Educators understand and apply knowledge of student growth and development.
Throughout my teaching practicums, I have worked through lessons and units where students have had time to develop in various subjects and be tested on their knowledge through various formative assessments and a final summative assessment, further allowing me to understand when to apply knowledge of student growth and development in the classroom.
Besides assessments that allow the educator to assess students and provide critical feedback for development, some of the ways that I have applied knowledge of student growth and development as students gain more comfort with the content in a unit is through differentiated instruction by adapting lessons to be presented in various learning styles (visual, auditory, etc.), and offering additional challenge activities for learners who are ahead and want to test their understanding. Another method of monitoring student growth and development I have utilized has been through social-emotional learning themed lessons which help students develop their interpersonal skills by fostering collaboration among students, emphasizing the importance of teamwork and allowing students to understand the importance of being inclusive and recognizing diverse perspectives in a group setting while working towards an objective.