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ERICKSON MASTERS PORTFOLIO 1

DEVELOPMENT

The 2018-19 school year marked the first in my teaching career where I was teaching the

same grade level at the same school. No moving classrooms, no unpacking boxes, no navigating

new school cultures. It felt like a luxury to focus my beginning of the year planning on my 1st

grade classroom; I looked closely at organization, procedures, and instructional methodology. I

planned out routines with my prior year’s class in mind, recreating the environment that worked

well before we packed things up last May. On the first day of school, in the midst of the

excitement that a new school year brings, I quickly realized that I had neglected one critical

component in my planning. I had made my room ready for 4th quarter 1st graders, and I was

greeted by an enthusiastic class of 4th quarter kindergarteners. Consideration of the

developmental strengths and needs of individual students was necessary when planning my

classroom. For me, it was time to grab the crayons and regroup.

My teaching philosophy is heavily influenced by constructivist learning theories, where

students construct knowledge through personal experience and problem solving (Powell &

Kalina, 2009). Following Vygotsky’s work on zones of proximal development, I organize my

classroom and introduce lessons that engage student’s active understanding of a subject, but also

capitalize on their developmental readiness for engaging with new ideas and concepts (Eun,

2018). With readiness, context, and appropriate scaffolding, students can engage with new tasks

as an extension of what they already know.

Reading instruction is a particular area that highlights my approach to honoring

developmental readiness. My project “Emergent Writing Analysis” demonstrates my

commitment to understanding where students “are” as a starting point to helping them get where

they need to go. In this project, I analyze writing samples from students who are at varying
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levels of reading and writing development. Consistent with a study conducted by Sulzby,

Bernhart, and Hieshima (1989), the student work samples exhibit a combination of drawing and

invented spelling to share their stories, and each skill exhibited herein is a step in the literacy

progression, sharing valuable insight into the literacy experience of the child. In each sample, I

look first to see what skills the students are currently using. With this understanding of the

student’s prior knowledge, I can establish appropriate scaffolding and challenge to support their

next step of literacy growth.

In first grade students are acquiring academic and social-emotional skills at an

astonishing speed, and each piece of the puzzle builds on prior knowledge – what they learned

outside of school, in preschool, or in kindergarten. As new skills are introduced, consideration of

prior knowledge has a significant impact on how effectively students will engage with new

material (Myhill & Brackley, 2004). In decoding text, some students rely heavily on their

understanding of letter sounds and blending, while others look to context. My objective as an

instructor is to understand what strategies they already know, and introduce new strategies or

material for them to explore. Providing students with a variety of materials to explore and

modes to represent their learning allows me to adjust my curriculum to meet the particular needs

of my students (Slavin, 2012).

Targeting individual academic needs requires classroom management strategies that

honor the social and emotional capabilities of the entire group. Developmental readiness in these

areas is integral when considering how to scaffold the introduction of new skills or methods of

instruction. Can students effectively work independently or collaborate with their peers? Are

students able to take on multi-step directions? Do they engage with direct instruction and apply

what they have learned? Through personal reflection, continuing education, and teacher research,
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I have found that one instructional strategy does not work for every group of learners. I

constantly evaluate my classroom routines, balancing predictable structure with needed

flexibility. My students are provided appropriate scaffolding to support their growth as both

independent and collaborative learners.

In closing, my time in the classroom has illuminated the power of understanding

developmentally appropriate instructional methods as I introduce new academic content. When I

honor the academic and social strengths of my students, I can engage them with experiences and

content that are meaningful, relevant, and challenging.


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REFERENCES

Eun, B. (2018) The zone of proximal development as an overarching concept: A framework for

synthesizing Vygotsky’s theories. Educational Philosophy and Theory 51(1) 18-30.

Myhill, D., Brackley, M. (2004) Making Connections: Teachers’ use of children’s prior

knowledge in whole class discourse. British Journal of Educational Studies. 52(3), 263-

275

Powell, Katherine C., Kalina, Cody J. (2009) Cognitive and Social Constructivism: Developing

Tools for Effective Classroom. Education, 130 (2), 241-250

Slavin, R. E. (2012). Educational psychology: Theory and practice. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Sulzby, E., Barnhart, J., & Hieshima, J. (1989, July). Forms of writing and rereading from

writing: A preliminary report (Technical Report No. 20). Berkeley, CA: University of

California, Center for the Study of Writing.

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