Developmentally-Appropriate Instruction 1

Developmentally-Appropriate Instruction
Isabella Szczur
Regent University
Developmentally-Appropriate Instruction 2

Introduction
In planning lessons and activities for students, the teacher needs to be aware of whether

the material reflects what the students need to know and is appropriate for the age level. For

example, the teacher should not be giving 9th graders an activity that was designed for 2nd

graders. One way teachers are able to effectively teach material is by designing a classroom

which allows for different hands on opportunities. I remember during my first internship in high

school I was tasked with creating a hands on activity for my elementary school classroom. I had

students measure different objects around the room such as books or their chairs, to teach them

how to accurately measure length.

The teacher needs to have activities and lessons that are appropriate for the age they are

teaching. As such, this sometimes means switching out an activity if it looks to be too easy for

the class, or reworking it to better fit the material. In my current student teaching placement, I

chose to scrap an activity I had created because I realized it was not suited to the age group I was

teaching. As a result, I created another activity as an alternative to what I had first planned.

Additionally, the teacher also needs to make sure the materials given to the students is not just

deigned to keep them busy. Creating something that students are actively able to engage with,

learn from and apply previous knowledge can be difficult for teachers. Regardless, “good

teachers recognize these facts and tailor their teaching strategies to the current topic and

audience, often combining elements of different methods” (Weisberg, Hirsh‐Pasek & Golinkoff,

2013) in order to best meet the needs of the students.

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Rationale for Selection of Artifacts

The first artifact chosen is a script from my first student teaching experience. At this

point in time the students were learning about the workings of the state and federal court system.

My teacher and I believed it would be a useful to give students an activity involving a hands on

approach to be able to recognize concepts previously learned about, in action. As a result, I

suggested having a mock trial case for the students to act out. My teacher and I looked it over

and decided the script worked well with the material. The students were able to pick their roles,

and were given the expectation that they would dress professionally for their roles.

This activity was a good hands on learning opportunity to teach students about the court

system and how it operates. It used language they would be familiar with already and

incorporated the vocabulary as well as other terms they had been learning. The jury portion of

the trial allowed for the students to discuss the evidence they had seen/heard and come to a

verdict. The only difficulty was in keeping students from applying their own personal bias to the

situation, a very real problem that is had during real jury trials. The activity went well and the

students enjoyed it so much, another teacher even incorporated the lesson for her own class.

The second artifact I have chosen is an activity where students have to critique political

campaign advertisements. The advertisements would range from a wide variety of candidates

and elections such as Donald Trump, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Bernie Sanders and

Barack Obama. While watching each advertisement the students had a list of questions they

would be keeping in mind. At the end of each video there was an open discussion where students

had the opportunity to share with one another. This activity uses media resources to help

familiarize students with important topics in political campaigns. In addition they learn about

propaganda techniques in television advertisements which range all the way from the 1960s to
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upcoming elections. This activity also encouraged students to discuss how people from different

backgrounds might view each candidate and what impressions they gained from the videos. The

propaganda techniques the students learned will assist them in the future as they work on

creating their own campaign videos, and as they are introduced to upcoming political campaigns.

Reflection on Theory and Practice

One of the most important things a teacher needs to be able to do, is to understand what

will work for the students and what will not. Planning developmentally appropriate instruction is

one way through which they can do this. To teach students the material there needs to be more

than just sitting and listening. They need to be working with something that will challenge the

way they think and view the world. By “allowing children to collaboratively negotiate their

thoughts and meanings about learning concepts” (Alfor, Rollins, Padrón & Waxman, p.631,

2016) the teacher allows for the students to hear another opinion about a topic, and form an

opinion based on that. This means the teacher has to know where their students are at and be

willing to meet them there to help guide them toward goals. This is where other important

competencies such as pre-assessments and differentiated instruction are important influences.

Another point that is important to discuss, is the ability to use the multiculturalism in the

classroom as a part of the learning experience. One way in which I was able to do this was by

having students research the political parties and what groups of people they appealed to. In

doing this, students had to discuss with the class why certain racial and religious groups might be

in favor of one political party over the other. It led to unique discussions where the students were

able to discuss their own perspectives on the issues, based on their backgrounds. In addition, they

were also able to recognize the appeal of political party groups to different types of people.
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Studies have shown that in classrooms based on developmentally appropriate instruction,

students were “more likely to be working kinesthetically, answering teacher-posed questions,

and freely exploring” (Alfor, et al, p.631, 2016). This is in contrast to a classroom with limited

developmentally appropriate instruction where it was found that students “were more likely to be

distracted and/or not engaging in any activity/transitioning” (Alfor, et al, p.631, 2016).

As I have progressed through student teaching I have come to realize that all of these

competencies work together for the goal of bettering a student’s learning experience. By taking

the time to plan for the needs of students and providing them different opportunities to learn the

material, I am able to help them grow and understand the world around them. As explained by

Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe in their book Understanding by Design, teaching involves

recognizing the importance of understanding through being able to explain, gain perspectives,

have self-knowledge, apply, interpret, and empathize (Wiggins & McTighe, 2008).
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References
Alford, B. L., Rollins, K. B., Padrón, Y.,N., & Waxman, H. C. (2016). Using Systematic

Classroom Observation to Explore Student Engagement as a Function of Teachers'

Developmentally Appropriate Instructional Practices (DAIP) in Ethnically Diverse Pre-

Kindergarten Through Second-Grade Classrooms. Early Childhood Education

Journal, 44(6), 631.

Weisberg, D. S., Hirsh‐Pasek, K., & Golinkoff, R. M. (2013). Guided play: Where Curricular

Goals Meet a Playful Pedagogy. Mind, Brain, and Education, 7(2),

Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2008). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association

for Supervision and Curriculum Development.