DAP
Slide 3
The NAEYC Position Statement on developmentally appropriate
practices reflect continuity and change in the early childhood
field. This position statement preserves the enduring values of
our field:
•
commitment to the whole child
•
recognition of the value of play
•
•
respect and responsiveness to individual and cultural
diversity
Partnerships with families.
At the same time, it has responded to changing and expanding
knowledge base about effective practices in addressing the above
values as well as improving curriculum, teaching, and
assessment. Principles can be viewed on page 10 – 15.
In light of new knowledge about the importance of the early years
and the learning opportunities, we are repeatedly reminded of the
core value that cuts across all of our work. We indeed want to
help children to become productive and responsible adults: but
we want their childhood years to be full of joy.
CHILDHOOD IS AND SHOULD BE ITS OWN SPECIAL TIME OF
LIFE. It is our responsibility to cultivate children’s delight in
exploring and understanding their world. Seeing children happy,
physically and intellectually engaged in meaningful learning about
their world and everyone and everything in it is the truest
measure of our success as
ec educators.
Core considerations in dap. Pg. 9 #1. Read bold
Slide 4
Looking at cultural differences more in depth. Pg. 46.
12 Principle that inform practice. Pg. 10 – 15.
Slide 5
Because in the United States children’s learning opportunities
often differ sharply with family income and education, ethnicity,
and language background, sizable achievement gapes exist
between demographic groups.
Achievement gaps emerge early in life and persist throughout the
school years. With each school year, the gap grows larger
without attention to these differences. And there are serious
consequences for children and for
society as a whole. Narrowing the gaps must be a priority for ec
educators.
When young children have not had the learning opportunities
they requires in order to succeed in school, ec
programs need to provide even more extended and enriched
learning experiences.
Slide 6
We know that effective, developmentally appropriate curriculum
is based on what is known about the interrelationships and
sequences of ideas, so that children’s later abilities and
understandings can be built on those already acquired.
A teacher’s moment – by – moment actions & interactions with
children are the most powerful determinant of learning outcomes
and development. Curriculum is very important, but what the
teacher does is paramount.
Intentional teachers are well prepared to tell others – parents,
administrators, colleagues – about what they are doing. Not only
do they know what to do, they also know why they are doing it
and can describe their purposes.
Both child-guided and teacher-guided experiences are vital to
children’s development and learning. (Elaborate)
It is vital for ec settings to provide opportunities for sustained
high-level play and for teachers to actively support children’s
progress toward such play. We will talk later and at length about
some children who do not know-how to play.
Effective teachers are intentional in their use of a variety of
approaches and strategies to support children’s interest and
ability in each learning domain. Significant learning is embedded
in play, routines, and interest areas. Effective teachers also
provide carefully planned curriculum that focuses children’s
attention on a particular concept or topic.
To ensure that teachers are able to provide care and education of
high quality, they must be well prepared, participate in ongoing
professional development, and receive sufficient support and
compensation.
Teacher quality and effectiveness is a top priority. It takes
teachers who are well trained to make good decisions about skills
and concepts that children should learn and what is the best way
of presenting these concepts to young children.
Also valuable to teachers is interaction with mentors and peers.
Meeting the needs of individual learners and helping all children
to develop and learn require significant time for teachers to
collaborate with colleagues, discuss and observe best practices,
and participate in meaningful professional development. MENTOR
PROGRAM.
Slide 7
Creating a caring community of learners.
Children learn and develop best when they are a part of a
community in which all participants consider and contribute to
one another’s well being. To create such a classroom, teachers
• Get to know each child’s personality. Abilities, and ways of
learning
• Make sure children get the support they need to develop
relationships with others and feel part of the group
• Work to build a strong sense of group identity among the
children “the circle of we”
• Create an environment that is organized, orderly, and
comfortable for children
• Plan ways for children to work and play together
collaboratively
• Bring each child’s home culture and language into the
shared culture of the class; and
• Discourage tattling, teasing, scape-goating, and other
practices that undermine a sense of community
How we interact with children shapes how they approach others,
how they feel about themselves, how they develop and learn.
Teaching to enhance development & learning.
Using a wide range of teaching strategies is the teachers “tool
belt”. The teacher selects the best strategy to use at any given
moment, depending on the goals, the situation, and the needs of
the child.
•
Acknowledging : positive attention that tells the child your
noticed “You wrote your name” “Thanks for your help”
• Encouraging: comments that promote the child’s
persistence and effort “This is a hard one, but you are
coming up with lots of ideas”.
