Category: Sophomore Block

Upon my completion of another course contributing to my development as a future educator, I would like to share 10 major takeaways I had from the class:

1. Developmental stages are not universal among all children:

While there are recognized stages of childhood and adolescence, each child progresses at their own pace and experiences variations in development, making a personalized approach very important. 

2. Children develop best by doing and working hands on: 

Children learn best by working hands on with the material and problems in the classroom setting, regardless of age and content. 

3. Early childhood, in my opinion, is the most critical stage: 

The first few years of life lay a strong foundation for cognitive, social, and emotional development, highlighting the importance of nurturing environments during this period. 

4. Emotional regulation is key:

Children and adolescents need to learn healthy coping mechanisms to manage their emotions, which can be difficult during periods of rapid change. 

5. Physical development impacts behavior:

Biological changes like puberty can significantly influence mood, energy levels, and social interactions during the adolescent stage.

6. Resilience is important:

Children and adolescents can bounce back from challenges with appropriate support, demonstrating the importance of fostering resilience-building strategies. 

7. Individual differences matter:

Each child has unique strengths, weaknesses, and experiences that shape their development, requiring individualized approaches to learning and support. 

8. Parenting style plays a role:

The quality of parent-child relationships, including warmth, discipline, and communication, significantly impacts children’s development and well-being. 

9. Environment matters:

The social context, including family dynamics, community, and access to resources, can influence a child’s developmental trajectory.

10. Social interactions are essential:

Relationships with peers play a vital role in developing social skills, self-esteem, and understanding social norms, especially during adolescence

Now that my experience in the 4 week sophomore block placement has concluded, I have learned a lot of different things that will help guide me in my future work as an educator, and one of these things is the idea of being developmentally appropriate, which to me means understanding where all of your students are at from a development standpoint and meeting them where they are at. I’ve also discovered that the term “development” is broad and can have a lot of different meanings. You can have development with the class material, you can have development with behavior and the ability to interact, you can have development with core values such as kindness and responsibility, so on and so forth. In short, the students are all over the place with their development across a wide variety of areas. Using this information, I learned that because students are at different stages of learning and development, you can’t do the same thing with all of the students and expect all of the results to be the same. For example, some students might not have as advanced knowledge with content when they’re posed with a task to work in their groups with, and for that reason they may need a little more help from the teacher, compared to other groups that may be able to move along just fine on their own. Or, perhaps the students have a solid knowledge of the content that they’re learning, but from a developmental standpoint, they aren’t at a stage yet where they can interact well with other people. This could mean they have a hard time staying on task, or they just stay quiet and don’t talk as much. What this would mean as a teacher is that when the students are working/conversing in their small groups, you have to get to know the kids well enough to a point where you know which ones are okay on their own and will do just fine and the groups that you have to check in with and keep an eye on a little more often. This connects back to the idea of being a developmentally appropriate educator because you’re being realistic with yourself as to where your students are at and using the proper amount of intervention strategies and applying these strategies in an appropriate manner. This is an example of being developmentally appropriate. 

All in all, I think that this idea of being a developmentally appropriate educator connects back with meeting your students where they are at, doing everything you can to meet their needs to ultimately ensure they are set up for success in the classroom. I also believe that a crucial step to this process goes back to the idea that students, no matter what age, are changing and developing in many different ways, therefore you have to be patient with them and work with them to help them improve because this is a vital role that educators have. They play a significant part in the development of students, and connecting with them on a developmental level is a big part of that process. 

One big developmental idea from this semester that I have found to be extremely valuable and that I believe will be very influential on my future work as a teacher is the idea that people learn by doing and trying, not just by observing or watching. Not that nothing can be learned or taken away from watching and observing, but when you talk about making significant strides in development and big jumps in learning, getting that hands-on experience is what will take it to the next level. In my future work as an educator, this would look like giving the students a variety of options and opportunities to learn material and work with it either by themselves or in groups. Another thing I could keep in mind too is that when I first introduce content to the students, I must be aware of how much new information I give to them- one, so that their brains aren’t too overloaded with information, and two, to kind of go along with that, part of the idea of students learning new things is trial and error, so if you just give them everything right away, not only will their brains likely be overloaded, but it won’t be as easy for them to learn anything because everything was already given to them already, So, what this means is that you have to find that fine line between giving the students the right amount of information so they aren’t completely lost but also not doing it all for them. Then, the idea of the students learning by doing comes into play, because they are actively engaging in the material and attempting to figure out how to perform the tasks at the correct level. This concept as a whole has been very interesting for me because I’ve learned and thought about how you can get the most out of students with their learning and how they can become the best versions of themselves. 

Not only have I gotten to learn more about the concept of students learning by doing in Ed 279, but I have also seen it put into action a variety of different times throughout the first three weeks of my sophomore block experience in different sections of high school Spanish. My cooperating teacher does a lot of hands-on activities with the students, where she gives them the opportunity to do interactive individual activities or other activities in a small group. She might give them some examples of how to write something properly, or what sentences should sound like when they say them. Then, she lets them work with it on their own or in their group to let them learn by doing. Also, a key part of this process as well is that even though she lets them off on their own a little bit, she doesn’t just stop there. She continues to circulate the room and see how all of the students are doing. What I mentioned before about having that balance of giving the students a good amount of information to start off but also letting them off a little bit on their own, I believe that the cooperating teacher has a nice balance of this idea. When I try to look at these situations from the perspective of the students, I can tell that many of the students engage with the material in an enthusiastic way and make a great effort to learn what is going on, ultimately leading to putting themselves in a good position academically and being where they need to be. 

