Competency C Developmentally Appropriate Practice Developmentally appropriate practice is an approach to teaching that allows the teacher to meet students

where they are at socially, emotionally, physically, and cognitively. The objective of developmentally appropriate practice is to enhance the development of learning while setting achievable academic goals for students. During my student teaching experience, I have made it a priority to get to know each of my students individually. Building relationships with my students has allowed me to understand their learning styles, therefore giving me the opportunity to construct developmentally appropriate instruction. When introducing a new skill to students, developmentally appropriate instruction is key. During our geometry unit, our students were introduced to polygons. Each child within the classroom is unique therefore when creating instruction I chose to plan a lesson that would yield to all of their individual differences. I used an explorative/discovery learning approach and had my students construct polygons on their own using angle(legs). The class sorted their self created polygons into two groups. Polygons and Not polygons. The students constructed their own list of attributes of polygons through their observations. We then completed another hands on activity where the students used tooth picks to construct polygons on their own while listening to the story, The Greedy Triangle. Hands on learning is developmentally appropriate practice for 4th graders. According to Piaget, 4th graders are intellectually at the concrete operational stage. They can reason logically and organize thoughts coherently. However, their best thinking is done by using physical objects. Abstract thinking is an ongoing developmental skill for them; therefore providing 4th graders with a lot of hands on tasks is an appropriate practice.