• Modeling and demonstrating: showing the correct way to
perform a procedure (e.g. how to hold a hammer or how to
wash your face)
• Give directions: specific instructions for actions or
behaviors. “Pour very slowly so we don’t lose any milk”
In these ways we are scaffolding children’s learning. Learning
experiences that build on what children already know and can do,
but also make them stretch a reasonable amount are the most
effective ones. And they need time to practice the skills they are
in the process of acquiring.
Planning appropriate curriculum.
Curriculum is knowledge and skills to be taught and the plans for
experiences through which learning will take place. Curriculum
guides teachers in developing and carrying out learning
experiences that ate consistent with the programs goals for
children. Children learn more in programs where there is a wellplanned and implemented curriculum.
It begins with the question, “what should children who come out
of the program know and be able to do?” Good programs have
always recognized that children’s early physical, social,
emotional, and cognitive development affects their future success
and well-being.
Recently, professional organizations have been placing greater
emphasis on defining and evaluating key learning outcomes.
Here are just a few examples:
Language and literacy:
• Predicts what will happen next in a story
• Identifies words that rhyme
Mathematics:
• Determines “how many” in sets of 5 or fewer objects
• Matches and sorts shapes
Socio-emotional Development:
• Shows increasing abilities to use compromise and discussion
in working, playing, and resolving conflicts with peers.
And finally, teachers should do the following;
Use curriculum framework to give logical meaning to the
classroom experience. Not a bits and pieces approach but one
where activities relate to one another in a meaningful way.
Consider the developmental paths that children follow in
determining sequence and pace of learning. Select materials with
children’s interests and progress in mind.
Make meaningful connections a priority in curriculum planning.
Connected and integrated curriculum, built on something children
already know something about is more effective than curriculum
taught in small, unrelated chunks. (e.g. themes and projects)
Slide 8
children’s progress toward those outcomes. This includes
observing them and closely considering their work, a key for
teaches in their efforts to get to know each child and his or her
abilities. Assessment is a vital part of “meeting learners where
they are.”
On an ongoing basis, we assess in order to
• Monitor children’s development &learning
• Guide out planning and decision making
• Identify children who might benefit from special services or
supports, and
• Report and communicate with others
Assessing children in developmentally appropriate ways requires
attention to what is
• Age appropriate…individually appropriate…culturally
appropriate
Developing reciprocal relationships with families.
Making developmentally appropriate decisions for children means
knowing them as individuals. And the younger the children, the
more a teacher needs to acquire much of this knowledge through
relationships with their families. Asking families about their
children is a valuable strategy, but that’s all. It also conveys to
parents that the teacher values their knowledge and insights.
The relationship we want to create is a two-way street, with
communication and respect in both directions – that is, a
reciprocal relationship. Creating two-way relationships with
families means:
• Making parents welcome in the classroom and inviting their
participation
• Create open dialogue (don’t come off as a know it all)
• Maintain frequent positive communication. Planned
conferences, messages or letters sent home, day to day
communication. Then anytime you do have a concern or
question, you can raise it without the parents feeling
threatened.
• Acknowledge parents’ choices and goals for their children.
When there is a difference of opinion about what’s best,
keep in mind that your goals is not to win, but to come to a
meeting of the minds where both parties listen to each
others’ concerns and views and together search for a
solution that addresses shared goals for the child.
Slide 9
Excellent teachers are intentional in all aspects of their role.
1. Creating the caring community
2. Teaching to enhance development & learning
3. Planning curriculum to achieve important goals
4. Assessing children’s development and learning
5. Establishing reciprocal relationships with families
These various facets of the teachers role are blended into a whole
(above). Clearly these 5 facets are closely interrelated, and none
can be left out or shortchanged without seriously weakening the
whole.
To make sure your efforts to succeed as a teacher, you will need
to take seriously all five aspects of practice and continually
deepen and update your knowledge within each of them. The
children you teach will learn and thrive.
Slide 10
This position statement continues to challenge the field to move
from either/or to both/and thinking.
The call was in response to a recurring tendency in American
discussion in education: the polarizing into either/or choices on
many questions that were seen more positively as both/and.
For example, heated debates continue about whether children
benefit more from either direct instruction or child guided
activity. Really, each approach works best for different kinds of
learning, and elements of both can be combined effectively.
See. Example pg. 49 Science activity.
Read a selected few statements offered as examples of the many
ways that ec practice draws on both/and thinking.