All in all, I believe that letting the students learn by doing as well as letting them engage in the material a little bit on their own is a great way to keep their attention while also putting them in the best spot from an academic standpoint. Giving them the opportunity to actively engage is a great strategy that I want to use in my work as a teacher in the future. 

Being in a high school Spanish classroom where there are multiples different sections with kids at different levels, I have noticed that regardless of level, lessons that my cooperating teacher has instructed, especially those that contain multiple steps/activities, usually go really well for the class when she breaks it down and has them do it step by step, rather than giving it all to them at once. While the teacher does do this with every class, I can tell it is especially helpful for the less advanced levels of Spanish, as their skills and abilities aren’t quite as high as the other sections. It really helps these kids to slow it down and take it step by step so they don’t get lost with too many things going on. A significant component of this as well is the fact that my cooperating teacher checks in with each group to make sure they are where they need to be and that they don’t have any questions. In short, the teacher makes sure to take the lessons at an appropriate pace as to where the students are at so they don’t get lost. I can tell that from a developmental standpoint, the students are receptive to the teacher taking a nice appropriate pace because with the stage in their learning that they are at, this is what works really well for them and they can take something from the lesson in a way that works for them.

On top of the fact that the teacher takes the lessons at a nice pace so that the students don’t get lost, I have noticed that the teacher incorporates a nice mix of individual work time and small group work along with full class discussion. I have noticed that this is nice for the students because they can generate their own ideas while also bouncing off of others’ ideas to collaboratively come to a nice end result. Then, what the teacher typically does is have one person to represent each group and speak to the whole class about whatever it is that they are discussing. From a developmental standpoint, I can tell that the students are very comfortable with the lessons being formatted this way, because they can bounce ideas off of each other and collaborate with each other to ultimately come to an agreement on what to tell the class. 

All in all, with what I have observed so far with the lessons my cooperating teacher has led, the students are at a stage where with the way these lessons are set up, they feel comfortable with them and can take what they need from them in a way that suits them well. A lot of the students can use their own ideas and others’ ideas to collaborate off of each other and come to a nice end result that they can ultimately share with the entire class.

So far, I have had the opportunity to observe 4-5 periods of High School Spanish classes, including three different levels of Spanish. That means that I am surrounded by over 100 different students grades 9-12. Throughout the first week, one big concept relating to behavior that I have observed is that some students need to be pushed by the teacher a little bit for a few different reasons. One reason is that they might not know how to move forward due to not having the comfort or confidence in the content. From this situation, I have mainly seen two different things happen; the students don’t really try to push forward on their own or ask for help, so they sit at the table and either do other work or talk about something else. This is the more common of the two options that I have seen happen. However, I have seen it a couple times where the students will raise their hand to ask the teacher how to move forward or for help with whatever they are stuck with. This behavior that I have observed shows levels of development in the sense that those students who are at a more mature and higher level of development will take the initiative to ask for help or to at least attempt to move forward on their own. It has also been interesting for me to see how a specific grade or age level is not necessarily a predictor of these behaviors or not, because some of the older students have not always shown the levels of more mature behavior in this case, and vice versa with the younger students. Another thing I’ve noticed that can get in the students’ way of being productive while working with or around a group is simply the fact that they can be distractions to one another. It is pretty easy to tell when a group of close friends are sitting around one another, because they aren’t getting as much done as they should be since they’re usually off topic talking about other things. What this means is that some students have more advanced development in the sense that some of them can work either independently or with a small group and push through challenging or difficult activities without getting off task, while other students are still trying to develop that skill yet. 

On top of the students’ willingness (or lack thereof) to either push forward through things they may not be entirely sure of and ask for help if necessary, I have noticed that there are different levels of mannerisms both towards me and the teacher. What I mean by this is that some kids are using words and phrases that are a little bit more proper or polite than others. For example, I’ve helped the teacher hand out materials at various times so far throughout the first week. When I give the students what they need, some students (typically the boys if this is the case) will go as far as to say “Thank you sir”. While I do not necessarily expect this high of a level of respect, it certainly shows great manners from the students. However, some students will not say anything and have this glum look on their face. A very similar thing can be said for the students’ attitudes towards the teacher. Some will smile at her and say thank you, while others won’t say anything and will just stare blankly. And, while it can be understood that maybe a one time or one day sample of something like this isn’t an accurate representation, maybe depending on what was going on in their lives at that given time, I have observed a relatively consistent trend with the students’ manners over my first week thus far. What this means in terms of development is that some students haven’t fully developed their ability to use proper mannerisms all the time whereas others are at a stage where they can use them consistently no matter what the situation is. Once again, I wouldn’t necessarily say that age is a factor in determining where the students are at developmentally with these skills and abilities. It is different across the board amongst all ages. 

In short, these are two concepts of development that have really stood out to me so far among the students I have been working with. They are basic fundamental concepts in representing how well the students have developed both in their independent abilities as well as their abilities to converse and interact with others. It has been interesting to see how it differs from student to student and perhaps most interesting of all is that so far I haven’t really seen a certain trend with their developmental levels correlating to their age and grade level.