Developmental Lifeline
Developmental Lifeline Assignment Guidelines
It is recommended that students choose approximately 10 significant milestones in their life and write a brief paragraph for each one explaining: 1) why the milestone was important to your life, 2) how the milestone relates to developmental theory and research. Each student’s timeline is expected to be presented in a creative format (poster, powerpoint presentation, book, etc) that best represents themselves and their identity.
Examples of milestone descriptions:
First Word – One of the most exciting times for parents during the infancy of their child is getting to hear their first word.At thirteen months old while playing at my grandparent’s house one day, I produced my first real word, “kitty.” My mom who was playing with me was thrilled to see that I accomplished such a huge milestone in social and cognitive development, and in my life.Because comprehension precedes production, I was able to understand some of the language that adults and other people used around me, and was beginning to produce some of my own for more effective communication.Now, along with my prelinguistic communication and babbling, I was able to start rapidly understanding and producing more and more words on my own by fast mapping.
Birth of Siblings – When I turned three and a half, my life forever changed as my brothers, yes, two of them, were born.My parents tried to accustom me to the idea of sharing their attention and prepare me for their presence in the house before their birth.At the age of three and a half I was well on my way through Erikson’s childhood psychological stages.In the initiative versus guilt stage, the desirable outcome was to be able to initiate one’s own activities and become autonomous and independent of my parents.This, combined with the secure attachment that I had formed with my mother during the trust versus mistrust stage, made my parents unsure of how I was going to act upon the arrival of my brothers.When they were born, I quickly learned that I was my own being, and did not need the constant attention of my mother and/or father.I initiated my own activities and often entertained myself when my parents were busy taking care of the twins.Another social factor that I was encountering was gender development.When I was home with my mom watching her take care of the babies, I learned gender related behavior from observing her.Oftentimes she would let me help with feeding, changing, holding, or entertaining one baby while she did the same to the other.I formed gender schema’s about the role of the female as a mother.
student identified/ described the developmental milestone in adequate detail.
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Communication Skills Feedback:
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The student responded to the questions described in the instructions and identified issues related to the different areas of development (physical, psychosocial, moral, intellectual, cognitive, etc.)
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The student was able to adequately demonstrate mastery of material by applying class concepts and developmental theories to each milestone and providing depth of knowledge.
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Project was formatted appropriately based on instructions and was organized; easy to follow with appropriate flow of content. Demonstrated creativity and reflected the identity of the student.
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Student was able to appropriately communicate message through his/her writing. Assignment was proofread and had appropriate grammar, spelling, and appropriate writing style.
