Awareness of student and the learning process

The student teacher demonstrates knowledge of the diverse ways in which students develop and learn and organizes activities to meet their diverse needs as well as their interests and talents.

Student Interest Inventory

As evidence of my competency in the "Awareness of students and the learning process.” I present a student interest inventory and its analysis. I selected this worksheet during my Practicum experience in January 2025 at the Elementary School of the University of Puerto Rico. I offered this inventory in order to gauge my students' interest in reading and their favorite topics in order to understand their preferences and learning needs. 

With this student interest and analysis I demonstrate my increasing  understanding that children develop and learn in different ways. With this student interest inevntory I gained insight on the students' attitude towards reading in a general manner, their favorite tv shows, games, books, toys, and places to go. After it was completed, I made an analysis of the data gathered wich allowed me to have an understanding of my students' interests. The interests that coincided which served as a basis for planning instruction in an enviroment that supports and motivates my students to participate, learn and develop reading.

As educators, most of us recognize that each of our students is unique. They have diverse capabilities, interests, learning styles, strengths, talents, and needs. It is up to us, as educators, to get to know them and plan according to that information and deliver instruction that is effective and authentic to what they need. With this insight, I will be able to design activities and select reading materials that are not only developmentally appropriate but also personally relevant to their interests and needs. This evidence demonstrates my ability to get to know my students, their interests, strengths and needs. As well as my ability to analyse them and my commitment to reflecting and designing instructional activities that meet the students' individual needs.

 A teacher should recognize that there is not only one way in which we should evaluate student learning. Students are unique, they have different talents, abilities and needs; it is up to the teacher to get to know the students and choose the appropriate tools to assess them according to their abilities or the activity that is going to be assessed. That assessment will help the teacher to know more about the student and about their own teaching practices. Whether the lesson is effective or not will be based on the strategies chosen, the students' learning styles or if the student has a learning disability or developmental delay. This information will allow the teacher to modify their instruction as well as evaluation techniques and instruments in order to set up students for success. The learning process is not linear and will never be the same for each student so it is our jobs as teachers to adapt to the students needs.

Knowing and Promoting Children's Development through their Families, Observations and Games

As part of the course EDPR4125 (Growth and development of the infant, maternal and preschool children) offered by the professor Wanda I. Figuera Fuentes I completed an assignment with a classmate titled “Knowing and Promoting the development of Children through their Families, Observations and Games''. This activity was completed with my classmate Karla González in the second semester of the 2021-2022 school year. The activity consisted of creating a developmental guide and activities that would help us observe the maternal child and the skills that they present or the skills that they have not yet developed.

I offer this observation as evidence because through the development guide that I prepared with my classmate Karla González, I can demonstrate the knowledge that I have of the development of the maternal child. I also demonstrate that I am able to organize activities that promote developmental skills such as cognitive, fine motor, gross motor, linguistic, socioemocional and daily living skills. We also organized activities that met the needs of the child according to the child's developmental skills that were or were not observed. To be able to complete these tasks we had to create a development guide that would evaluate the 6 areas of development. The areas of development are the ones mentioned previously: cognitive, fine motor, gross motor, linguistic, socioemotional and daily living skills.

To be able to create a development guide it is very important to know how maternal children develop in the different developmental areas. The gross motor skills are the wide movements of the child's body. Instead, the fine motor skills deal with precise movements of the hands. Daily living skills deal with children’s hygiene, eating and clothing habits. Socioemotional skills of maternal children is when the child begins to identify himself as a separate being from his parents. Children also begin to experience feelings such as anxiety when they are in new situations and with strangers. Cognitive skills include aspects like memory and object permanence. Lastly, linguistic skills of the maternal child deals with language development and in this stage children can get frustrated when they can not find the words to express their needs, emotions and wishes. After knowing the different development areas we were able to create a development guide that was appropriate for the maternal child population. We identified 5 developmental skills for children from 1 to 1 ½  years, 5 developmental skills from 18 to 24 months and lastly 8 developmental skills from 2 to 2.11 years in each area of development. 

After having our development guide ready we chose the maternal child we wanted to observe. Fortunately, my mother's goddaughter fell into the category of a maternal child at that moment so we chose her. We began creating activities that promoted her development in the 6 different areas. The first activity we created was named “Free Manipulation”. We created this activity with cognitive and motor skills in mind. For the activity we needed a space in which the child would feel comfortable (preferably where they always play). We also needed to provide the child with materials that the child could manipulate freely. The materials could be the child's toys, pencils, puzzles, paper, markers and other materials. The second activity we created was named “Fish the bead”. This activity consisted of placing a container with water and beads inside it. We would place the container in front of the child. We also placed an empty but closed bottle besides that container. The purpose of this activity was for the maternal child to try to open the bottle. After opening the bottle, with her hands, she would fish the beads and place them inside the empty bottle of water. When creting this activity we had in mind promoting the child's motor and cognitive skills. 

