My first big takeaway from class is the idea of developmental stages. Developmental stages are the cornerstone of developmental research. It gives the layout so that all information can be fit into categories regarding developmental traits and tendencies among ages. My second big takeaway from the class is associating play with learning at a younger age. It is a bad thing what is put onto very young children currently and play should be implemented more in kindergarten and 4-k classrooms. I think it’s an important idea that has gone away lately and it should be looked at again to find the importance of play. The third big idea from class is the idea of milestones in development. It is an easy way to tell if children are behind where they are supposed to be and these milestones can help tell if a student needs extra help. Another big takeaway is prenatal development, this is because it is a time of development that I think many people don’t understand. I learned that there is a lot more going on during the prenatal period than I thought and it brought to light the importance of the prenatal period. My fifth big takeaway was during my sophomore block placement looking at distractibility in students. Being able to see the different tendencies between developmental stages and looking at the different milestones that we had talked about was interesting to see in action inside a classroom. The sixth big takeaway, I think was during class learning about TBI’s during my research project. TBI’s are very misunderstood throughout the world and I felt like the information that I learned is very helpful especially if I run into a student that has a TBI in my classroom. Another takeaway is during my placement I was able to teach a lesson in class. While not fully relating to development I was able to teach a lesson during my placement and I think that was an important part of class. I got some feedback and will continue to improve my lesson plans as I go along my teaching career. My eighth takeaway is the changes that happen to students and their development during puberty. Wanting to teach in the age range where students will be during or near the end of puberty learning about what they may be going through developmentally is important to how I will have to teach. For my ninth takeaway,y I think the idea of identity in development is very important. Many kids struggle with finding identity and I think that understanding what they are going through when trying to find their identity can help a lot when creating relationships with students. If as a teacher I don’t understand what the students may be going through it will be impossible to create relationships and having an idea of their struggles is very helpful. My final takeaway is just the importance of understanding what development is and the fact that it is always changing and students are always changing. It means that as an educator I must be flexible and understand that my students are going to change over the school year. As long as I understand that I will be a much more successful educator than those who choose to ignore that.