Understanding how children learn and develop is crucial to creating lessons that will be helpful to all students. By using material tailored to fit the developmental stages of the children in the classroom, an instructor will be able to ensure they are teaching each of their students efficiently. In order to create lessons that are appropriate for students, teachers must understand how children develop throughout their school years; it is important for teachers to know how children change throughout adolescence and how altering instruction can help them reach each child. An important part of growing up during the high school years is developing mental maturity. It is not likely that a sixth grade health class would contain intricate explanations of sexual reproduction and methods of safe sex. Because students are not mentally mature enough to handle such topics with the care they require, it is not taught to them. At the high school level, when children have had the chance to mature, children will be taught sexual education. Planning for the maturity and development of students can be applied to the English classroom as well. For example, when teaching a sixth grade class, a teacher would not choose a text that had graphic scenes of violence or foul language; in the high school setting books containing this material are part of the curriculum (To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye). A teacher must understand how the child develops in order to plan lessons that will effectively teach their students. If students are unable to handle the material they will lose focus and not retain the information, and if students believe material is not relevant to them because they are too mature they will dismiss the material and not attempt to retain information.
Artifact A is a child study that I completed during the internship portion of my professional year at Towson University. The child study involved learning more about a student the school tends to overlook and locating resources to assist in educating the student. This artifact demonstrates my proficiency in this principle because, in my description of the student, I explain ways in which the child is different from his peers, and describe methods of teaching that could better suit such a student. The goal of the child study was to identify a student that was being overlooked in the school system, and to do that I used a student that was different from his peers. In the child study I make it clear that the student is performing below expectations for his grade level. I also note in the child study that, although the student is older than his peers, he behaves and interacts with the students as someone their own age would. At the age of nineteen, students are expected to be out of the public education system and looking for work or studying at a university; the student I chose to do my child study on had not developed the skills that would be necessary to enter the work force or attend a college. His social behavior was very similar to those that were up to four years younger than him, and his cognitive abilities, while on par with other ninth grade students, were below what is expected of a nineteen year old. This child study has a positive impact on student achievement because it allows me to better meet the needs of a student in my classroom. Being able to identify students that need extra help in the classroom is an important part of teaching. Although all students could benefit from extra attention in the classroom, picking out those for which it is a necessity can ensure the students are making improvements. The child study includes references to scholarly articles on teaching ESOL students. Reading these articles would give instructors methods that are proven to work when teaching ESOL students. Students that receive the help they need in the classroom are much more likely to succeed, and those that are frequently overlooked by the system as a whole benefit more so from extra attention. This child study demonstrates the "assessing" aspect of the Planning-Teaching-Learning cycle because I assessed environment in which my students were learning, and discovered that students were being overlooked. By assessing my teaching I found that better forms of instruction would be used when working with ESOL students, and found that more in class attention could lead to higher rates of success among frequently overlooked students.
Artifact B is the validated practices project that I completed during the student teaching portion of my professional year at Towson University. The validated practices project involved implementing multiple lessons throughout the internship and mapping student progress. This artifact demonstrates my proficiency in this principle because my lessons were created to cater the needs of the students in my classroom. I used a variety of strategies throughout my lessons to ensure all learners of all abilities were able to fully understand the material that I was teaching them. The classes that I taught during the middle school rotation were very diverse developmentally. My lessons have modifications for students of varying ability levels; these modifications include: reduced work load, extended time on all assignments, and reduced work per page for a student that required very heavily modified work. The validated practices project also demonstrates my ability to consistently plan for students at different stages of development. Each lesson within the project was planned knowing individual students would need extra assistance. By keeping modifications constant, students become accustomed to the work that they can expect to face in my classroom. Students do not receive assignments and think they will be unable to complete them; they know their work has been modified for their own benefit, and that I have created assignments for them that they are fully capable of completing. The validated practices project had a positive impact on student achievement because it allows me to track student progress. By noting where students are excelling and where they are falling short, I am able to see where students need additional assistance. If a student's work begins to fall short, I can see which parts they are having the most trouble with. This allows me to re-teach potions of lessons that students struggle with and give extra help to those students. This validated practices project demonstrates the "assessing" aspect of the Planning-Teaching-Learning cycle because I assessed the work that students completed and evaluated how I needed to alter my instruction to meet the needs of my students. By assessing my teaching, I found students benefit from working in small groups. The lessons students worked in partners or small groups on were the ones that I saw the greatest achievement.
