Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Developmentally-Appropriate Instruction
Anna Gillette
Regent University
Introduction
students developmental levels. This affects things like how instructions are given, how long
students are expected to focus on individual tasks, and and what kinds of tasks they engage in.
Although college age students might be able to learn quite a lot by listening to and taking notes
on a 90 minute lecture, elementary aged students need a series of shorter activities that allow
them to actively participate in learning. And while a typically developing 3rd-grade student
should be able to follow multi-step directions a kindergarten student or a student with special
needs may need directions given one at a time. Good teachers should seek to understand the
developmental levels of their students and use this understanding to better plan and deliver
instruction.
Rational
The first artifact I chose was a third grade lesson on quadrilaterals. I began the lesson by
having students sort pictures of quadrilaterals so that they would begin thinking critically about
the similarities and differences of the shapes. Then I used an anchor chart with definitions and
drawings to explain the types of quadrilaterals and encouraged students to refer to it throughout
the lesson. This enabled students to use the correct terms without expecting them to have already
memorized them. I checked the students’ understanding by having them explain to a peer, then to
me, the difference between two types of quadrilaterals. This avoided putting students on the spot
After spending a short amount of time explaining the new concepts and then checking for
understanding, I drew the students’ attention back to the manipulatives. I prompted students to
DEVELOPMENTALLY-APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION 3
sort the quadrilaterals into piles and draw overlapping circles to show the relationship between
them. This allowed the students to actively deepen their understanding of the types of
quadrilaterals by creating a visual representation on their desks. I assessed the students on two
levels of understanding with a short quiz, first asking yes or no questions, then having students
explain the difference between two of the types of quadrilaterals. I closed the lesson by playing a
game which involved each student having large picture of a quadrilateral and moving between
different parts of the room. This reinforced the classifications they had just learned and gave the
students a chance to move around, something which is very important in the elementary grades.
During the lesson students spent some of their time quietly watching and listening as I
explained concepts, but spent most of it interacting with manipulatives. Spending some time
listening helped the students improve their listening skills and develop a longer attention span,
but I didn’t linger on this for long in order to give the students time to apply what they were
learning and deepen their understanding of it through hands on activities. This kept students
The second artifact I chose was a kindergarten math lesson in which students practiced
solving subtraction facts using goldfish. I began with a related dance song to give the students a
chance to let out excess energy and activate their prior knowledge, preparing them for the rest of
the lesson. I used detailed modeling and gave clear expectations at the beginning of the lesson so
that the students knew exactly what I expected them to do when I gave them their materials.I
chose a worksheet that had an appropriate number of subtraction facts for the attention spans of
the young children in my class, and I gave them age appropriate manipulatives for them to work
out their problems which maintained their interests. I assessed the students formatively by
DEVELOPMENTALLY-APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION 4
checking their paper for mistakes and prompting them to correct errors. After the students
finished the subtraction, I had them color in the pictures on their worksheet to practice their fine
motor skills, which is an ongoing secondary objective for students of their age. Throughout the
lesson I gave appropriate rewards (verbal praise, star on paper, pennies) and consequences
(reminder, taking pennies), prompting students to follow directions and exhibit good behavior. I
also gave students who finished exceptionally early a math challenge sheet, which I created with
the understanding that there were some students whose academic abilities exceed that of their
peers and needed more difficult work to remain actively engaged and learning.
Reflection
Student teaching has taught me that student engagement and attention span must be
considered when planning and teaching a lesson. Younger students have shorter attention spans,
and so younger students learn best over the course of many shorter lessons which each involve a
number of short activities. As students get older their attention spans lengthen, enabling them to
do activities for longer periods of time. This is well suited to the more complex subjects and
skills older students are learning. Even so, students of all ages benefit from engaging in multiple
activities over the course of a lesson; it keeps things interesting and can better engage students of
what engages students in the age group you are working with, whether it be treats, manipulatives,
or complex problems.
There were two classes I took at Regent University which helped me to understand how
to create developmentally appropriate instruction. The first and most obvious was Childhood and
Adolescent Growth and Development. This taught me about the typical developmental stages of
DEVELOPMENTALLY-APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION 5
children and some of the factors which affect them. It helped me realize that children really do
view the world differently as they grow up, and this must be taken into account when teaching
them. The second was Multicultural Education. Through this class I learned the importance of
teaching in a way that respected and responded to the culture of the students in my class. When
we think of teaching students in regards to their developmental level, it can be easy to think of
students falling along a continuum and being at a certain stage at a certain time, but it it much
more complicated than that. The culture in which a student grows up affects their development
and can change the type of instruction that is most appropriate and effective. Therefore students’