TPE 6: Developmentally Appropriate Teaching Practices

High school is a critically time in life where many of the choices and decisions a young person makes affect the trajectory of their adulthood, etc. It is crucial that the educator-counselor-mentor incorporates developmentally appropriate teaching strategies to aid the young scholar in decision making and also to challenge them to analyze themselves in the context of their environments. It is an important skill that is required in all types of professions as well as non-professional relationships. It is also imperative to teach young scholars communication skills to use their language in a powerful and diplomatic manner.

At my school site, each student is given a contract by their "CTM" or Counselor-Teacher-Mentor in the morning advisory period. Each student must submit their contract to each of their teachers at the beginning of every subsequent period. The teachers write comments pertaining to the students participation, work completed, engagement, current percentage in the class, and if the have missing assignments. At the end of the day, the students return their contracts to their CTM for the afternoon advisory and the CTM and student have a conversation about their day. The students then plan how their afternoon time will be used, for example, what teacher they need to tutor with, and what assignments need to get completed. This time in advisory allows the student to metacognizant of their performance in their classes, academically and behaviorally. It also serves as a system of accountability for students as well as the teachers about expectations. All students receive a number, 8 meaning they took care of their buisness in the class, a 9 or 10 being an excellent day in the class, and with anything 7 or below resulting in detention hours that are served by attending tutoring and enrichment classes. The system allows the students to be praised for positive behavior as well as being held accountable for any negative behavior. Attached are two different student's contracts for a week period.