planeA point on the coordinate plane is named by an ordered pair: the first number is the horizontal position along the x axis, the second is the vertical position along the y axis. The order is fixed, and (3, 5) is a different point from (5, 3). Read: Along the corridor, then up the stairs · Practise the coordinate plane
mean, median, mode and range, and which one answers the questionThe mean is the total shared out equally, the median is the middle value in order, the mode is the most common value, and the range is the spread from lowest to highest. The mean is pulled by an extreme value; the median is not. Read: Four numbers that summarise a set, and when each one lies · Practise mean, median, mode and range, and which one answers the question
reading a graph, and the ones that misleadA bar chart compares separate categories, a line graph shows change over time, a pie chart shows parts of one whole, and a pictograph does what a bar chart does with a key. The choice is decided by the data, not by taste. Read: Which graph for which question, and the ones that mislead · Practise reading a graph, and the ones that mislead
probability, counted rather than feltThe probability of an event with equally likely outcomes is the number of outcomes that count as success divided by the total number of outcomes. It is a number between 0 and 1, where 0 is impossible and 1 is certain, and it can be written as a fraction, a decimal or a percent. Read: Probability is a count, not a feeling · Practise probability, counted rather than felt
The science on the content examination · Living things
what makes something livingLiving things move, respire, sense their surroundings, grow, reproduce, excrete and take in nutrition. A thing is alive only if it does all of them. A car moves, takes in fuel, senses and excretes, and it is not alive, because it cannot grow or reproduce. Read: Seven things a living thing does, and a car does four of them · Practise what makes something living
cells, and what they are the unit ofThe cell is the smallest unit that is alive. Animal and plant cells both have a membrane, cytoplasm and a nucleus. Plant cells also have a cell wall for rigidity, a large vacuole for storage, and chloroplasts where light is captured. Read: Everything alive is made of cells, and plant cells have three extra parts · Practise cells, and what they are the unit of
classifying living thingsLiving things are grouped by shared characteristics, and the groups nest inside each other. Vertebrates split into fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals by features like body covering, how young are produced and whether body temperature is regulated internally. Read: Grouping by what a thing is, not by where it lives · Practise classifying living things
how a plant feeds itselfIn photosynthesis a plant uses light energy to turn carbon dioxide and water into glucose, releasing oxygen. It happens in the chloroplasts, mostly in the leaves. The plant is not eating soil: the mass of a tree comes overwhelmingly from carbon taken out of the air. Read: A plant builds its own food out of air and water · Practise how a plant feeds itself
life cycles and inherited traitsA life cycle runs from birth through growth and reproduction to death, and some animals change form completely on the way, which is metamorphosis. Offspring inherit traits from parents; other characteristics are acquired during life and are not passed on. Read: Cycles, and what is passed on rather than picked up · Practise life cycles and inherited traits
food chains, food webs and what eats whatA food chain starts with a producer that makes its own food, and each arrow points from the thing eaten to the thing eating it, because the arrow shows where the energy travels. A food web is many chains joined, and decomposers return nutrients to the start. Read: Arrows point the way the energy goes · Practise food chains, food webs and what eats what
adaptation, and how it comes aboutAn adaptation is a feature that helps an organism survive and reproduce where it lives. Variation already exists in a population; the individuals whose variations suit the conditions leave more offspring, so the feature becomes commoner over generations. Read: Adaptations are not chosen, and individuals do not acquire them · Practise adaptation, and how it comes about
the human body systemsThe circulatory system moves blood, the respiratory system exchanges gases, the digestive system breaks food into what can be absorbed, the skeletal and muscular systems move and protect, and the nervous system carries signals. Each has one job and none works alone. Read: Systems that each do one job and all depend on the others · Practise the human body systems
The science on the content examination · Earth and space
rocks, minerals and the rock cycleIgneous rock forms when molten rock cools, sedimentary rock forms when fragments settle and are compressed, and metamorphic rock forms when existing rock is changed by heat and pressure without melting. The rock cycle turns any one into any other, given enough time. Read: Three kinds of rock, and one is made of the other two · Practise rocks, minerals and the rock cycle
weathering, erosion and depositionWeathering breaks rock down where it stands. Erosion carries the pieces away. Deposition drops them somewhere else. They happen in that order and they are not synonyms, which is exactly what an examination checks. Read: Three words for three different jobs · Practise weathering, erosion and deposition
inside the Earth, and why it movesThe Earth has a thin crust, a thick mantle that flows very slowly, and a core. The crust is broken into plates that move a few centimetres a year. Earthquakes and volcanoes occur mostly where plates meet, which is why they are not spread evenly. Read: The surface is broken into plates and they are moving now · Practise inside the Earth, and why it moves
the water cycleWater evaporates from oceans and land, condenses into cloud droplets as it rises and cools, falls as precipitation, and returns by runoff and groundwater to the sea. The sun supplies the energy and gravity brings it back down. No water is created or destroyed. Read: The same water, going round, driven by the sun · Practise the water cycle
