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Dylaney Dalton
Regent University
In partial fulfillment of the UED 496 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2019
DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION 2
Introduction
When teaching, it is essential that a teacher first consider students and their
psychological, emotional, physical, and cognitive development plays a key role in student
ability to perform well on tasks and assessments given to them. Tileston (2000) reiterates
this idea, stating, “The time has come to quit assuming that all students come to us with
the background to be successful in school…” (53). Tileston then goes on to state that
dismissing this assumption does not mean to give up hope on student success, but rather
addressing cultural, physiological, and cognitive differences in such a way that provide
all students the opportunity to develop and succeed in their education. Educators best
student needs.
Artifact Rationale
Elementary School with a 2nd grade classroom. The SOL covered during this instruction
was English 2.2 d and e (Virginia Department of Education, 2010), which addressed
student usage of synonyms, antonyms, and vocabulary expansion. The second grade class
that participated in this lesson had a diverse range in abilities as well as ethnicities and it
was exciting to see how these groups worked together in order to gain a better
This lesson was taught to two of the lower level reading groups by reading the
two level 1 and 2 books, Big and Little and Opposites by Little Library. These two books
were written at a lower reading level and could easily be decoded by using context clues
DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION 3
and using the pictures. This allowed for the students to not be challenged by the content
they were reading and be able to focus solely on the skill of identifying and creating
synonyms and antonyms. If the books had been too challenging, this could have created a
learning barrier that would have divided the child from the desired skill, as well as led to
matter of thinking about development (of a skill), but thinking and acting
developmentally which allows educators to truly reach students…” (94), which means
that it is not enough to simply teach students the skill, but provide them with ways to
work successfully up to the desired skill within given parameters. Such is seen in this
artifact, which allows students first focus on what they already know then expand the
The students then conducted a word study in groups of three, using terms from the
book and extra terms to help shape their vocabulary skills. Because many of the students
came from different backgrounds, groups were picked so that each group had diverse
students. Some of the vocabulary, such as “heavy and burdensome” and “prosperous and
fruitful”. Some students were quick to understand the phrases, but others struggled
greatly and relied on their peers to explain the terms, then were able to understand the
terms better because of relating better to a specific version of the word. For instance,
some of the students that originally came from a middle to upper-level socioeconomic
class were able to comprehend the word prosperous, whereas their peers were only able
to identify the word “fruitful”. After some debate, I noticed the groups began to
understand that their words meant the same thing and they were able to pair the words
DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION 4
together. This activity allowed students to work together, as well as share and rely on
providing their own word choices at the end of the activity to redefine terms like “tall”,
“heavy”, and “tasty”. This gave children a chance to articulate themselves in a way that
My second artifact was done during my first student teaching experience in a fifth
grade classroom and involved more creativity. Because students are at an age where they
desire less structure and uniformity and are capable of thinking in broader concepts, this
activity involved less teacher guidance and was reliant on student participation (Bergin &
Bergin, 2015). Students at this age need to be given more flexibility and ability to create
their own guidelines and rules in order to meet higher levels of thinking and learning. The
activity selected for this age group acknowledges this need and addresses it by giving
students the opportunities to create with few guidelines and more choice.
In this specific activity, students were expected to meet the VDOE SOL Math 5.8,
which states that students are expected to work with perimeter, area and volume
problems, as well as create and identify situations in which they may need to solve for
those types of problems. Students were given the opportunity to demonstrate this
understanding through two creation activities. Students were given the expectations and
criterium, which stated that they must create a creature with a head, body and arms/legs
as well as find the area of their creature. The second part of their assignment asked them
group activity because it allowed students to follow the given set of rules on their own
terms (89). Finnan (2009) notes that an unsupervised activity does not mean that students
are left without supervision, but that students willingly take responsibility for their work,
create it on their own to their own expectations, and willingly partake in the activity when
stayed on task, created their own parameters for the assignment and then initiated them,
as well as desired more opportunities to use these creations. This activity was very
simple, allowed students to choose the complexity of their work, and gave students the
opportunities to work more hands-on and experience the applications of perimeter, area
and volume problems. Some of the students that had normally performed lower on other
activities seemed more engaged and creative with these activities, often creating unique
designs and detailing out their thought in more concise ways. This gave me a better
opportunity to assess students on what they truly knew as well as build off of those ideas
they created.
learn, how prior knowledge and preconceptions play into their learning, and how student
age and cultural development factors into their ability to perform given skills. Tileston
(2000) states that addressing these barriers and providing students with equal playing
fields that encourage the involvement of all students by focusing on what they can do
allows students to grow and strive to meet standards. The activities I had chosen for both,
DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION 6
fifth and second graders, demonstrated an awareness of their needs and abilities. Students
in both groups left the activities engaged, expressive with and towards peers about their
make sure that practices are not hindering student success but leading up to and
showcasing the qualities of it. When done rightly, learning does not feel burdensome for
students and leaves them feeling empowered by the teaching despite any differences and
Reference
Bergin, C. & Bergin, D. (2015). Child and adolescent development in your classroom
Finnan, C. (2009). The upper elementary years: ensuring success in grades 3-6. Thousand
Tileston, D.W. (2000). 10 best teaching practices: how brain research, learning styles,
and standards define teaching competencies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press,
Inc.