The teacher understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning an development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences.

For my artifact, I chose my interprofessional simulation. I teamed up with another Education major, a Social Work Major, and an OT Major. In this simulation, we were given a case study for a student named Sammy. Sammy was having several struggles in and out of school. In our simulation, we talked to Sammy’s grandmother, Peg. Our group made an action plan for Sammy, which we could apply in a real-life scenario. When participating in this simulation, you must understand that students can only succeed fully at school if they thrive at home. This is where we brought social work and let them share their plan for Sammy. As a future educator, you must recognize where a student needs extra help. As a natural teacher, I will have to observe students to remember the things they may struggle with. In our case study, we were told what Sammy’s struggles were. Because of this, we all noticed Sammy needed a better learning experience. Our team wanted to do what we could to improve Sammy’s time in school. Standard #1 means you can understand how a student learns and develops. In this simulation, I could see how Sammy was learning at school. I was also able to come up with a plan how to help get him back on track.

This simulation helped me understand how an actual intervention would go with a family member. It felt genuine, and I could take that experience and learn from it. I did several things well, but some I would have done entirely differently. Still, this assignment has helped me to grow as a future educator, helping me further understand what it will be like. As I get further into my Education career, I keep realizing that the most crucial way to help your students is to understand them. If this was a real-life scenario, I would have been able to implement my action plan.