weather against climateWeather is the state of the atmosphere at a place at a moment: temperature, precipitation, wind, cloud, pressure. Climate is the pattern of weather at that place averaged over decades. One cold week is weather and says nothing on its own about climate. Read: Weather is today and climate is the pattern · Practise weather against climate
day, year, seasons and phasesThe Earth spins once a day, which makes day and night. It orbits the sun once a year. Its axis is tilted, and that tilt is what makes seasons: the hemisphere tilted towards the sun gets more direct light for longer, and is warmer. Distance from the sun is not the cause. Read: Tilt gives seasons, spin gives day, orbit gives the year · Practise day, year, seasons and phases
The science on the content examination · Matter and energy
states of matter, and what changes between themSolid, liquid and gas are the three states of matter. In a solid the particles are close and fixed in place, in a liquid they are close but able to slide, and in a gas they are far apart and moving freely. Heating gives particles more energy and can change the state; the particles themselves never change. Read: Same particles, different arrangement · Practise states of matter, and what changes between them
physical change against chemical changeA physical change alters form but produces no new substance, and it can usually be reversed: melting, dissolving, cutting, changing state. A chemical change produces a new substance and is usually not reversible: burning, rusting, cooking, mixing acid with a carbonate. Read: Can you get it back? That is the test · Practise physical change against chemical change
forces and motionForces change an object's speed, direction or shape. When forces are balanced, motion does not change: a stationary object stays still and a moving one keeps going at the same speed in the same direction. Unbalanced forces cause acceleration. Read: A force is a push or a pull, and balance means no change · Practise forces and motion
energy, and the fact that it is never madeEnergy comes in forms: kinetic in movement, potential in position, thermal, light, sound, electrical and chemical. It is never created or destroyed, only transferred and changed in form, and some of it always ends up as heat spread out too thinly to use. Read: Energy is transferred and never made · Practise energy, and the fact that it is never made
light and soundLight travels in straight lines, very fast, and passes through a vacuum. Sound is a vibration passing through a material and cannot travel through a vacuum. We see objects because light reflects off them into the eye, not because the eye sends anything out. Read: Both are waves, and only one needs something to travel through · Practise light and sound
circuits and magnetsCurrent flows only around a complete loop from one terminal of a cell, through the components, and back to the other. A switch works by breaking the loop. Conductors let current pass and insulators do not. Magnets attract magnetic materials and have two poles that behave oppositely. Read: A circuit has to be a complete loop · Practise circuits and magnets
The science on the content examination · Doing science
the fair test, and the three kinds of variableIn a fair test the independent variable is the one thing you deliberately change, the dependent variable is the one thing you measure, and the control variables are everything else, held the same. Change two things at once and no result can tell you which caused what. Read: One thing changed, one thing measured, everything else held still · Practise the fair test, and the three kinds of variable
measuring, and choosing the instrumentEvery measurement needs a unit and an instrument suited to the size of what is being measured. A ruler marked in centimetres cannot report millimetres honestly, and repeating a measurement is what shows whether the number is reliable. Read: The instrument decides how good the answer can be · Practise measuring, and choosing the instrument
what a result can and cannot tell youA result supports or fails to support the idea being tested, within the conditions that were tested. It does not prove the idea, it says nothing about conditions that were not tested, and two things happening together does not establish that one caused the other. Read: What a result can say, and what it cannot · Practise what a result can and cannot tell you
The social studies on the content examination · How a country came to be
the peoples who were here firstMillions of people lived across North America for thousands of years before Europeans arrived, in hundreds of distinct nations with their own languages, governments, farming, trade routes and cities. They were not one people and they are not gone. Read: The continent was full before anybody arrived · Practise the peoples who were here first
exploration, and what contact costEuropean voyages from the late fifteenth century opened a permanent exchange between hemispheres: crops, animals, people and diseases moved both ways. The diseases were the largest single cause of death among indigenous peoples, killing a great part of the population before most Europeans arrived. Read: What crossed the ocean in both directions · Practise exploration, and what contact cost
the colonies, and why they differedThe English colonies differed by geography. New England had poor soil and good harbours, so it built shipping, fishing and small farms. The middle colonies had good soil and grew grain. The southern colonies had long growing seasons and built large plantations worked by enslaved people. Read: Three regions, three economies, one later argument · Practise the colonies, and why they differed
the road to independenceAfter an expensive war, Britain taxed the colonies to pay for it. Colonists objected that they had no representatives in the Parliament levying the taxes. The dispute escalated through protest, boycott and confrontation into war, and the Declaration of Independence in 1776 stated the case for separating. Read: A tax argument that became an argument about consent · Practise the road to independence
the Constitution, and the argument inside itThe first arrangement, the Articles of Confederation, left the central government too weak to tax or enforce. The Constitution of 1787 replaced it, dividing power between three branches and between the federal government and the states, and the Bill of Rights was added to list protections the federal government may not remove. Read: A government designed by people who did not trust government · Practise the Constitution, and the argument inside it
