“The key to pursuing excellence is to embrace an organic, long-term learning process, and not to live in a shell of static, safe mediocrity. Usually, growth comes at the expense of previous comfort or safety.”

— Josh Waitzkin

The first standard states that a teacher understands the patterns of learning a student takes and implements a designed lesson that each student can grow from. Each student has a unique growth rate of learning. Knowing and understanding this growth rate for each student is essential for a teacher to give accurate and substantial lessons that will keep the student’s growth rate the same or, even better, increase the student’s growth rate. To demonstrate the understanding of learning development a teacher will keep accurate data on a student’s development and use that data to strategically give instruction in small groups while using multiple intelligences to build instruction.

Artifact #1: DSA’s

One effective way to keep updated on a student’s progressive growth is to keep an accurate Developmental Spelling Assessment. By assessing a student’s knowledge of word features, a teacher will be able to move a student on to the next area within a stage when appropriate. This data is imperative in the classroom to keep a student’s accurate orthographic knowledge to continue a progressive learning growth in word study and reading.

Artifact #2:  Small Groups

Student learning growth rates are able to progress quicker when placed in small groups. By being in small groups students are able to work together with a teacher and collaborate together from the same vantage point. This also gives the teacher the ability to give unique instruction based on individual data for students who are within the same guidelines of each other.

Artifact #3:  Multiple Intelligences

To help progress a student’s growth rate, it is imperative to reach different levels of learning. This can be done by implementing Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences when creating lesson plans. Creating lessons that reach a wide range of intelligences will reach multiple students in multiple ways. By learning materials in multiple intellectual ways, the material will become more than just instruction given by the teacher. By using multiple intelligences, this can lead to students  intelligences to expand their learning. By identifying our students strengths and interests and acknowledging where their weaknesses are assets to build instruction where each student can thrive. I adhere to this by adding a song to a Fourth Grade lesson plan I created for the Moon phases. Adding the song would connect the moon phases to a student who connects well to musical for the catchy song, linguistic for the lyrics, or bodily kinesthetic by creating a dance to the song. By clicking this link you can view the lesson plan along with each multiple intelligence linked to each day.