Glossary
Middle School Teacher Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential middle school teacher terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key middle school teacher vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in middle school teacher training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Advisory
- A small group mentoring period.
- Bell ringer
- A short starting activity.
- Classroom management
- Keeping students focused.
- Differentiation
- Adapting for different needs.
- Formative assessment
- Ongoing checks.
- Gradebook
- Records of student grades.
- IEP
- Individualized education program.
- Inquiry-based learning
- Learning through questions and investigation.
- Pacing guide
- A schedule for covering curriculum.
- Rubric
- A scoring guide.
- Skills for managing emotions and relationships.
- Subject endorsement
- Certification to teach a subject.
- Summative assessment
- Final evaluations.
- Team teaching
- Teachers sharing students across subjects.
- Unit plan
- A set of lessons on one topic.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Middle School Teacher practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Middle School Teacher training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.