expansion west, and who paid for itThrough purchase, treaty, annexation and war, the United States expanded west across the continent during the nineteenth century. That land was occupied, and expansion meant treaties made and broken, forced removals, and wars with the nations already there. Read: The country grew, and the growth had people living on it · Practise expansion west, and who paid for it
slavery, the Civil War and ReconstructionSlavery was a system of forced, unpaid, hereditary labour, legally enforced and central to the southern economy. Disagreement over its extension into new territory led to secession and to the Civil War. The war ended slavery; Reconstruction attempted to secure the rights of freed people, and was abandoned, and segregation followed. Read: The war was about slavery, and the peace was unfinished · Practise slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction
industry, immigration and the citiesIndustrialisation moved work from farms and workshops into factories, drawing millions of people into cities. Large-scale immigration supplied much of the labour. Cities grew faster than housing, sanitation and schooling could follow, and the conditions produced both reform movements and organised labour. Read: Factories, arrivals, and cities that grew faster than they could cope · Practise industry, immigration and the cities
the long fight for civil rightsRights guaranteed on paper were denied in practice for most of the country's history, to Black Americans, to women, to indigenous people and to others. They were secured by organised campaigns over generations: petition, litigation, boycott, protest, and changes to law and to the Constitution itself. Read: Rights written down and then fought for, one at a time · Practise the long fight for civil rights
The social studies on the content examination · How it is governed
three branches, and why there are threeThe legislative branch makes law, the executive carries it out, and the judicial interprets it and decides whether it fits the Constitution. Each can check the others: the executive can veto, the legislature can override and can remove officials, and the courts can rule an act unconstitutional. Read: Three branches, each able to stop the other two · Practise three branches, and why there are three
federal, state and localPower is divided between a federal government, state governments and local ones. Some powers belong to the federal level, some to states, some are shared, and some are forbidden to all. Which level handles a matter is a question with an answer, not a matter of convenience. Read: Three levels, and the level decides what it may do · Practise federal, state and local
how a bill becomes lawA bill is introduced, examined in committee, debated and voted in one chamber, then goes through the same in the other, differences are reconciled, and it goes to the executive to sign or veto. A veto can be overridden by a large enough majority in both chambers. Read: Most bills die, and the stages are where they die · Practise how a bill becomes law
rights, and the duties beside themRights are protections a government may not remove: speech, belief, assembly, a fair trial, equal protection. Responsibilities are what citizens owe in return, some legally required like obeying law, paying tax and serving on a jury, and some expected rather than compelled, like voting and being informed. Read: What you are owed, and what is asked of you · Practise rights, and the duties beside them
voting, elections and why turnout mattersVoting is how representatives are chosen and how most public decisions are ultimately settled. The right to vote was extended over two centuries by amendment and by law. Turnout differs sharply between elections, and low-turnout local elections are often the ones with the most direct effect on daily life. Read: Who may vote, how it is counted, and why turnout decides things · Practise voting, elections and why turnout matters
The social studies on the content examination · Where things are
reading a map: scale, key, grid and directionEvery map carries a title, a key explaining its symbols, a scale relating map distance to real distance, and a direction indicator. Reading those four first is what turns a picture into information, and a map that omits one of them cannot be used properly. Read: Four things to read before you read the map · Practise reading a map: scale, key, grid and direction
the five questions geography asksGeography asks: where is it, what is it like there, how do people and the environment affect each other, what moves through it, and what makes it a region. The five questions apply to any place at any scale, from a country to a playground. Read: Five questions that work on any place · Practise the five questions geography asks
regions, and why they are drawn where they areA region is an area unified by a shared feature: a landscape, a climate, an economy, a language or a political boundary. The boundaries are drawn by people for a purpose, and different purposes produce different regions over the same ground. Read: A region is anywhere that shares something, and somebody drew the line · Practise regions, and why they are drawn where they are
continents, oceans and the lines on the globeThe Earth's land is grouped into continents and its water into oceans. Latitude lines run east to west and measure distance north or south of the equator; longitude lines run north to south and measure east or west of the prime meridian. The lines are a grid people invented in order to name a position. Read: Continents, oceans, and the lines that are not really there · Practise continents, oceans and the lines on the globe
how people change a place and are changed by itPeople modify their environment by building, farming, damming, draining and clearing. The environment shapes people in return through climate, landscape and resources. Modifications have consequences that are often unintended and that often arrive much later. Read: People change a place, and the place changes back · Practise how people change a place and are changed by it
The social studies on the content examination · How people get what they need
