Reflection

During the adolescent years, students will change in ways more drastically than they had previously.  In an effort to help the students as they go through these rapid developments, the development standards lay out a foundation for teachers to know before they begin working.  The developmental standards are important because they comprise all of the necessary abilities needed by an educator.  By researching how students grow and learn throughout the years, I will be able to plan lessons in ways that will hopefully relate to the students and help them to develop into educated workers.  In addition, I hope that this understanding will help me to decode the actions of students to understand how strongly they are learning the material and what connections they begin to make.  Because every student reacts differently to situations, studying the developmental standards provides myself a brief overview of what to expect from students and how to best prepare for each student's individual needs to learn.

Each standard relates to a different aspect of student growth.  The first standard discusses the importance of providing instruction for students of a wide variety of backgrounds so that they can develop properly.  It is important to understand that just as not all students learn the same way, not all students will act the same way either.  While it may have been culturally acceptable where I come from to hug anyone and everyone, for many students, this may be uncomfortable for them.  The second standard explores learning processes and how students achieve in a variety of ways.  Unless a teacher is able to be flexible in helping students to learn, a teacher cannot expect students to learn.  By understanding early on different expectations for how students are to learn, we are able to best help each student how they need to while still maintaining high standards for all.  The fifth standard refers to managing the learning environment to provide support for all students.  Students need to feel comfortable in the classroom and the teacher is able to help this by being supportive and organized throughout the learning environment.  Overall, teachers need to know the developmental standards so that students are able to show healthy development in the classroom.

Reflecting on the standards, I realize that I need to work on much improvement over these next years so that I can help my students develop properly.  One of my weaknesses is my lack of experience in the classroom.  Throughout college, I need to ensure that I am practicing teaching as often as I can.  I also come from a private, Catholic school, and while I hope to teach in a similar setting after graduation, it does severely limit my options.  I need to gain more experience with the public school system so that I am not thrown into a culture shock should I start off my teaching career in the public school system.  Lastly, I did very well in high school and remained highly intrinsically motivated throughout my four years.  Because of this, I need to begin to develop a deeper understanding of how I motivated myself and also reflect deeper on how I can likewise motivate my students to remain intrinsically motivated.