Professional Teaching Portfolio
TPE 6: Developmentally Appropriate Teaching Practices
Background information for TPE 6: TPEs describe knowledge, skills, and abilities for all credential candidates, and they underscore the importance of generically-effective strategies for teaching a broad range of students. The purpose of TPE 6 is to establish additional expectations that are of greatest importance in teaching students at distinct stages of child and adolescent development. It is not the intent of TPE 6 to describe practices that are appropriate or effective only at one developmental level. This TPE describes professional practices that are most commonly used and needed for students in each major phase of schooling, grades K-3, 4-8, and 9-12.
TPE 6 does not represent a comprehensive strategy for teaching students at any particular stage; the elements of TPE 6 are intended merely to supplement and not replace the broader range of pedagogical skills and abilities described in the TPEs.
Suggestions:TPE 6B: Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Grades 4-8
During teaching assignments in Grades 4-8, candidates for a teaching credential build on students’ command of basic skills and understandings while providing intensive support for students who lack basic skills as defined in state-adopted academic content standards for students. They teach from grade-level texts. Candidates design learning activities to extend students’ concrete thinking and foster abstract reasoning and problem-solving skills. They help students develop learning strategies to cope with increasingly challenging academic curriculum. They assist students, as needed, in developing and practicing strategies for managing time and completing assignments. Candidates develop students’ skills for working in groups to maximize learning. They build on peer relationships and support students in trying new roles and responsibilities in the classroom. They support students' taking of intellectual risks such as sharing ideas that may include errors. Candidates distinguish between misbehavior and over-enthusiasm, and they respond appropriately to students who are testing limits and students who alternatively assume and reject responsibility.
TPE 6C: Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Grades 9-12
During teaching assignments in Grades 9-12, candidates for a Single Subject Teaching Credential establish intellectually challenging academic expectations and provide opportunities for students to develop advanced thinkingandproblem-solving skills. They frequently communicate course goals, requirements, and grading criteria to students and families. They help students to understand connections between the curriculum and life beyond high school, and they communicate the consequences of academic choices in terms of future career, school and life options. Candidates support students in assuming increasing responsibility for learning, and encourage behaviors important for work such as being on time and completing assignments. They understand adolescence as a period of intense social peer pressure to conform, and they support signs of students’ individuality while being sensitive to what being "different” means for high school students.
- Lesson plan that demonstrates appropriate activities appropriate to the developmental levels of middle school or high school students
- Assessment you have created that demonstrates a successful/appropriate format for middle school- or high school-level students
- Lesson or assessment that demonstrates appropriate activities for students with special needs