scarcity, and the cost of every choiceScarcity means wants exceed the resources available, so choices must be made. The opportunity cost of a choice is the best alternative given up. Needs are what is required to live; wants are everything else, and the line between them is not always obvious. Read: Every choice costs the thing you did not choose · Practise scarcity, and the cost of every choice
supply, demand and what sets a priceDemand is how much buyers will buy at a price, and it usually rises as the price falls. Supply is how much sellers will offer, and it usually rises as the price rises. Price settles where the two match, and a change in either moves it. Read: Price is where two pressures meet · Practise supply, demand and what sets a price
producers, consumers, goods and servicesProducers make goods or provide services; consumers use them. A good is a physical thing; a service is work done for somebody else. Almost every person is both a producer and a consumer, usually on the same day. Read: Goods you can hold, services you cannot, and nearly everybody is both · Practise producers, consumers, goods and services
money, saving and what a bank is forMoney works as a medium of exchange, so goods can be traded without barter matching up; as a unit of account, so values can be compared; and as a store of value, so it can be kept for later. A bank holds deposits, lends them out, and pays interest for the use of them. Read: Money is a tool for three jobs · Practise money, saving and what a bank is for
The social studies on the content examination · Reading the past
primary and secondary sourcesA primary source was made by somebody present at the time: a letter, a photograph, a law, an object, an interview with a participant. A secondary source was made later by somebody studying it: a textbook, a documentary, an article. Both are useful and both have a point of view. Read: Who made this, when, and why · Practise primary and secondary sources
the questions historians disagree aboutSome questions in history have settled answers: what happened, when, and in what order. Others are genuinely contested: which cause mattered most, whether a decision was justified, how a period should be judged. The second kind is argued with evidence, and an honest classroom treats them differently. Read: The questions historians argue about, and how to run that argument · Practise the questions historians disagree about
The basic skills test, before anybody teaches you to teach · Which test, and whether you sit it at all
which basic skills test your state sets, and what it is forA basic skills test measures reading, writing and mathematics at the level of somebody who finished secondary school. It is not about teaching and it is not about your subject. Most of the country sets Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators, which is three separate tests: Reading, Writing and Mathematics. California sets CBEST, the California Basic Educational Skills Test, which is three sections of one sitting. Your state, and often your programme, decides which and when. Read: One gate, two names, and your state picks which · Practise which basic skills test your state sets, and what it is for
the ways out: when you do not have to sit it at allMost states allow a qualifying score on a test you have already taken to stand in place of the basic skills test: commonly the ACT, the SAT, or the GRE, the Graduate Record Examinations. Some accept a bachelor's or master's degree from an accredited institution. Some have removed the requirement entirely. The exemptions are real, they are written down, and they are the single most under-used piece of information in this whole process. Read: You may not have to sit this at all · Practise the ways out: when you do not have to sit it at all
how it is scored, and what passing actually meansBoth tests report scaled scores, not raw counts, so the number of questions you answered right is not the number you see. Praxis Core reports each of the three tests separately and each has its own passing score set by your state. CBEST reports three section scores and a total, and it can be passed on the total with one weak section, within a floor. Read: What passing means, and why the total is not the whole story · Practise how it is scored, and what passing actually means
when to sit it, and what a retake costs youBoth tests can be retaken, and both make you wait. The waiting period, not the fee, is what wrecks a timetable: a candidate who sits the test three weeks before a programme's application deadline and misses by two points has no second attempt inside the deadline. Scores also take time to report, and an essay-bearing test reports more slowly than one without. Read: The calendar, and what a retake really costs · Practise when to sit it, and what a retake costs you
planning backwards from the test dateA study plan for this test has three parts: a diagnostic to find out where you actually are, a schedule that spends most of its time on the weakest section, and a full timed paper near the end to find out whether you can do it under a clock. Most people skip the first and the third and do the middle one on their strongest subject. Read: Planning backwards, and practising the weak thing · Practise planning backwards from the test date
The basic skills test, before anybody teaches you to teach · Reading
the main idea, and the answer that is true but too smallA main idea question asks what the passage as a whole is doing. The right answer covers the whole passage and nothing outside it. The wrong answers are usually true: one is a detail from a single paragraph, one is broader than the passage supports, and one is about a related subject the passage never argued. Read: The main idea is what the whole passage is for · Practise the main idea, and the answer that is true but too small
what the passage said, as against what you rememberA detail question can be answered by pointing at a line. If you cannot put a finger on the words that make an option right, it is not the answer, however reasonable it sounds. Every wrong option in this family is a small change to the text: a swapped word, a reversed relationship, a number moved, a qualifier removed. Read: What it said, not what you remember it saying · Practise what the passage said, as against what you remember
