Teaching Practices that Support PA Career Ready Skills

The chart that follows provides 10 teaching practices that support the ongoing implementation of the PA Career Ready Skills in the school and classroom. When implemented consistently, students are provided opportunities to consistently use and practice the PA Career Ready Skills.

Social Teaching Practices

Practice	Definition	Video Lesson Examples
Student-Centered Discipline	Disciplinary strategies that are developmentally appropriate for their students and that motivate students to want to behave in the classroom.	Elementary School High School Balance and Power
Teacher Language	How the teacher talks to students. Teachers should encourage student effort and work, restating what the student did and what that student needs to do in order to improve.	Elementary School, High School
Responsibility and Choice	Degree to which teachers allow students to make responsible decisions about their work in the classroom.	Elementary School Middle School
Warmth & Support	Academic and social support students receive from their teacher and peers. Teachers create classrooms where the students know that teachers care about them.	Elementary School, Middle School

Instructional Teaching Practices

Practice	Definition	Video Lesson Examples
Cooperative Learning	Specific instructional task in which teachers have students work together toward a collective goal. Teachers ask students to do more than group work; students are actively working with their peers using content in a meaningful way.	Elementary School
Classroom Discussions	Conversations students and teachers have regarding content. During classroom discussions, teachers ask more open-ended questions and prompt students to elaborate on their own thinking and that of their peers.	Elementary School Middle School
Self Reflection & Self Assessment	Instructional tasks whereby teachers ask students to think actively about their own work.	Elementary School, High School
Balanced Instruction	Using an appropriate balance between active instruction and direct instruction, as well as the appropriate balance between individual and collaborative learning.; teachers provide students opportunities to directly learn about the material as well as engage with the material.	Middle School Middle School
Academic Press and Expectations	Implementation of meaningful and challenging work; academic expectations focus on the teacher's belief that all students can and will succeed. Students should sense that academics are extremely important, that the teacher wants students to succeed, and that they have to exert effort in challenging work in order to succeed.	Middle School Middle School
Competence Building–Modeling, Practicing, Feedback, and Coaching	When teachers help develop social-emotional competencies systematically through the typical instructional cycle: goals and objectives of the lesson, introduction to new material or modeling, group and individual practice, and conclusion and reflection. Each part of the cycle helps reinforce particular social-emotional competencies when the teacher integrates them into the lesson.	Elementary School Middle School

Adapted from: Teaching the Whole Child