Running head: DEVELOPMENTALLY-APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION 1

Developmentally-Appropriate Instruction

Tiffani Cosendine

Regent University

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

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Introduction

In the book Developmentally Appropriate Practice, it states, “Understanding child

development and learning allows teachers to know what children of a particular age group will

typically be like, what they typically will and won’t be capable of, and how they will best learn

and develop” (Gestwicki, 2013). That being said, not only must activities and instructional tasks

align with standards you are hoping to teach, but they must also be developmentally appropriate.

One way this can be accomplished is by utilizing resources such as manipulatives and offering

hands-on experiences that are relevant for the age group you are leading. This paper reflects the

competency of developmentally-appropriate instruction and how I have implemented activities

suitable for the grade levels I was teaching. It also reflects how I demonstrated cultural

awareness in my classroom.

Rationale for Selection of Artifacts

The first artifact I chose to represent this competency is a set of pictures from an activity

I did in my first student teaching placement that involves students using toothpicks as

manipulatives to help them identify, predict, and extend patterns. This was a rich task found in

the Virginia Beach curriculum that I implemented during small group math. For this activity,

students created a “toothpick worm”. First, they made the triangular head of the “worm” using 3

toothpicks, and then for step two they added 3 more toothpicks to create a square body. For each

additional step, students would keep adding 3 toothpicks onto the worm. The students had to

examine how the worm changed throughout its “life stages” and then described the pattern. I

chose this artifact because it reflects how I implemented an activity that was developmentally

appropriate for fourth grade.

The second artifact I chose to represent this competency is a worksheet I created for a

first-grade lesson plan I wrote during my second placement that was based around the concept of
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cultural awareness. First, I read a book to the class called Same, Same But Different by Jenny Sue

Kostecki-Shaw. This was a cute story about two boys, one from America and one from India,

who became pen pals. The boys exchanged information about their lives, from school to family

to ways of living, and I used this story to discuss with my class about different cultures. I

explained that people all over the world have different ways of dressing, eat different foods, live

in different kinds of homes, and celebrate different things. For the second part of the lesson, the

students completed a worksheet about their family’s culture, including what their family eats,

wears, and likes to do. I chose this artifact because it demonstrates how I promoted cultural

awareness in my classroom through an activity that was also developmentally appropriate for the

grade I was teaching, which was first grade.

Reflection on Theory and Practice

The first artifact I chose represents an activity that was developmentally appropriate for

fourth grade. The use of toothpicks as manipulatives was advantageous for students in that it

provided them with a physical, visual tool for completing the pattern activity. Students were not

just relaying the concept; they were applying it. In addition, students were required to describe

the rule for the pattern in a variety of ways, including words, pictures, and/or numbers. This task

was developmentally appropriate because it involved a hands-on approach to a math concept that

also challenged the students to think. It can be said that “a good manipulative bridges the gap

between informal math and formal math. To accomplish this objective, the manipulative must fit

the developmental level of the child” (Boggan, Harper, & Whitmire, 2010). By using the

toothpicks, students were able to visually see the pattern, which was multiply by 3, as well as

depict how it could be extended. The use of manipulatives allowed the activity to be more

engaging as well. This was a great activity because each student, though they each had the same

pattern, had different ways of expressing it through their own words, pictures, and numbers.
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The second artifact involved students reflecting on culture. This task was

developmentally appropriate for first grade since the worksheet completed by the students

involved writing simple sentences and drawing pictures to represent those sentences. I had also

read a story to the class prior to the activity. For the worksheet, I chose to keep the aspects of

culture relatively simple; I had students think about what food their family eats, what language

they speak, what clothes they wear, a holiday they celebrate, and something they like to do. This

was an interesting activity, and I enjoyed seeing the differences and similarities among the

students’ work.

Promoting cultural awareness in the classroom is important because of the diversity

present in American schools today. The goal of any educator should be “to ensure you don’t

neglect a major aspect of a student’s identity, and that you foster an environment where

differences are accepted and understood” (Walden University, 2019). This can be such a deep

concept to explore, but I chose to keep it simpler since I was in a first grade classroom. After

reading the story Same, Same But Different and explaining what culture is, I had a discussion

with the students about the characters in the story and how they lived differently because they

came from different cultures. The students could relate to Elliot, the boy living in America, but

they learned that in some places around the world, like India, people have different modes of

transportation, write in different languages, and speak differently than we do. This was a good

opportunity to talk with students about characteristics of their own families. The students were

able to see how they were all the same but different too.
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References

Boggan, M., Harper, S., & Whitmire, A. (2010). Using manipulatives to teach elementary

mathematics. Journal of Instructional Pedagogies, 3, 6.

Gestwicki, C. (2013). Developmentally Appropriate Practice: Curriculum and Development in

Early Education (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.

Walden University. (2019, February 14). Why Cultural Diversity and Awareness in the

Classroom Is Important. Retrieved from https://www.waldenu.edu/online-bachelors-

programs/bs-in-elementary-education/resource/why-cultural-diversity-and-awareness-in-

the-classroom-is-important