what follows, and what merely sounds sensibleAn inference question asks what the passage commits its author to, without saying it outright. The answer is something that must be true if the passage is true. It is not the most likely continuation, not the sensible next step, and not what a reasonable person would also think. Read: What must follow, not what probably would · Practise what follows, and what merely sounds sensible
a word's meaning in this passage, not in generalA vocabulary-in-context question gives a word you almost certainly know and asks which meaning it carries in this sentence. The options are all real meanings of the word. Only one fits the sentence, and the commonest meaning is usually not it, or there would be no question. Read: The meaning it has here · Practise a word's meaning in this passage, not in general
how a passage is built, and why the author built itStructure questions ask what a part is doing for the whole: why this paragraph is here, what this example supports, why the author mentioned an objection. The answer is a job, not a summary. 'It describes a study' is a summary; 'it supplies evidence for the claim in the previous paragraph' is a job. Read: How it is built, and why · Practise how a passage is built, and why the author built it
two passages that disagree, and a chart beside a textPaired questions ask how two sources relate: where they agree, where they differ, and what one author would say about the other's claim. A chart or table beside a passage is the same question in another medium: read what the chart measures, over what period, in what units, before reading anything off it. Read: Two passages, and a chart beside a text · Practise two passages that disagree, and a chart beside a text
The basic skills test, before anybody teaches you to teach · Writing: the mechanics they test
fragments, run-ons and the comma spliceA sentence needs a subject and a finite verb and must be able to stand alone. A fragment is missing one of those. A run-on joins two complete sentences with nothing between them. A comma splice joins two complete sentences with only a comma, which is the error the test asks about most. Read: One sentence, and the three ways it stops being one · Practise fragments, run-ons and the comma splice
subject and verb, pronoun and antecedentA verb agrees with its subject and not with the nearest noun. A pronoun agrees with its antecedent, which is the noun it replaces, and the antecedent has to be there and be unambiguous. Most test items put distance or a plural-looking phrase between the two so that the nearest noun is the wrong one. Read: Subject with verb, pronoun with the thing it stands for · Practise subject and verb, pronoun and antecedent
the modifier attached to the wrong thingA describing phrase modifies the thing next to it, whether or not that was the intention. A misplaced modifier sits beside the wrong noun. A dangling modifier has no noun at all to attach to, usually because the sentence went into the passive or changed subject after the comma. Read: A modifier attaches to whatever is nearest · Practise the modifier attached to the wrong thing
commas, semicolons and the apostropheThe comma separates items in a list, follows an introductory element, and surrounds information the sentence could do without. The semicolon joins two complete sentences closely related in sense. The apostrophe marks possession or an omitted letter, and never makes anything plural. Read: Three marks that carry most of the questions · Practise commas, semicolons and the apostrophe
the words that get swapped, and keeping a list parallelA small set of word pairs supplies most usage questions: affect and effect, their and there and they're, fewer and less, between and among, who and whom, lie and lay. Alongside them sits parallel structure: items in a list or on either side of a comparison have to be the same grammatical shape. Read: The words that get swapped, and lists that keep their shape · Practise the words that get swapped, and keeping a list parallel
citing a source, and what a citation is forThe writing test asks a small number of research-skills questions: which source is most appropriate, what a citation contains, when a claim needs one, and what counts as a primary source. A citation exists so that a reader can find the thing you used and check what you said about it. Read: Citing a source, and what a citation is for · Practise citing a source, and what a citation is for
The basic skills test, before anybody teaches you to teach · Writing: the essays
the argument essay, and what its rubric rewardsYou are given a position and asked to argue for or against it. The rubric rewards a clear stated position, reasons that support it, developed examples, an organisation a reader can follow, and control of sentences and mechanics. It does not reward being right, being original, or agreeing with the reader. Read: The argument essay, and what the rubric actually rewards · Practise the argument essay, and what its rubric rewards
the essay built from two sourcesThe second essay gives you two short sources on one topic and asks you to write about it using both, with attribution. It is not an argument essay: you are being marked on selecting relevant material, representing each source fairly, attributing it, and building something coherent out of the pair. Read: The essay built from two sources · Practise the essay built from two sources
the ten minutes of planning that buy you twentyA plan for a timed essay is four lines: your position, reason one with its example, reason two with its example, and the objection you will answer. Written before any prose, it removes every mid-essay decision, and mid-essay decisions are what consume the clock. Read: Ten minutes of planning buy you twenty · Practise the ten minutes of planning that buy you twenty
thirty minutes, and where they goEach essay is written under its own clock and there is no credit for an unfinished argument. A complete essay with a weak third paragraph outscores a superb essay with no conclusion, because the rubric marks organisation and completeness among other things. Read: Where the minutes go, and what to do when they run out · Practise thirty minutes, and where they go
The basic skills test, before anybody teaches you to teach · Mathematics
