OSTP Standard 1 & CEC Standard 1

Learner Development

The OSTP Standard 1 is teachers understand student learning and development and respect the
diversity of the students they teacher and the CEC Standard 1 is beginning special education
professionals understand how exceptionalities may interact with development and learning and
use this knowledge to provide meaningful and challenging learning experiences for individuals
with exceptionalities. These standards are important because teachers must understand how
students develop in order to make their lessons developmentally appropriate. Understanding
students development will help teachers identify if students are behind or ahead of the average
developmental process. Therefore teachers will be able to assist their students in getting the help
they need to succeed to their full potential. Also, in order to be a successful teacher, teachers
have to recognize individual differences and respond to the needs of individuals with
exceptionalities. Therefore, these standards are important because teachers have to understand
how students learn and develop to plan lessons that are appropriate for their students.

An artifact that relates to these standards is a developmental milestones chart. My peers and
myself collaborated and created a chart that explains how children develop in 5 different areas:
motor, cognitive, social emotional and language. The chart is then broken into four different age
groups: 0-2 years, 2-5 years, 5-10 years and 10-15. The chart describes the milestones that
children reach while they are in the different age brackets.

This artifact relates to the standards because it displays how students learn throughout the
cognitive process and the developmental characteristics of motor, social, emotional and language
skills in age groups. The chart assists teachers in acknowledging what students know and are
able to identify if students are gifted, students with disabilities or at-risk. Once they acknowledge
these students the teachers will be able to assist them in instruction and intervention and respond
to their needs. The artifact illustrates my competencies as a future teacher because it displays that
I understand how children develop in motor, social, emotional, cognitive, and language skills.
Therefore, I will be able to identify if my students are developing appropriately and if they arent
I will be able to get them the interventions they need.