Running head: DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION

Developmentally Appropriate Instruction

Regent University
Mike Lewis

In partial fulfillment of UED 496 Field Experience ePortfolio, Fall 2015

DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION

Introduction
In teaching, it is important to understand the audience of students that are being taught.
This means lessons will need to be geared around the developmental age and mindset of the
students. We differentiate instruction to accommodate the various developmental needs
(Wiggins, 2005, p. 218). In a special education scenario, this is particularly important as one
may have students in the class that are not necessarily mentally at the same age as their peers.
These students could be limited by developmental capacity (Graham, 2011, line 1399).
Instruction, therefore, needs to be specific to the appropriate developmental level of the student.
This means that whole group lessons need to be generally targeted to the average developmental
level of the students in the room, and the small group lesson needs to be differentiated to the
needs of students in the small group. "In some cases, the developmental level of students will
determine the extent to which conceptualization is appropriate; at other times the
goals of a course or program will make in-depth understanding a lesser or tangential goal"
(Wiggins, 2005, p. 9).
Rationale
The artifacts I have included for this paper are screen captors of lessons I created and
taught in a second grade class at Cook Elementary School during a long term substitute scenario
in the Spring of 2015, under the supervision of the grade level chair Mrs. Belch and the principal
Mrs. Bennis. Both lessons were created on the ActivInspire software for the Promethean Board.
The full version of each lesson can be found in the appendix section under the same name of
each file. The first artifact was Poke-Probability, and the second was the Fraction Activity.
Pok-Probability

DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION

In the Pok-Probability lesson, students were introduced to probability with a game that
most of the students were familiar with, Pokmon. This was the pre-introduction to fractions.
Students learned how to write and read fractions as a sentence using words and how to represent
fractions using the fraction bar. There are multiple pages on this lesson, each of them allowed
students to practice this skill by coming up to the board, guessing the answer out loud, and
clicking the board to check if their answer was correct. The students clicked the brown question
mark to reveal the answer. This allowed for a whole group lesson and individual formative
assessment from the students coming forward. With the use of an app on my phone, I called on
every student in the class to come forward and try the new skill.
Fraction Activity
During this lesson, each student was given five Unifix Cubes of one color and five of a
second color. The game/lesson started with them practicing the three images up top on the page.
As everyone mastered the first, I clicked to uncovered the second, then the third. First, I
modeled that all ten blocks stacked together represented 5/10. The five blocks on top of the
tower of ten represented five parts of the total of ten blocks. Then, I modeled the construct of a
tower of three on top and five on the bottom which represented the fraction 3/8, three parts of the
total of eight blocks. Finally, we tried together constructing a tower of two on top and two on
the bottom which represented the fraction 2/4, two parts of the total of four blocks. Then, it was
time for the game to start. I had every possible option of a fraction that could be created with the
blocks hidden behind the green panel on the screen. Using my name picker app, I called on
every student in the class at least two times to come up and race the other students in the class to
constructing the fraction. This allowed me to both engage the whole class and individually
assess each students understanding of the concept, while having a really good time. The teacher

DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION

next door thought we were having a party. Kids were cheering for the other students as they
came up to the board and hushed in anticipation for the next fraction to be pull from the panel.
As the race happened, I would check the tower of the student up front and walk around the room
to check the tower of the others. This lesson was a huge success. This lesson served as an
introduction to fractions, but it was so effective that the students had mastered the concept in
under 20mins. Unfortunately, one student was absent that day, so this just meant during extra
the time on Friday when he was back that we got to play the game again for review and catch
him up.
Reflections
Luke 2:52 tells us that, Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and
man. Even Jesus grew developmentally and had different trials in His life as well as many
lessons to learn. He did not come out of the womb understanding the knowledge of the world or
customs or etiquette. No, these were things He had to learn in order to experience the full human
struggle. He had to learn age appropriate lessons: how to walk, how to talk, and how to live with
people. Likewise, our students learn through age appropriate lessons. Growing and learning is
part of the human experience. Wise teachers will tailor their lesson to the students level to be
able to reach them and help them succeed.

DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION

Reference
Graham, Donovan (2011-06-01). Making a Difference: Christian Educators on Public Schools
(Kindle Location 1399). Purposeful Design Publications. Kindle Edition.
Wiggins, Grant; McTighe, Jay (2005-03-22). Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd Edition.
Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Kindle Edition.