number and quantity, at the level this test asksThe number questions cover fractions, decimals and percent; ratio and proportion; integers and the order of operations; and exponents and roots at a basic level. This is secondary-school arithmetic, not the elementary content you will teach, and the difference shows up most in percent change and in ratios with three parts. Read: Number and quantity, at the level this test asks · Practise number and quantity, at the level this test asks
linear equations, inequalities and what a function isYou need to solve a linear equation, solve and graph a simple inequality, work with a formula by rearranging it, read a straight-line graph for its slope and intercept, and recognise a function as a rule that gives exactly one output for each input. Read: Solving, rearranging, and what a function is · Practise linear equations, inequalities and what a function is
area, volume, angles and the right-angled triangleThe geometry asked is perimeter and area of rectangles, triangles and circles; volume of boxes and cylinders; angle facts on a straight line, around a point and in a triangle; and Pythagoras. Formulas may or may not be given, so knowing the common ones is worth the ten minutes it takes. Read: Area, volume, angles and the right-angled triangle · Practise area, volume, angles and the right-angled triangle
averages, spread, and reading the graph they give youYou need the mean, median, mode and range, you need to know which one answers a given question, and you need to read bar charts, line graphs, pie charts and scatterplots. A scatterplot question usually asks about the direction and strength of a relationship rather than about a number. Read: Averages, spread, and the graph they give you · Practise averages, spread, and reading the graph they give you
probability and counting, without a formula sheetA probability is the number of outcomes you want over the number of outcomes there are, when the outcomes are equally likely. Independent events multiply. Either-or events add, as long as they cannot both happen. Everything on this test comes from those three sentences. Read: Probability, counted rather than felt · Practise probability and counting, without a formula sheet
turning a sentence into arithmeticMost mathematics marks on this test are lost in translation rather than in calculation. A word problem is solved by naming the unknown, writing what the sentence says about it as an equation, solving, and then answering the question that was actually asked, which is often not the thing you solved for. Read: Turning a sentence into arithmetic · Practise turning a sentence into arithmetic
estimation, and catching your own wrong answerBefore working a question out, decide roughly what the answer should be. Afterwards, check it against that estimate and against the units. Almost every arithmetic error is an order of magnitude out, a sign flipped, or an answer in the wrong kind of unit, and all three are visible to an estimate. Read: Estimation, and catching your own wrong answer · Practise estimation, and catching your own wrong answer
Fine arts, health and physical education · Visual art
the elements of art, which are what you point atThe elements of art are line, shape, form, colour, value, texture and space. They are the nouns of looking: the things physically present in a work that anybody can point at and name, before any judgement is made about whether it is good. Read: The seven things you can point at in any picture · Practise the elements of art, which are what you point at
the principles of design, which are what you do with themThe principles of design are balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm, proportion and unity. They are the verbs: how the elements are arranged so the work holds together and leads the eye. Read: The principles are what you do with the elements · Practise the principles of design, which are what you do with them
media and processes, and what each one is good forA medium is what a work is made of and a process is what was done to it. Drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, collage and digital work each have their own possibilities, their own mess, and their own place in a primary timetable. Read: What each material is actually good for · Practise media and processes, and what each one is good for
art across time and cultures, without pretending to be an expertYou are expected to recognise major periods and traditions and to know that art is made everywhere and always for reasons: to record, to worship, to persuade, to decorate, to sell, to protest. The examination asks you to place a work and to connect it to its purpose, not to date it to a decade. Read: Enough history to place a work, and no pretending · Practise art across time and cultures, without pretending to be an expert
responding to art, and the four questions that make it teachableA structured response to a work runs: describe what is there, analyse how it is arranged, interpret what it might mean, and judge how well it does what it set out to do. Describe, analyse, interpret, evaluate. The order matters, because judgement made before description is taste. Read: Four questions that turn looking into a lesson · Practise responding to art, and the four questions that make it teachable
Fine arts, health and physical education · Music
the elements of music: beat, rhythm, pitch and the restRhythm, beat, metre, tempo, pitch, melody, harmony, dynamics, timbre, texture and form. Each names something you can hear and point to, and between them they cover everything the examination asks about music without any instrument being touched. Read: The elements of music, named · Practise the elements of music: beat, rhythm, pitch and the rest
reading enough notation to teach from itYou need to read the staff, name notes on the treble clef, know the common note values and their rests, and read a time signature. That is the whole of the notation asked about, and it takes an evening. Read: Enough notation to teach from · Practise reading enough notation to teach from it
singing and playing in a primary classroomPrimary music is mostly singing, untuned percussion, and simple tuned instruments. A generalist needs a starting pitch a class can actually reach, a way to teach a song by ear, and enough classroom management of instruments that the lesson does not become a noise. Read: Singing and playing with a class you have all day · Practise singing and playing in a primary classroom
