Developmentally Appropriate Practice
Developmentally Appropriate Practice Paper
Johnnie Elder
11/5/2010
Learning Early Childhood Education Online
18-ECE-190
Developmentally appropriate practice is both accepting children where they are and knowing how to guide them to new skill sets. A teacher/caregiver must know and believe that every child develops and grows at different rates and that just because one three year old can do write some letters in their name doesn’t mean that all three year olds can. Developmentally appropriate practice is explained by NAEYC to include five key points. These points are; create a caring community; Teaching to enhance development and learning; Planning curriculum to achieve important goals; Assessing children’s development and learning; and establishing reciprocal relationships with families. (Copple 2009) Teachers/caregivers create a caring community through the physical environment how they have chosen to set the room up based on what they know about children. The room arrangement may change as needed so that it makes sense to the users for example if there are a large number of boys in the room block area may become a little larger than if there are a lot of girls. As teachers/caregivers acknowledge feelings and words which help her/him keep children safe and secure in the environment. Children also develop a sense of safety and security in the environment because the teacher/caregiver has set the room up to have spaces for loud and quite activities, indoor and outdoor play activities. The children and teacher/caregiver are partners in the room working together. Through the curriculum a teacher/caregiver is able to set goals for children in the classroom. The curriculum has tools that allow the teacher/caregiver to assess what skills the children currently have and what skills come next. The curriculum will have lesson plans and activities for the teacher to use as well as an on going assessment. Teacher/caregivers will be about to develop individual
Johnnie Elder
11/5/2010
Learning Early Childhood Education Online
18-ECE-190
Developmentally appropriate practice is both accepting children where they are and knowing how to guide them to new skill sets. A teacher/caregiver must know and believe that every child develops and grows at different rates and that just because one three year old can do write some letters in their name doesn’t mean that all three year olds can. Developmentally appropriate practice is explained by NAEYC to include five key points. These points are; create a caring community; Teaching to enhance development and learning; Planning curriculum to achieve important goals; Assessing children’s development and learning; and establishing reciprocal relationships with families. (Copple 2009) Teachers/caregivers create a caring community through the physical environment how they have chosen to set the room up based on what they know about children. The room arrangement may change as needed so that it makes sense to the users for example if there are a large number of boys in the room block area may become a little larger than if there are a lot of girls. As teachers/caregivers acknowledge feelings and words which help her/him keep children safe and secure in the environment. Children also develop a sense of safety and security in the environment because the teacher/caregiver has set the room up to have spaces for loud and quite activities, indoor and outdoor play activities. The children and teacher/caregiver are partners in the room working together. Through the curriculum a teacher/caregiver is able to set goals for children in the classroom. The curriculum has tools that allow the teacher/caregiver to assess what skills the children currently have and what skills come next. The curriculum will have lesson plans and activities for the teacher to use as well as an on going assessment. Teacher/caregivers will be about to develop individual
References: Copple, Carol & Bredekamp, Sue (2009) Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs (Third Ed.) Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children