After the process of creating these activities we began the process of observing the maternal child. I visited the child's home and videotaped the visit for my classmates' benefit (because of COVID she had to participate in the observation virtually). We had the opportunity to observe through the games and activities that the child's development was consistent with her chronological age. For example Ainhoa, in the gross motor skills demostrated that she could boost forward a toy with wheels by pushing a tricicle forward. She was also capable of avoiding obstacles when walking or running. Ainhoa demonstrated coordination by going down stairs alone and putting two feet per step, the only observation was that she leaned againt the a wall when going down but that is normal for the skills that she should have at her age. When it comes to the fine motor skills we observed that she could build a tower with 8 blocks, she also demonstrates a good tripod grip when using a pencil. She has the ability of opening small boxes and she also uses pincer grip to pick up objects inside a container. In the development of language skills Ainhoa demonstrated that she could: Repeatedly ask, "What is that?", Use an expressive vocabulary of 50 words or more. Use short sentences to narrate her experiences. Refers to herself as "my" or "I", and not by name. In the social and emocional development she demonstrated that she could: Verbalize her feelings, be posessive over her toys, Show affection to adults who are not their caregivers, have nightmares and lastly answear questions and have tantrums. The las skills that we observed were the daily living skills where she showd the following skills: Hold a small cup/glass in one hand, have specific preferences for some foods, hold the spoon with her fingers, palm up. She also eats only with a spoon but is sometimes “too tired” to do it. She likes simple and familiar food and that the food is served the way she knows or is used to.

I offer this observation as evidence because through the development guide that I prepared with my classmate Karla González, I can demonstrate the knowledge that I have of the development of the maternal child. I also demonstrate that I am able to organize activities that promote developmental skills such as cognitive, fine motor, gross motor, linguistic, socioemocional and daily living skills. We also organized activities that met the needs of the child according to the child's developmental skills that were or were not observed. To be able to complete these tasks we had to create a development guide that would evaluate the 6 areas of development. The areas of development are the ones mentioned previously: cognitive, fine motor, gross motor, linguistic, socioemotional and daily living skills.

To be able to create a development guide it is very important to know how maternal children develop in the different developmental areas. The gross motor skills are the wide movements of the child's body. Instead, the fine motor skills deal with precise movements of the hands. Daily living skills deal with children’s hygiene, eating and clothing habits. Socioemotional skills of maternal children is when the child begins to identify himself as a separate being from his parents. Children also begin to experience feelings such as anxiety when they are in new situations and with strangers. Cognitive skills include aspects like memory and object permanence. Lastly, linguistic skills of the maternal child deals with language development and in this stage children can get frustrated when they can not find the words to express their needs, emotions and wishes. After knowing the different development areas we were able to create a development guide that was appropriate for the maternal child population. We identified 5 developmental skills for children from 1 to 1 ½  years, 5 developmental skills from 18 to 24 months and lastly 8 developmental skills from 2 to 2.11 years in each area of development. 

After having our development guide ready we chose the maternal child we wanted to observe. Fortunately, my mother's goddaughter fell into the category of a maternal child at that moment so we chose her. We began creating activities that promoted her development in the 6 different areas. The first activity we created was named “Free Manipulation”. We created this activity with cognitive and motor skills in mind. For the activity we needed a space in which the child would feel comfortable (preferably where they always play). We also needed to provide the child with materials that the child could manipulate freely. The materials could be the child's toys, pencils, puzzles, paper, markers and other materials. The second activity we created was named “Fish the bead”. This activity consisted of placing a container with water and beads inside it. We would place the container in front of the child. We also placed an empty but closed bottle besides that container. The purpose of this activity was for the maternal child to try to open the bottle. After opening the bottle, with her hands, she would fish the beads and place them inside the empty bottle of water. When creting this activity we had in mind promoting the child's motor and cognitive skills. 

After the process of creating these activities we began the process of observing the maternal child. I visited the child's home and videotaped the visit for my classmates' benefit (because of COVID she had to participate in the observation virtually). We had the opportunity to observe through the games and activities that the child's development was consistent with her chronological age. For example Ainhoa, in the gross motor skills demostrated that she could boost forward a toy with wheels by pushing a tricicle forward. She was also capable of avoiding obstacles when walking or running. Ainhoa demonstrated coordination by going down stairs alone and putting two feet per step, the only observation was that she leaned againt the a wall when going down but that is normal for the skills that she should have at her age. When it comes to the fine motor skills we observed that she could build a tower with 8 blocks, she also demonstrates a good tripod grip when using a pencil. She has the ability of opening small boxes and she also uses pincer grip to pick up objects inside a container. In the development of language skills Ainhoa demonstrated that she could: Repeatedly ask, "What is that?", Use an expressive vocabulary of 50 words or more. Use short sentences to narrate her experiences. Refers to herself as "my" or "I", and not by name. In the social and emocional development she demonstrated that she could: Verbalize her feelings, be posessive over her toys, Show affection to adults who are not their caregivers, have nightmares and lastly answear questions and have tantrums. The las skills that we observed were the daily living skills where she showd the following skills: Hold a small cup/glass in one hand, have specific preferences for some foods, hold the spoon with her fingers, palm up. She also eats only with a spoon but is sometimes “too tired” to do it. She likes simple and familiar food and that the food is served the way she knows or is used to.

Overall we observed that she has an adecuate development for the chronological age she was at the time. The only observation we made was that at the age of 2.11 she had not yet developed the following skills: bladder and bowel control as well as control when going to the bathroom regulated by an adult. Because of it, we made recommendations to the child's mother that would help strengthen those skills in specific. We suggested to the mother that she could document on paper her daughter's bathroom habits and to communicate with her in the moments she would usually use the diaper and in the moments she felt the need. We suggested as well for the mother to model for the child what she should do when going to  the bathroom so that she could learn through observation.

I have always thought that it is very important to know that everyone is different and that everyone has different strengths and necessities. Having done this assignment on three different occasions(with infants, maternals and preschoolers) has helped me reinforce my beliefs about its importance. It is important for us teachers to understand that our students have many ways in which they develop. For me as a future preschool teacher, is very important to know how given that it will allow me to plan activities such as the ones that I created in this project that their progress if I ever observe a student that lacks a development skill. It will also help me to create achievable and appropriate goals for my future students. Finally, having this knowledge of my students development will alow me to be an efficient educator towards my students.