music across time and cultures, and why the labels matterRecognise the broad Western periods and their characteristic sounds, and know that music traditions worldwide have their own systems of pitch, rhythm and purpose. The examination asks you to place music and to connect it to its use: worship, work, dance, ceremony, protest, entertainment. Read: Periods, traditions, and why the labels are useful · Practise music across time and cultures, and why the labels matter
Fine arts, health and physical education · Theatre, dance and putting the arts to work
drama in a classroom that is not a theatreClassroom drama is not putting on a play. It is role, improvisation, freeze-frame, hot-seating and mime, used to make a child think from inside a situation. The examination asks about these conventions by name and about what each one is for. Read: Drama in a room with thirty chairs · Practise drama in a classroom that is not a theatre
the elements of dance, and movement as a subjectDance is described by action, space, dynamics and relationships: what the body does, where it goes, how it moves, and with whom. Those four headings are the vocabulary that makes movement teachable and assessable rather than a free-for-all with music. Read: Movement as a subject, with words for it · Practise the elements of dance, and movement as a subject
integrating the arts without making them decorationAn arts activity inside another subject is integrated when it teaches something in both. Drawing a poster about the Romans while learning nothing about art is decoration: it consumes an art lesson and returns a display board. Read: Integrating the arts without turning them into decoration · Practise integrating the arts without making them decoration
Fine arts, health and physical education · Health
nutrition, and teaching it without shaming anybodyChildren need the food groups, the idea that a balanced diet is about proportion over a day rather than about single foods, and enough about reading a label to be useful. The examination asks about nutrients, food groups and about teaching this in a way that is safe for every child in the room. Read: Nutrition, taught without shaming anybody · Practise nutrition, and teaching it without shaming anybody
body systems and personal health at this ageThe systems a primary curriculum covers are skeletal, muscular, circulatory, respiratory, digestive and nervous, at the level of what each is for and how they work together. Personal health covers sleep, hygiene, dental care, sun safety and the reasons behind each. Read: Body systems and personal health at this age · Practise body systems and personal health at this age
safety, first aid and what a school actually requiresYou need basic first aid awareness, the principles of playground and classroom safety, and a clear understanding of what your school's policies require you to do and report. The examination asks about prevention and about the teacher's role, which is usually to summon help rather than to treat. Read: Safety, first aid, and what the school actually requires of you · Practise safety, first aid and what a school actually requires
mental, emotional and social health in a primary classroomThis covers naming feelings, managing strong ones, friendship and conflict, resilience, and knowing when and how to ask an adult for help. The examination asks about age-appropriate teaching and about the teacher's role in noticing and referring. Read: Mental, emotional and social health in a primary room · Practise mental, emotional and social health in a primary classroom
Fine arts, health and physical education · Physical education
motor skills, and the order children acquire them inFundamental movement skills come in three families: locomotor, which move the body from place to place; stability, which control it in one place; and manipulative, which act on an object. They develop in a broad order, and a skill missing from the base makes everything built on it look like clumsiness. Read: The order children actually acquire movement in · Practise motor skills, and the order children acquire them in
the components of fitness, and what each one isHealth-related fitness has five components: cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and body composition. Skill-related fitness adds agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time and speed. The examination asks you to sort an activity into the component it develops. Read: The components of fitness, and what each one actually is · Practise the components of fitness, and what each one is
games, rules and the lesson that is not a free-for-allGames are grouped as invasion, net or wall, striking and fielding, and target, and games within a group share tactics. A games lesson teaches a skill or a tactical idea and uses the game to practise it, rather than using the lesson to play a game. Read: A games lesson that is a lesson · Practise games, rules and the lesson that is not a free-for-all
a physical education lesson that includes everybodyInclusion in physical education is done by changing the space, the task, the equipment or the people: make the area bigger or smaller, change what is being asked, change the ball, change the grouping. The examination expects you to adapt an activity rather than to excuse a child from it. Read: A lesson that includes the child who dreads it · Practise a physical education lesson that includes everybody
Fine arts, health and physical education · How children develop
physical, cognitive and social development, stage by stageDevelopment runs on three strands at once and they do not keep pace with each other. Physical: gross motor before fine motor, large muscles before small. Cognitive: concrete before abstract, and a long stage where reasoning is tied to things that can be seen. Social: from parallel play to cooperative play to friendships with rules. Read: Physical, cognitive and social development, stage by stage · Practise physical, cognitive and social development, stage by stage
what changes at the top end of primaryThe last two years of primary include the beginning of puberty for many children, a sharp rise in the importance of peers, and the start of abstract reasoning. Physical change begins earlier than most adults expect and at very different times for different children in the same class. Read: What changes at the top end of primary · Practise what changes at the top end of primary
