The teacher understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning and development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences (InTASC, 2013).
Brief Description of Evidence |
During my online, Summer 2019 EDUC 121 - Child and Adolescent Development class, I had to complete a case study that required a naturalistic and structured observation. I had to spend three different 30-minute visits with a child in an early childhood environment. I had to select a preschool aged child to observe over the semester. I had to use three assessment methods to evaluate the child's cognitive, physical, linguistic and social-emotional development. During each of these visits, I had to document the child's activities, emotional responses, and interactions with others. I then had to come up with different activities that I could use for my structured observation based on what I saw in my naturalistic observation.
Analysis of What I LearnedI learned that while observing a child in their everyday activities is easy. Picking apart the different details of that child is quite difficult. It was hard to just observe and not try to jump in and help where needed. I learned that the approach the teacher used seemed to work well with each child.
Coming up with the different activities for my structured observation took a lot of thought as well. I based my activity choices on the challenges I noticed within my naturalistic observation. The particular child I had did not have anything to do with me at first during my structured observation. I learned that if I showed how much fun I was having by doing the activities by myself that he wanted to play with me and see what I was doing. It worked quite well. When the child began to do well with the “games” we were playing, I would challenge him by rearranging the counters or adjusting the sequencing in different ways. After both observations were completed, I then had to write a case study report about my findings, the adjustments I made and what the outcomes were. I learned that it was a little difficult to write the child's strengths and weaknesses in each area because I found I only focused on the weaknesses. I had to go back over my notes and think about my visits and what were the child's true strengths. I then finished the case study by listing the specific strategies I would use to help the child further their progress in each area. |
How This Artifact Demonstrates My Competence on the InTASC StandardI feel I am competent in this standard because I was able to understand, through doing the observations, how a child grows and develops. Jean Piaget looked at how children develop intellectually throughout their childhood. I was able to observe a particular child using different gradients of learning while in their natural surroundings and with me manipulating their learning environment during the different tasks they completed.
Using Piaget's age-specific stages and seeing first hand where their physical, social-emotional, cognitive and linguistic developments were within those stages, I was able to get the most out of my observations. The child I had was in the Preoperational stage. Meaning that I was focusing more on their development of language, memory, and imagination. This helped me to create appropriate learning experiences for them that would create symbolic thought. |