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GAGUINE MASTER’S PORTFOLIO

Development

A teacher understands how students learn and develop and applies that knowledge in the
teacher’s practice. Candidates demonstrate understanding of how children learn and
develop, recognizing that patterns of learning and development vary individually within
and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, and designs and
implements developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences.

Children are not tiny adults. They learn differently and have their own unique ways of

expressing themselves. A twelve-month-old child is vastly different than an eight-year-old child.

“Individual children develop in different ways and at different rates, and development is

influenced by biology, culture, parenting, education, and other factors. Every teacher needs to

understand how children grow and develop to be able to understand how children learn and how

best to teach them.” (Comer, as cited in Slavin, 2018, p.23)

In this framing statement, I will be focusing on how the development of children affects

what we can reasonably expect in terms of behavior and morality in 1st – 3rd grade. I will address

how my classroom management case study, my Montessori training, and experience in the

classroom, helped me to understand how to set up a learning environment with realistic

expectations for children aged 5-9.

My classroom is a 1st – 3rd grade classroom, which means we get children as young as 5

starting in our room. They stay with us until they are 9. Maria Montessori talked about the 4

developmental planes of children (Montessori, 1996). The first plane, ages 0-6, marks a very

different child than the second plane, ages 6-12. “The child's development follows a path of

successive stages of independence, and our knowledge of this must guide us in our behavior

towards him. We have to help the child to act, will and think for himself.” (Montessori, 1984, p.

257).
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Because of the way public school systems admit children and place them into grades, my

classroom may still have children who are very much in the first plane. That means that they are

still very much focused on themselves in their worldview. Piaget argues that children before the

age of 6 are incapable of cooperative work and thus cannot have moral reasoning (as cited in

Slavin, 2018). And just because a child turns six, that doesn’t mean they are immediately able to

reason and cooperate.

“It is at seven years that one may note the beginning of an orientation toward moral
questions, toward the judgment of acts. One of the most curious characteristics to be
observed is the interest that occurs in the child when he begins to perceive things, which
he previously failed to notice. That’s he begins to worry about whether what he has done
has been done well or poorly. The great problem of Good and Evil now confronts him.
This preoccupation belongs to an interior sensitivity, the conscience. And this sensitivity
is a very natural characteristic.” (Montessori, 1996, p.5)

Most children in my classroom will not be 7 until their second-grade year. And even

then, the ability to see beyond their own needs will take time, practice, learning and

development. In order to learn these social-emotional skills, they need to be taught. Social-

emotional education needs to be taught as its own subject, just like reading and math.

Teachers of young children must spend time on [self] discipline not only in self-defense,
but also because they have the children at the most opportune time. Brain research shows
that the early years offer a critical window of opportunity for learning complex functions
related to behavior, such as logical thinking and emotion regulation… During the years
from 3 to 10 the brain has more synapses creating connections to brain cells than at any
other time. Brain imaging shows conclusively what early childhood teachers have said all
along: The early years are the critical years for learning.” (Fields & Fields, 2014, p. 4)

Many children will come to my classroom without the developmental ability to see

beyond their own needs and viewpoint but will (hopefully) leave my classroom as leaders who

carefully measure the needs of all people in the room. This happens with purposeful social-
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emotional lessons (called grace and courtesy lessons in Montessori terminology) as well as a

scaffolded approach to independence and leadership.

This partially happens because of having the older children model respectful behavior. I

really make it a point in my classroom of letting the 3rd grade students take the lead whenever

possible. For example, by mid-year (if not before) I will have them be the ones running the

classroom meetings. This is supported by Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s beliefs that children’s

learning and morality is more defined at this age by their peers. (Slavin, 2018).

The goal of classroom management is making sure the classroom is an environment

where learning can happen. Learning cannot happen when children cannot pay attention.

“Learning isn’t a passive event but a dynamic action. It requires focused attention, active

engagement and conscious processing by the learner. The hallmark of an independent learner is

his ability to direct his attention toward his own learning.” (Hammond, 2015, p.48). This means

setting up the classroom to be as distraction free as possible.

In my classroom management case study, I looked at a child who was particularly prone

to distracting others. One of the most reliable methods I found to working with him was from

Robert MacKenzie’s and Lisa Stanzione’s book on classroom management, called the two-part

time-out.

“The procedure is very simple. Stage One Time-Outs take place in the child’s immediate
classroom for a predetermined period of time. Most students will decide to cooperate at
this point. A few may decide to test, and when they do, you’ll need a back-up area
outside your classroom for time out. Stage Two Time-Outs should take place in a buddy
teachers classroom for twice the usual period of time.” (Mackenzie & Stanzione, 2010,
p.250)

They later go on to describe different time-out lengths and locations based on grade level. I

would start the year with my 1st-grade students in a shorter time-out.

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It is also of the utmost importance to let students know ahead of time the expectations

and consequences of misbehavior. “Begin the year with a clear, compelling plan of how you

want to organize your classroom, how do you expect students to participate, and what you will

accomplish together. Then explain this planned to your students. Make them part of your plan.

Students want to know your plan, just as they want to know what they are to do to achieve and

succeed.” (Wong & Wong, 2018, p.92). Just as mentioned in my case study, when I was given

the opportunity to have complete control of the classroom, I was able to explain to the students

that I would be using the time-out system and recess academy (Mackenzie & Stanzione, 2010) to

reinforce behavior. When I pre-established what the consequences were, it made it much easier

to avoid misbehavior and distracting behavior.

But in order to create developmentally appropriate expectations, I needed to understand

not only the typical development of the age group that I was working with, but also to understand

where the individual children in my class were. Early elementary children will not succeed in a

classroom where they are asked to sit still and listen to someone lecture for long periods of time.

My classroom will have free movement as a way to help with this. “Let us examine the principal

needs of the seven-year-old child. Something has changed in the body of this child… Then the

feet and legs: the child of seven years has strong legs and seeks to escape from the closed circle.

Instead of having him in, let us facilitate his mobility.” (Montessori, 1996 p.11).

Each child develops at their own pace. But having knowledge of what children ages 5-9

typically need to be successful is paramount for running a classroom that encourages learning.

Having a plan ready for students at the beginning of the year, and allowing older students to help

take charge of the classroom, are two ways that I help to encourage developmentally appropriate

classroom management.
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References:

Fields, M.V., Meritt, P.A., & Fields, D.M. (2014) Constructive guidance and discipline:
Birth to age eight. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Mackenzie, R. & Stanzione, L. (2010). Setting limits in the classroom. New York, NY: Three
Rivers Press.

Montessori, M. (1984) The absorbent mind. New York, NY: Dell Publishing.

Montessori, M. (1996) From childhood to adolescence. Amsterdam: Montessori-Pierson

Publishing Company.

Slavin, R. (2018) Educational psychology: Theory and practice. New York, NY: Pearson.

Wong, R. & H. (2018) The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher. Mountain View,
CA: Harry K. Wong Publications