Social skills instruction (SSI) provides a promising avenue for teaching and promoting positive social interactions to students with high-incidence disabilities. Within SSI, a distinction can be made between social skills and social competence. Social skills are specific behaviors one must perform correctly within a specific social context or…

Responding to change is a critical workforce competency and an essential skill for effective leadership and management along with abilities to work in a group, problem solve, and demonstrate critical thinking capabilities. In this experiential exercise, students collaborate in groups, think critically, and respond to customer demands in a…

Formative assessments serve to engage students in active sense-making, making them critical tools for both teachers and students. Though formative assessments may be an informal mode of assessing, they are one of the most important, especially when teaching science. As a subject, teaching science does not have the same kind of beginning-middle-end…

There is a strong belief that teachers' in-depth content knowledge is key for effective teaching. Teachers who possess specialized content knowledge uniquely needed for teaching are capable of appropriately selecting, sequencing, representing and adapting content applicable for students with different learning needs. Beyond teachers' content…

Courses: Communication Theory, Nonverbal Communication, Public Speaking. Objective: At the end of this activity, students should be able to define key components of expectancy violations theory and apply the theory to analyze violations that occurred in Clint Eastwood's speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention.

This "Rating a Teacher Observation Tool" identifies five simple questions and provides an easy-to-use scorecard to help policymakers decide whether an observation framework is likely to produce fair and accurate results. The five questions are: (1) Do the criteria and tools cover the classroom performance areas most connected to student outcomes?…

This book is intended for teachers who currently use (or are planning to use) a hands-on science curriculum. In addition, it would be useful to pre-service teachers, graduate students in education, and other educators interested in alternative forms of assessment. It offers teachers and other educators an opportunity to learn about performance…

Court drills and conditioning techniques are given for the development of maximum strength and endurance in competitive-level tennis players. (LH)

Describes an assessment tool called the 4P's (pretest, posttest, portfolio, and performance) designed to assess hands-on science. (ZWH)

Explains the Viewpoints, a technique used to focus actors' awareness on different elements of performance such as tempo, duration, gesture, and spatial relationships. Notes that this former avant-garde technique is now taught by mainstream directors. Proposes that Viewpoints is a valuable tool for the rediscovery of a production. (PM)

Contends that accurately and appropriately assessing the progress of young children's literacy development is challenging. Presents examples of authentic performance assessment teachers could use to document skills, including checklists, anecdotal notes and observations, videotape, audiotape, and work samples. Offers advice on selecting and…

This booklet is a product of the Dan O'Brien Education Program, which was created in 1993 by the Educational Resources Information Center Clearinghouse on Educational Management. The program was designed to help young people gain the most from their education. It outlines five lessons for setting and achieving goals: (1) window of opportunity; (2)…

Visual skills are directly related to athletic performance. A visual skill enhancement training program consisting of twelve exercises is offered. (MT)

Discusses the author's experience as a playwright and teacher of public readings of early drafts of new plays. Explains the Five Step Model for these readings as follows: prepare the playwright before the reading; prepare the audience with a precurtain speech; after the reading, establish discussion ground rules; remember these guidelines during…

This manual is intended to assist teachers and supervisors by providing a set of guidelines on the design and use of methods for assessment of students' and health workers' performance. It is divided into two parts. Part 1 outlines a general approach to performance assessment, establishes a set of principles essential to the effective assessment…