Understanding and Applying Developmentally Appropriate

Practice

Chapter 3

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT

CHAPTER !!!!***!!!!

I. Developmentally Appropriate Practice

A. Often abbreviated DAP

B. It is teaching that is attuned to children’s ages, experience, abilities and interests

C. It helps them attain challenging and achievable goals.

What does

attuned mean?

D. Children do not learn by sitting and listening, they learn by doing.

Draw a picture.

E. We want BRAIN

FRIENDLY LEARNING!

Measuring Activity

What did you learn from the measuring activity?

II. The Brain

Meet the Immature Neuron

*The neuron is a brain cell

*Must become organized into systems to think and remember

*Immature neurons have fewer dendrite spines

Draw

The brain can grow dendrites. Meet the mature neuron.

*Stimuli received through 5 senses

*stimulated neurons transmit messages and grow new dendrite spines

*growth of dendrites responsive to environment

YOU CAN HELP THE CHILDREN GROW DENDRITES!!!!!!!

Draw

Your job this

year!

HOW DO YOU GROW DENDRITES?

SNED

?

?

?

?

?

?

snu

snu

snu

This is the letter sned.

It makes the sound snu.

We are going to draw it with our finger pencil.

Feeding a Child’s brain

Sned did grow any dendrites. Why not?

Dendrite Farming:

*concrete, relevant experiences not sned

*link language to sensory input

*help children see & understand relationships

Pick 4 you had not

thought of.

*More work brain does, the more it becomes capable of doing

*repetition

*active hands on exploration & investigation

*new challenges

*Mental effort by child not adult

*Current, active interest of child

Activities in all four areas of development:

Physical Social

Emotional Intellectual

III. Deciding what is Developmentally Appropriate

A. It is age appropriate.

B. It meets the individual child’s growth level.

C. It supports the child’s cultural and social environment.

D. It is flexible and can be adapted to meet children’s needs

Test Question

Examples of DAP

You have a child who is restless during group story time.

A DAP teacher will:

Scold Sam and send him to time

out.

Encourage Sam to participate in

the group discussion.

Test Question

You have a child who is having trouble choosing a learning center to do.

A DAP teacher will

Choose a center for them.

Ask the child do you want to play with magnets or read a

story?

You are planning a math center.

A DAP teacher will plan:

The child rolls a dice and jumps as many times as the

number they rolled while they count aloud.

The child rolls a dice and counts to that number.

You are planning an art project.

A DAP teacher will plan

Put out paint, paper and a variety of tools for a child

to paint with.

A picture for the children to color

You have a child with a very short attention span.

A DAP teacher will:

When they notice the child is no longer

participating in the activity, they will suggest the child

choose a new center.

Encourage the child to spend more time in

each learning center.

IV. Developmentally Appropriate Practices in the Classroom

A. Goals should be:1. realistic and attainable

2. Allow continued practice of mastered skills.

3. Once goal is mastered, new goal should be set

Test Question

4. The ultimate goal is to promote the learning and development of each child

5. Different children may have different goals that reflect their age, experience and abilities.

Test Question

Test Question

B. DAP is a Caring Community 1. Children learn to regulate emotions and behavior to make friends.

2. Children thrive because they feel safe and cared for.

3. There is respect for individual children and their home/community contexts.

Test Question

2 ideas in your own

words.

IV. What Good Teachers Do in a DAP Classroom

A. Observe children 1. response to materials, activities and people

2. learn about their interests and needs

3. Adapt curriculum and teaching to fit individual needs.

Test Question

2 ideas in your own

words.

B. Be an intentional teacher :

1. They have a purpose for their actions and reasons for their decisions

Test Question

2 ideas in your own

words.

2. They have a reciprocal or two- way relationship with parents

Test Question

3. They ask “Does it work?” for all aspects of a preschool program

VI. Ways of Thinking

A. Both / and Thinking NOT Either / Or

1. Either/or thinking looks like this:

Which is correct, teaching

phonics or vocabulary to help a child

learn to read.

Which is correct, teacher

directed or child initiated experiences.

Explain the

difference and give

an example.

2. Both / And Thinking looks like this:

Several possible

answers can be correct.

Like a camera, you can zoom in on one child or zoom out to see the whole

class from different

perspectives

Children of the same age can be alike

and different.

You have predictable structures

and orderly routines but as a teacher are flexible.

You look at possible solutions

from different

perspectives

The Child

The Whole Class

The teacher

The parent

Test Question

VI. Position Statements

A. A position statement is based on research and explains your stand on an issue or problem.

What did you sign in preschool that is a position

statement?

Preschool mission

statement

B. NAEYC published its position statement in 1987 and revised it in 2009.

1. It includes guidelines and principles for teaching young children from birth to age 8.

2. It includes recommended practices for different age groups.

Test Question

1 idea from NAEYC mission

statement

VII. Research Conclusions

A. It is difficult to conduct research on DAP because there are many different teaching behaviors and aspects of classroom organization

Test Question

1 idea from

research conclusion

s.

B. DAP when used, has lasting education effects for children.