Examples Of Developmentally Appropriate Practices

Developmentally Appropriate Practices Developmentally appropriate practices, or DAP, are how you are able to teach each child according to his or her needs. By definition, DAP is defined as “an approach to teaching grounded in the research on how young children develop and learn and in what is known about effective early education. Its framework is designed to promote young children’s optimal learning and development.” (naeyc) For teachers, it means that you understand the child and her background. It’s so important to understand a child, her background, and her development in order to know how to best help each child progress. It’s when you plan the curriculum and the development of each child together that you can make a true difference.
DAP truly helps teachers in making decisions for the children’s learning and helps them to plan intentional curriculum. (Mrs. Pottle) While it’s important to understand what developmentally appropriate practices are, it’s even more important to put them into action. It’s key to understand what a DAP classroom looks like, examples of DAP applied in a classroom, and how to base your teaching practices on DAP principles.
What a DAP classroom looks like: A developmentally appropriate classroom is set up in a way that allows for children to learn physically, socially and emotionally, and cognitively. All these domains in a classroom must work together and be able to provide for every individual child. In the classroom, there are a variety of toys and materials that are provided at every level. The room should not only have materials and toys for every developmental level, but it should also be set up in a manner that the room is play oriented. Many theorists, such as Piaget and Erikson, have established how important play is for a child. Play helps children with “self-regulation, language, cognition, and social competence.” (DAP handout) Having the room set up to have a play oriented activities helps set up the children to learn according to their developmental level. Children learn more through play than through any other way. Children are naturally “little scientists” at this point in their development and they need to be able to explore. In the classroom, they need to be given that freedom to be able to explore and discover how things work. The room also needs to have materials and furniture that is at the child’s level and size. In a DAP classroom, everything needs to be done at the child’s level. The true focus needs to be on the child. In a classroom that has developmentally inappropriate practices, there that are for one development. They don’t provide the wide variety. It should be set up in a manner that it is about final products and academics.
Examples of DAP in a Classroom:
While it’s important to know how a DAP classroom is like, it’s just as important to understand examples of these practices being put into place.
Understanding these examples can help to better understand how to implement this into a classroom. To start off it’s important to know what it means to have a variety of toys for different levels of development. If one were to have the children do a puzzle in class, then there would be a variety of different puzzles for different levels of development. There would be large puzzles with a few pieces and then smaller puzzles with more pieces. The toys would also have a variety of ways for the children to practice their pincer and palmer grasp. The toys would allow the children to explore how they work and how to use them. A toy such as blocks is a great way to help children explore. Friedrich Froebel, the father of kindergarten, had gifts in order to help children achieve their need for play. These gifts were blocks and they allowed children to be able to build and create. Blocks help children to problem solve and discover how things work. Another great way to implement how to provide a chance for children to explore at a developmentally appropriate level is through art. When doing art activities, it’s key to provide a variety of ways for the children to create and then to let them create. An example of this would be to have a variety of paint brushes and then letting the children to create what they would like to create. When providing books for the classroom, it’s also important to provide a variety of levels and interest for the children. Overall, with each of these examples it’s important to note how important it is to always keep the child in mind. Whereas in a developmentally inappropriate classroom it’s focused on the final product. When art projects are carried out, there is a final product desired. This would be like if all students needed to color a tree and it had to be done with certain colors. While you want
children to create fun art projects, it’s far more important to focus on the process and not the final product.
A DAP teacher: A Developmentally Appropriate teacher makes sure to include in his teaching practices and plans to take the individual needs of the child, their background, and where they’re at developmentally into their teaching. In order to achieve being a DAP teacher you need to have an understanding on the principles of DAP practices. You have to know how important it is to include all domains into your curriculum. You have to not just focus upon how to cognitively develop the child, but how he will be affected socially and physical in his learning environment. In order to know where a child needs to be, you need to understand the developmental milestones of the child. Many children will follow in a “well documented sequence” (12 DAP principles). It will be important to know where each child is in his development in order to base your curriculum and lessons for the day based off where that child is in his development. Yet, it’s also important to note that though children do follow a sequence, children learn at varied rates. You can’t compare one child with another. Rather it will be important to see where you can help them developmentally and build them from where they are at. In order to make sure that each of the children can learn and grow you have to make sure that you as a teacher create a secure environment. Each child should come into your classroom and know that she is safe. When they feel safe you will then be able to help them mentally seek to discover the world around them. It will be important to keep in mind the big picture as a DAP teacher. You will be creating the early experiences for the children that will shape their future learning and motivation. In order to help them have their learning shaped you will need to make sure that each individual child is learning just outside their zone of proximal development. They need to be able to learn on their own, but with guided practice. As a DAP teacher, you are shaping their future, it’s important to ensure that each child has best future available.
Conclusion:
Developmentally Appropriate Practices are important for children to be able to develop optimally. While Developmentally Inappropriate practiced classrooms do help the child develop, they are missing helping the child holistically. Developmental practices do take the child in holistically. A DAP classroom helps establish the tone for how the classroom will be run. A DAP classroom ensures that children are able to explore and be the “little scientists” that they are. It’s important to know how to implement these DAP and the importance of having these practices in your curriculum. When DAP is appropriately carried out, you are able to reach the children in each of the domains of their development, which is why it is key to know how to be DAP teacher. You have to know how to teach appropriately and create an atmosphere for the children to develop appropriately. Developmentally appropriate practices help to build a solid foundation for children.