Developmental Growth

What is Developmental Growth?

Developmental growth is the changes that we experience through time as we develop physically, emotionally, and cognitively.

Developmental growth is a life long process. We cannot rush through the stages of development.

Developmental growth is a life long process. Developing physically, emotionally, and cognitively are not things that we can just achieve overnight.

Finish Line vs. Training for the Finish Line

It seems to me that we are living in a time when we are in such a hurry to get to the finish line, get our medal, and move on. Especially in education. We want our kids to be the smartest, our test scores to be the highest, our schools to be rated excellent. So we race! We raise the bar! We strive for the best! And often…

We forget about the process.

Developmental growth is part of the learning process. We cannot achieve overall if we forget to focus on physical, emotional, and cognitive development. Somewhere in the mix of racing to the finish line, we forgot to develop the right muscles necessary for getting there.

When you train for a race, you have to develop a positive mindset, set a goal, build endurance, stretch your muscles, strengthen your muscles, hydrate, and rest. You do this over and over again until you have developed in all the appropriate areas. It is then that you are able to race to the finish line. You see, when a runner crosses that finish line, they aren’t just celebrating that finish line. They are celebrating the process it took them to get there. The countless days, weeks, and months of grit and intentionality. Without the process, the runner cannot successfully achieve the finish line.

The same is true for education. We can’t just expect students to achieve overall success, if we aren’t focusing on their physical, emotional, and mental development. They must grow developmentally in order to achieve overall success!

We know more today about the brain than ever before. We know that the brain is not fully developed until into your mid-twenties. We also know that the part of your brain that allows you to plan, organize, hold information in your working memory, empathize, self-regulate, and control your inhibitions is the last part of your brain to become fully developed. This all has to be part of our learning process!

We cannot expect a child to write a paragraph if they don’t have the muscle control to hold a pencil.

We cannot expect a student to understand what is being read to them, if they cannot shift their attention to the story.

We cannot teach a child to read, if they do not know their letters and sounds.

We cannot expect a child to be able to focus on learning, if they are sad about something that happened at home.

I have found that in my own classroom taking time to focus developing the whole child, takes both intention and grit. As teachers we have to be intentional about slowing down, being flexible, and changing our original plan. We have to work hard to do what is best for our students each and every day.

Developmental Growth is a necessity that we must intentionally focus on, especially in the early elementary years. If you teach any elementary grade, you will want to have be intentional about finding ways to develop your students in the following areas.

Slowing Down to Focus on the Process

Just as a runner takes time to stretch, strengthen, build endurance, hydrate, and rest, educators must take time to develop a growth mindset, executive functions skills, motor skills, sensory integration, handwriting skills, and foundational literacy skills.

When you choose to focus on the areas of developmental growth, you can be confident that your students will be able to achieve overall success.

As you start this school year, will you choose to focus on your standards or on developing the humans in your classroom? Will your focus be on the finish line or on the process of getting there?

Enjoy Being Their Difference,