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Developmentally-Appropriate Instruction Riffle 1

This document discusses the importance of developmentally-appropriate instruction for elementary school students. It describes two artifacts - a walk around activity reviewing nonfiction text structures and a lesson plan teaching author's purpose - that allow students to work collaboratively and be taught by their peers. The reflection emphasizes how kinesthetic learning and personal connections can help students remember content better, especially for those in Title I schools who may decide whether to stay in school based on their experience that year. Teachers must consider student development and make lessons fun rather than judge students or have prejudice against certain schools.

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111 views

Developmentally-Appropriate Instruction Riffle 1

This document discusses the importance of developmentally-appropriate instruction for elementary school students. It describes two artifacts - a walk around activity reviewing nonfiction text structures and a lesson plan teaching author's purpose - that allow students to work collaboratively and be taught by their peers. The reflection emphasizes how kinesthetic learning and personal connections can help students remember content better, especially for those in Title I schools who may decide whether to stay in school based on their experience that year. Teachers must consider student development and make lessons fun rather than judge students or have prejudice against certain schools.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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DEVELOPMENTALLY-APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION Riffle 1

Developmentally-Appropriate Instruction
Ronald Riffle
Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2019.


DEVELOPMENTALLY-APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION Riffle 2

Introduction

Students want to learn; teachers love to teach and introduce new ideas. This relationship

creates the necessity of the classroom. When working with elementary school students as an

adult, it is sometimes difficult to remember that students are still students, and that we should not

require them to meet us on our level. Teachers should meet them where they are at

developmentally and instructionally.

To create lessons that are effective, teachers must remember that students are not all the

same. Albert Einstein once said, “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its

whole life believing that it is stupid.” Students are sometimes compared to being the fish, or

maybe be a different animal as a whole, with a new topic or assessment as the tree. Students need

to be met at their level and shown the way of success. Developing content that allows students to

grasp topics at their own level, allows learning to become something that can be attained for the

students.

Rationale for Artifacts

The artifacts that were chosen help highlight different activities that meet students at

their level. Ultimately, these are activities that allow students to work with one another. Student

collaboration creates so much opportunity for students to practice social skills, get the wiggles

out, and also an opportunity to work with students and be taught by them as well. Student to

student learning/teaching sometimes is better than teacher to student because students understand

each other more, and can explain things in simpler terms to one another. Collaboration makes the

room feel alive, and they are so excited about their work that they end up working on quite a bit.
DEVELOPMENTALLY-APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION Riffle 3

Artifact 1 – Walk Around: Nonfiction Text Structures Review

In this artifact, we see examples of an activity that was made as a review for non-fiction

text structures. Students were asked to find a partner and work with them throughout the two-day

activity in whole group instruction. In this activity, there were 32 different cards with short

passages placed around the room. With their partner, they were to identify which nonfiction text

structure the passage was about. This two-day whole group activity required students to complete

16 passages and answers to keep at pace, but it wasn’t taken as a grade but more or less

participation. The Walk Around was used as a review from talking about non-fiction text

structures, and in preparation for the quiz the next day, and the Benchmark test the week after.

Artifact 2 – Author’s Purpose Lesson Plan

This artifact is a lesson plan that was used early on in my student teaching at Bettie F.

Williams. This lesson was created to teach about defining author’s purpose from a text, Uncle

Jed’s Barbershop. In this lesson, students collaborated in the anticipatory set doing a Stand-Up,

Hand-Up, Pair-Up to share the most memorable part of the book to each other. After that, the

teacher led whole group instruction, modeling how to input information in the organizer, along

with introducing theme. This took about 5 minutes, and the students began working with one

another with their table groups to complete a graphic organizer defining theme, conflict, plot,

author’s purpose, and theme statements. While this was a new practice for them, many students

seem to grasp the information presented, because they were teaching each other.

Reflection on Theory and Practice

Kinesthetic learning is an approach that reaches a majority of students that makes them

move and interact with one another. Soon enough, kinesthetic learning seeps into auditory, visual
DEVELOPMENTALLY-APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION Riffle 4

and the other learning realms. We have to “realize that kids need to move!” (Clark, 2012). Doing

the small and simple thing of allowing them to get up and talk about a subject, helps them

remember it, and even make personal connections about it. The importance of making a personal

connection allows students to remember content better. If “education is an important function in

any society,” (Knight, 2006) then why not make it fun and connected to everyday life?

When creating these lessons, it is imperative to be hyper-aware of the culture at the

school, not only racially, but economically as well. At my first placement, a majority of the

students had free and reduced lunch. When working with students in this community, I am often

reminded of my childhood and growing up in Title I schools, being one of the students on

free/reduced lunches. One thing I have noticed is that many teachers have a prejudice against

Title I schools due to the “bad conditions,” or “the students are all mean,” or “they’re all

entitled,” or, my favorite, “this is a place where bad teachers are sent as penance”. These are all

bad assumptions because this is our future. To reach these students, I’m reminded of the book

Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind in which it says “The upcoming school year might be

the year when a few students decide whether they will stay in school or drop out and become a

drain on society. They deserve nothing less than your best effort” (Jensen, 2013). We need to

erase the prejudice against Title I schools, and have students realize their worth, no matter what.

WE need to teach them to love themselves.


DEVELOPMENTALLY-APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION Riffle 5

References

Clark, R. (2012). The End of Molasses Classes: Getting our Kids Unstuck - 101 Extraordinary

Solutions for Parents and Teachers. New York: Touchstone.

Jensen, E. (2013). Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind: Practical Strategies for Raising

Achievement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Knight, G. R. (2006). Philosophy & Education: An Introduction in Christian Perspective (4th

ed.). Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press.

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