From a degree to a California classroom · What you must show before you start
the degree and the transcript the Commission readsEvery California teaching credential starts from a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution, evidenced by an official transcript sent from that institution to the preparation programme, not by the copy you keep at home. Read: The degree, and the transcript somebody else has to read · Practise the degree and the transcript the Commission reads
the basic skills requirement, and the ways to meet itCalifornia asks every credential candidate to show basic skills in reading, writing and mathematics, and it publishes more than one way to do it: the basic skills examination, qualifying scores on other approved tests, qualifying coursework, or a mixture of those. Read: Basic skills: one requirement, several doors · Practise the basic skills requirement, and the ways to meet it
subject-matter competence, by examination or by programmeCalifornia asks you to show that you know the subject you intend to teach, and accepts more than one kind of evidence: the subject-matter examinations for your field, which in California are called the CSET, the California Subject Examinations for Teachers, completion of an approved subject-matter preparation programme, or qualifying coursework the Commission publishes. Read: Subject-matter competence: the examination or the programme · Practise subject-matter competence, by examination or by programme
a multiple subject credential against a single subject oneA multiple subject credential authorises teaching all the core subjects to one group of pupils in a self-contained classroom, which is most elementary teaching; a single subject credential authorises teaching one named subject to several groups of pupils, which is most middle and high school teaching. Read: One class all day, or one subject all day · Practise a multiple subject credential against a single subject one
the requirement on teaching reading and literacyCalifornia requires every candidate for a teaching credential to demonstrate the ability to teach reading and literacy, and this requirement is in transition from a standalone reading examination towards a literacy performance assessment carried inside the preparation programme. Read: Showing you can teach reading · Practise the requirement on teaching reading and literacy
From a degree to a California classroom · The preparation programme
an approved preparation programme, and what is in itA California credential requires completion of a preparation programme that the Commission has approved, and that one programme carries the pedagogy coursework, the fieldwork and supervised student teaching, the teaching performance assessment, and the health, CPR and Constitution requirements. Read: The approved preparation programme, and what is inside it · Practise an approved preparation programme, and what is in it
the supervised student teaching inside itInside the preparation programme is a period of supervised clinical practice in a real classroom, with a supervising teacher from the school and a supervisor from the programme, for a number of hours the programme publishes, records and signs off. Read: Supervised student teaching: the hours somebody signs for · Practise the supervised student teaching inside it
the teaching performance assessmentCalifornia requires a candidate to pass a teaching performance assessment, in which you submit evidence of your own teaching: the plans for a sequence of lessons, video of you teaching your own class, samples of what the pupils produced, and a written account of what you did and what you would change. Read: The teaching performance assessment: your own teaching, submitted · Practise the teaching performance assessment
the United States Constitution requirementCalifornia requires every teaching credential candidate to satisfy a requirement on the provisions and principles of the United States Constitution, and it can be met either by a course at an accredited institution or by an examination the Commission accepts. Read: The Constitution requirement, and two ways to clear it · Practise the United States Constitution requirement
From a degree to a California classroom · Credential and clearing
the certificate of clearance and fingerprintingBefore a California candidate may work with pupils, the Commission issues a certificate of clearance, which is the record that fingerprints were submitted through Live Scan and the background check came back clear; it comes before student teaching and before any credential. Read: The certificate of clearance: the first document, and the one people forget · Practise the certificate of clearance and fingerprinting
the preliminary credential and its termWhen the preparation programme recommends you, the Commission issues a preliminary teaching credential; it is a full credential that lets a district hire you as the teacher of record, it runs for a term the Commission publishes, and it cannot be renewed. Read: The preliminary credential: real, and on a clock · Practise the preliminary credential and its term
induction, and what clearing a credential meansClearing a California preliminary credential means completing a Commission-approved induction programme, which is job-embedded: you do it while you are employed and teaching, with an assigned mentor and an individual learning plan built around your own practice. Read: Induction: the years somebody walks beside you · Practise induction, and what clearing a credential means
the clear credentialOn the recommendation of the induction programme the Commission issues the clear credential, which authorises exactly the same teaching as the preliminary one did, runs for a term the Commission publishes, and, unlike the preliminary credential, can be renewed at the end of it. Read: The clear credential · Practise the clear credential
the renewal cycleA California clear credential is renewed on a cycle the Commission publishes, through the Commission's own online system, and renewal of a clear teaching credential is an application rather than a count of professional development, which is the clearest place where the two states differ. Read: The renewal cycle, and the thing California does not ask for · Practise the renewal cycle