InTASC Standard #1: Learner Development
The teacher understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patters 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, page 16)
Brief Description of Evidence: In the spring semester of 2021 during my EDUC 121 Child and Adolescent Development class I completed a child case study. During this I asked the child’s parent several questions in order to get a small idea of an activity that I could create to assist this child who was 3 years old to meet her milestones. I researched several milestones that a child for her age was supposed to have met. Once I did my own research I created the activity and then proceeded to do this activity with the child. This child needed assistance with her colors and her numbers. I used colorful marshmallows to help the child with colors and had her count them to help her with learning numbers. During this child case study, the 3-year-old also used her fine motor skills to pick up the marshmallows. This 3-year-old had to reach her cognitive development by using the directions that I was giving her in order to complete them.
Analysis of What I Learned: I learned that each learner learns differently in their own way. I learned the milestones that each learner should be able to reach and how to create an activity to help them reach those. For the activity, I used the Montessori theory which is based on hands-on learning (M, 2021). During this activity, she was learning best by using her hands and doing things on her own. I learned that even though it was challenging for her at times, she was still motivated and having fun while learning. I learned that she was also very motivated to do the activity because she was able to eat the marshmallows once she was done, I think she enjoyed that as a “reward” for finishing the activity while also having a better understanding of her colors and numbers 1-10.
How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the InTASC Standard: The child case study best demonstrates my competence in standard number 1 by demonstrating that I understand the cognitive, physical, linguistic, social, and emotional milestones that should be reached at different ages. I was required to do extensive research on understanding the milestones of a 3-year-old, in return, I was able to successfully create an activity that was developmentally appropriate to help the child get closer to reaching the milestone of her cognitive development. I was also able to successfully help better her fine motor skills which is a milestone for 3-year-olds to be able to reach. This created a developmentally appropriate learning experience for the child.
