Developmentally Appropriate

Inspiration: "Schools As Places of Joy: We Are Responsible For the Cultures That We Create" by Mike Crowley

For most of my time as a middle school teacher, I plainly stated that one of my goals was preparing my students for the next level, for making sure they were ready. As a principal/parent, I believe I've become more aware of the idea of developmental limitations/appropriateness.

It is with that mindset that I read Mike's article on Medium. This thought stood out to me:

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard judgments such as, “if he’s like this now, in 7th grade, I can’t imagine what he’ll be like in a few years, when it counts.” And there they are, the pernicious, toxic words. When it counts. For when does learning count? It depends on what we value, on what our priorities are. If we value developmentally-appropriate approaches and contexts for young people, nothing counts more than the here and now, nothing matters more than creating the human ecosystems and nurturing environments in which young people can grow and prosper at their own pace.

In processing my thoughts following Mike's words, I'll start with what I value, what the priority is:

Forming students as children of God - spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, and physically.

There needs to be a recognition of the developmental nature of these. Lower elementary students should not receive communion or play tackle football. Upper elementary students should not be reading picture books. Etc. Etc.

I think the idea of developmentally-appropriate approaches and contexts need to bear in mind the ideas of Proximal Development and Depth of Knowledge.

Students should be pushed into a zone where he or she can learn, but that zone is relative to the student his or herself.

The teacher should ensure that activities are developmentally appropriate but also engaging. Nothing frustrates me more than walking in on another worksheet session, seeing half the class finished and coloring, talking, or (even) reading. All of those are good in their own right - especially in forming a whole person - but seeing that waste of class time indicates to me that the worksheet is where the issue lies (not that the students don't have five more worksheets to keep them quiet when they finish the first one).

So - if our mission is to form children into adults, is to ensure their proper growth in all aspects of their personhood, we need to be personalized to the extent that we are pushing each student forward at their proper rate. This flexibility is innovation in a good way; but one that needs to be focused on growth of the individual and assessed/validated by some non-subjective means.