Child Development and Learning Theory
A. Understands how children learn and develop (e.g., physically, socially, emotionally, cognitively), and
B. Designs instruction that meets the developmental needs of ALL learners
Reflection
Reflection on INTASC 2.docx
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Understanding how children learn and develop is crucial to creating lessons that will be helpful to all students. By using material tailored to fit the developmental stages of the children in the classroom, an instructor will be able to ensure they are teaching each of their students efficiently. In order to create lessons that are appropriate for students, teachers must understand how children develop throughout their school years; it is important for teachers to know how children change throughout adolescence and how altering instruction can help them reach each child. An important part of growing up during the high school years is developing mental maturity. It is not likely that a sixth grade health class would contain intricate explanations of sexual reproduction and methods of safe sex. Because students are not mentally mature enough to handle such topics with the care they require, it is not taught to them. At the high school level, when children have had the chance to mature, children will be taught sexual education. Planning for the maturity and development of students can be applied to the English classroom as well. For example, when teaching a sixth grade class, a teacher would not choose a text that had graphic scenes of violence or foul language; in the high school setting books containing this material are part of the curriculum (To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye). A teacher must understand how the child develops in order to plan lessons that will effectively teach their students. If students are unable to handle the material they will lose focus and not retain the information, and if students believe material is not relevant to them because they are too mature they will dismiss the material and not attempt to retain information.Artifact A
Child Study.docx
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Artifact A is a child study that I completed during the internship portion of my professional year at Towson University. The child study involved learning more about a student the school tends to overlook and locating resources to assist in educating the student. This artifact demonstrates my proficiency in this principle because, in my description of the student, I explain ways in which the child is different from his peers, and describe methods of teaching that could better suit such a student. The goal of the child study was to identify a student that was being overlooked in the school system, and to do that I used a student that was different from his peers. In the child study I make it clear that the student is performing below expectations for his grade level. I also note in the child study that, although the student is older than his peers, he behaves and interacts with the students as someone their own age would. At the age of nineteen, students are expected to be out of the public education system and looking for work or studying at a university; the student I chose to do my child study on had not developed the skills that would be necessary to enter the work force or attend a college. His social behavior was very similar to those that were up to four years younger than him, and his cognitive abilities, while on par with other ninth grade students, were below what is expected of a nineteen year old. This child study has a positive impact on student achievement because it allows me to better meet the needs of a student in my classroom. Being able to identify students that need extra help in the classroom is an important part of teaching. Although all students could benefit from extra attention in the classroom, picking out those for which it is a necessity can ensure the students are making improvements. The child study includes references to scholarly articles on teaching ESOL students. Reading these articles would give instructors methods that are proven to work when teaching ESOL students. Students that receive the help they need in the classroom are much more likely to succeed, and those that are frequently overlooked by the system as a whole benefit more so from extra attention. This child study demonstrates the "assessing" aspect of the Planning-Teaching-Learning cycle because I assessed environment in which my students were learning, and discovered that students were being overlooked. By assessing my teaching I found that better forms of instruction would be used when working with ESOL students, and found that more in class attention could lead to higher rates of success among frequently overlooked students.Artifact B
VPP.docx
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Artifact B is the validated practices project that I completed during the student teaching portion of my professional year at Towson University. The validated practices project involved implementing multiple lessons throughout the internship and mapping student progress. This artifact demonstrates my proficiency in this principle because my lessons were created to cater the needs of the students in my classroom. I used a variety of strategies throughout my lessons to ensure all learners of all abilities were able to fully understand the material that I was teaching them. The classes that I taught during the middle school rotation were very diverse developmentally. My lessons have modifications for students of varying ability levels; these modifications include: reduced work load, extended time on all assignments, and reduced work per page for a student that required very heavily modified work. The validated practices project also demonstrates my ability to consistently plan for students at different stages of development. Each lesson within the project was planned knowing individual students would need extra assistance. By keeping modifications constant, students become accustomed to the work that they can expect to face in my classroom. Students do not receive assignments and think they will be unable to complete them; they know their work has been modified for their own benefit, and that I have created assignments for them that they are fully capable of completing. The validated practices project had a positive impact on student achievement because it allows me to track student progress. By noting where students are excelling and where they are falling short, I am able to see where students need additional assistance. If a student's work begins to fall short, I can see which parts they are having the most trouble with. This allows me to re-teach potions of lessons that students struggle with and give extra help to those students. This validated practices project demonstrates the "assessing" aspect of the Planning-Teaching-Learning cycle because I assessed the work that students completed and evaluated how I needed to alter my instruction to meet the needs of my students. By assessing my teaching, I found students benefit from working in small groups. The lessons students worked in partners or small groups on were the ones that I saw the greatest achievement.