By studying the work of Chip Wood, Lev Vygotsky, Jerome Bruner, and Jean Piaget, I can see a composite of well researched developmental benchmarks that inform my teaching.  I entered the CalStateTEACH program with the intention to study and implement developmental learning.  The subject is of profound importance to me, and I continue to study and apply teaching principles that respect the development of children.  

While children follow a predictable path of development, the rate and range are widely variable.  Engaging all students is a challenge to the teacher, especially with the broad range of development and abilities in a single grade.  Factors that affect student engagement are often outside the teacher’s sphere of influence (home circumstances, sleep, nutrition).  The challenge requires teachers to look deeply at each student as an individual.  

During one activity for CalStateTEACH, I closely examined a student who avoided academic participation in class, but actively participated socially.  My intention was to uncover the source of her resistance to participate in the school work, in order to provide new encouragement to support her in growing her contributions to her group.  Here’s an excerpt from the activity:

I carefully read all of the suggestions in Lewis & Doorlag and have found very little that has not already been tried with Amelie by the teacher so far this year. I believe she is in a transition period and does not yet trust the system to support her without explicit directions and a known outcome. In other words, she wants to know exactly what to do and what she can expect to see if she's successful. For example, when she's in a group with the goal of designing candy boxes out of linker cubes that will fit exactly 100 pieces of candy, she does not know what her part in the project looks like. This is because the students are expected to negotiate roles for themselves. It looks different in every group. In one, all students are independently building box models and comparing them. In another, they collaboratively write out what they think will work and then together build it to confirm the design will fit all the pieces. In another, they use graph paper to map the designs before building them. Amelie starts to draw in her notebook because, I believe, she's waiting for someone to tell her what to do.

And here are my plans for working with Amelie on her behavior:
•    Patience. This is her fourth week in this environment after four years in the old one
•    Direct discussion of how this school is different from her old one. Her journal writing shows that she really misses her old school and her old friends. Engage Amelie in a conversation that allows her to express her feelings about the school change, and specifically, how instruction is different here.
•    Direct instruction on how to work collaboratively without explicit instructions. Or, modify her instructions to include something like, "Amelie, first join your group and discuss with them what steps the group will take to solve the problem. Then pick a role you think you'd enjoy and let the group know you want to do that as your participation toward the group's success."
•    Encourage her when she falls back into drawing. "Amelie, you are unsure what to do now, is that right? Group, what help do you need from Amelie right now?"