Goal 2: Teachers understand how human development affects learning and apply that understanding to practice.

2a Identify ways students' developmental levels affect their thinking processes and learning

• Refer to my teacher work sample where I explore the various aspects of my students developmental characteristics and how they learn differently for their developmental stages. When I introduce the unit that I taught in my teacher work sample I explain the background of my students and comment about what I think the benefits and drawbacks are within my classroom. I explain how the cognitive level of my students is taken into consideration before I teach, and reflected on after I am finished.
  
• Refer to my paper on Hemispheres, where I examine the different sides of how the brain learns and operates. This paper is a personal reflection on hemispheric differences, but illustrates my knowledge on the differences in brain development and operations. In this paper I also write about how knowing the different hemispheres of the brain will change my teaching styles.
• Refer to my paper on brain development where I explore the different ways that the brain learns as it grows and matures. In this paper I talk about the psychologists that we explored during my Summer classes on Educational Psychology and add my personal beliefs about what I think is the best method for student learning.
  

2b Accommodate difference in how students learn based on knowledge of individual's social, emotional, and intellectual maturation.

• Refer to my Brave New World paper explaining the connection between the unit and the developmental stages of my students. In this paper I show how I used the maturity level and developmental interests of my students to my advantage as I introduced a book from the 1930s. this book deals with controversial issues such as sex, drug use, and feminist criticism. I knew that I was teaching a senior level class that was heading to college so I decided that we could bring up these topics. I do examine the pitfalls of this unit, however, and explain some of the interferences that I had as well.
  
• Refer to my teacher work sample where I comment on my students social and emotional development as I plan my lessons. I explore where the students are coming from financially, socially, and ethnically and explain why this can affect their brain development and learning. In my teacher work sample I explain how I accommodated for these challenges and lead the way toward student success.
  

2c Appreciate unique thinking processes of learners at different stages of development.

• Refer to my evaluation where my host teacher and supervisor rank me higher than the average first year teacher. This evaluation illustrates that I have shown to expert teachers that I can accommodate unique thinking processes and learners at different stages.
  
• Refer to my reflection paper where I look back on my year as an MAT and comment on how I did with teaching students while appreciating their unique thinking processes and maturity levels. In this paper I explain what some of the challenges were for me teaching seniors. Many of them lost interest in high school and were focused on the next step in their lives. I reflect in this paper on how I maintained interest in my classroom and was able to harness their unique thinking processes throughout the remainder of the year.