- canon
- A collection of works recognized as an authoritative list or standard of intellectual and cultural traditions. The literary canon, for example, represents a collection of works deemed to represent exemplars of quality in literature.
- centers
- Instructional and organizational strategy in which groups of students rotate through various work stations in the classroom, each with a different learning task or goal. Centers present students with a variety of activities and supply necessary resources and materials to meet the learning task. Centers may have a developmental or educational focus.
- character education
- Educational initiative that promotes integration of core moral and civic values in the curriculum.
- character web
- Organizing tool in which students identify primary traits of characters in books and plays in a visual or graphic format.
- charter school
- A public school of choice, usually created by parents or educators seeking an alternative to traditional public schools. Developers create a contract, or charter, with a sponsoring agency (either state or local school board). In exchange for autonomy from many state and district requirements, charter schools are expected to offer financial responsibility, academic accountability for student performance, as well as innovative and challenging educational practices.
- Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
- Also known as also known as Heller's syndrome and disintegrative psychosis, this disorder is expressed in developmental delays in language, socialization, and motor development. Children with this rare disorder usually will have severe impairment.
- chunking
- A technique used to improve comprehension by grouping words in a sentence into short meaningful phrases.
- cloze activity
- Activity in which words are removed from a passage for a learner to fill in as an exercise in reading comprehension. The missing words may or may not be provided in a word bank.
- co-op
- Ten-step cooperative learning process in which each student begins working individually on a single task to contribute to his or her team. Each team then prepares a product to supplement the class goal for a lesson or unit. Co-op projects tend to be complex and usually involve higher-level thinking.
- co-teaching
- Instructional strategy used across subject areas primarily in middle grades in a variety of methods. Teams are typically composed of between two and four teachers working collaboratively to plan thematic units and lesson plans in order to provide a more supportive environment for students. Also known as team teaching or collaborative teaching.
- coaching
- An instructional method in which the teacher serves as a guide to support student learning as opposed to acting as the sole director of student learning.
- code-switching
- The practice of combining or switching between elements of more than one language in verbal and written communication. Effective communication is the primary goal when code-switching. Originally a term understood in relation to second language learning (that is, switching between English and a second language such as Spanish), it is also used to describe switching between "standard" English and non-standard dialects or traditions.
- cognitive academic language proficiency
- Academic language students experience in school. CALP develops over a five to seven year period in the language acquisition of English (or foreign) language learners.
- cognitive intervention
- Cognitive intervention is any intervention that can be used to help children and adults with cognitive impairments. Interventions help with the development of cognitive and meta-cognitive abilities.
- collaborative learning
- An umbrella term for the variety of approaches and models in education that involve the shared intellectual efforts by students working in small groups to accomplish a goal or complete a task.
- collaborative teaching
- Instructional strategy used across subject areas primarily in middle grades in a variety of methods. Teams are typically composed of between two and four teachers working collaboratively to plan thematic units and lesson plans in order to provide a more supportive environment for students. Also known as team teaching or co-teaching.
- competency goals
- Learning objectives that form the basis for expected student understanding. Competency goals drive curriculum and instruction and describe the core of knowledge and skills students will command upon completion of a unit of study or grade level.
- comprehensive sex education
- Sex education programs that teach about abstinence and contraception. Comprehensive sex education includes discussions of human anatomy, reproduction, and sexually transmitted diseases.
- concept map
- An organizational strategy or tool that represents knowledge in visual form (such as a graph or diagram). Concept mapping facilitates student understanding of the relationships between keywords or concepts through visual representations.
- constructivism
- Theory of learning that argues that students construct their own knowledge by incorporating new information with prior knowledge.
- continuing education unit
- Nationally recognized unit of measurement for participation in non-credit continuing education programs. One CEU is recognized as 10 contact hours of participation in a continuing education experience under responsible sponsorship.
- cooperative learning
- Instructional method in which students work together in small, heterogeneous groups to complete a problem, project, or other instructional goal, while teachers act as guides or facilitators. This method works to reinforce a student’s own learning as well as the learning of his or her fellow group members.
- copyright
- A form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of "original works of authorship," including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. Copyright protection reserves certain exclusive rights to the author of a work, including rights of reproduction and public performance.
- creationism
- Theory of the origin of the earth and species based on a literal interpretation of the biblical story presented in Genesis in which the world was created in six days some 6,000 years ago.
- criterion-referenced assessment
- Assessment that measures student knowledge and understanding in relation to specific standards or performance objectives. Criterion-referenced assessment measures students' performance in relation to standards, not in relation to other students; all students may earn the highest grade if all meet the established performance criteria.
- critical literacy
- The ability to read texts in an active, reflective manner in order to better understand power, inequality, and injustice in human relationships.
- critical thinking
- Complex thinking based on the acquisition and evaluation of new knowledge. The focus of learning is the pursuit of logical conclusions drawn from facts and evidence. The goal is for students to develop skills that help them critically assess information and avoid indoctrination into received wisdom.
- Cuisenaire rods
- Rectangular rods of different sizes (from 1 to 10 centimeters) with corresponding colors (for example, the 1 cm rod is white, the 2 cm rod is red), used in mathematics instruction.
- cultural capital
- Cultural assets (beyond the economic) such as family background and commitment to education that contribute to an individual's or group's position in society and achievement in education.
- culturally relevant teaching
- A pedagogy that seeks to empower students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents by creating a bridge between students’ home and school lives, while still meeting the expectations of the district and state curricular requirements.
- curriculum
- The organization of subject matter to be taught over a prescribed period of time.
- curriculum compacting
- Curriculum compacting is a content acceleration strategy that enables students to skip parts of the curriculum they have already mastered and move on to more challenging content and activities.
K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education
