Learner Development is understanding the different stages of child development and creating equitable instruction that benefits all diverse learners based on that knowledge. Developmentally appropriate instruction includes learners’ strengths, interests, and needs that help students gain academic mastery.
`I utilize helpful small group work, visual aids, and differentiated assignments that meet students’ developmental levels when teaching. These artifacts help guarantee quality and practical instruction that accelerates student learning.
Small-Group Work:
Small groups allow students to collaborate with their peers and receive more one-on-one attention from their teacher leading the group. Teachers can create small groups based on children’s development or specific needs. Having time to focus on specific skills helps student mastery. For example, I helped one group practice vowel blends and silent “e” words during small group work while others worked on their historical fiction papers and literacy workbooks.
Visual Aids:
Visual aids, or manipulatives, help teachers connect the curriculum to the concepts and ideas. Visual aids and manipulatives are items that help demonstrate the strategy. For example, during my time student teaching, my mentor teacher demonstrated equations using a balancing scale and chess pawns. These aids helped students see the transfer actions across the equal symbol. When using aids, teachers illustrate concepts and ideas while connecting student comprehension to real-world situations. English Learners and students who need more support benefit from hands-on manipulatives because they will gain real experience with topics and concepts. During a unit on fractions, students played a game called “I have, You have.” The students were given cards that had a visual representation of a fraction. The student would say what fraction was represented on the cards, such as a picture of pizza cut into equal pieces, then ask their peers if they had the equivalent fraction amount.
Differentiated Assignments:
Differentiated assignments, or scaffolding in instruction, allow all learners to participate in group activities and classroom discussions. Scaffolding instruction is when teachers modify assignments for different ability levels in their classroom and assign them to students based on their ability levels or needs. Ability level needs data is collected from consistent summative assessments throughout the school year and the previous school year. For example, during a lesson on comparing fraction amounts, students could choose a worksheet that had the fractions represented with visuals or decide they didn’t need help from the visuals.