Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Julie Estep
development that helps children reach their full potentials cognitively, socially,
childrens learning style, a childs life experiences, a childs current knowledge and
abilities, a childs culture and differences, a childs interests, learning process focused,
and mind challenging for children. It veers away from the teacher directed approach and
the adult is always right practices by making a huge emphasis on how important play and
practices ensure that a child will be able to reach their full potential in learning. For
are. Every child learns at different paces and this should be taken into account during the
lesson planning process. Although a childrens age does not measure a childs abilities it
does help teachers set practical expectations. A childs age helps educators set up
appropriate achievements they can expect from children without putting making it too
difficult for the child. Age appropriate curriculum includes activities that are doable but
still challenging.
unique. Being the same age doesnt make the children the same. Every child has a pattern
of individual growth they go through, no one child learns the same as the other. All
SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT DAP 3
children have a unique personality and learning style. It is vital that, Program
expectations, content, and delivery should be adjusted to fit the youths personal needs,
rather than expecting youth to conform to rigid program rules and demands
(Bartholomae, S., Peter, C., & Meschke, L, 2012, p. 91). In order to accommodate these
students background and culture. Teachers should use the diversity of the classroom to
Developmentally appropriate practices are based on how our children grow and
develop. Teachers take this knowledge to make thoughtful and appropriate decisions
regarding our work with young children. DAP is a philosophy not a list of guidelines to
follow exactly.
they run their activities and lessons. Rather than being solely teacher directed, it
allows teachers to understand that they need to let children learn fluidly through
their own choices and not the adults. One aspect of DAP is its child-centered
that DAP practices have on child outcomes (Averette, P., Crane-Mitchell, L.,
This type of teaching helps children reach the challenging and achievable goals that are
set in front of them. DAP helps a teacher make developmentally appropriate practice
decisions by following three important rules. These three rules to a successful lesson is
considering the age group, determining the childrens individual interests, and a childs
life experience or cultural background. Being successful in DAP a teacher must be,
Practices with Young Children, p. 4). It is important that we assess children regularly to
see what they need in order to succeed and what they need to stay engaged.
follows:
All areas of development and learning are important. Learning and development
multiple social and cultural contexts. Children learn in a variety of ways. Play is
These practices are a long list for teachers to follow so to combat this the five guidelines
There are five key aspects of developmentally appropriate practices and are listed
for teachers and caregivers to follow. These guidelines are: creating a caring community
relationships with families. Each of these aspects is closely related, and failing to
address one would critically undermine each of the other parts (Kostelnik, M.,
Sopderman, A., Whiren, A., Rupiper L., 2011, p. 28). These are guidelines specific for
effective teaching. These practices were created as a quick guide for teachers to
These DAP principles and guidelines can all be applied to all subjects taught in
school. It is important to build a positive relationship with your students so that they will
be excited to try new activities the teacher may have for them when they get to school.
The way to build that trust is by creating an environment that is based relatively on the
or activities that are fun and interesting to the childrens age group, individually
appropriate, and respectful to all of the students cultures and backgrounds. Children will
be less likely to learn if they are not engaged, and to become engaged it must be relative
SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT DAP 6
to the childrens interests. Once this is established all of the students will start to absorb
all of the learning material provided from hands on experiences in the developmentally
References
12 Principles of Child Development and Learning that Inform Practice. (n.d.). Retrieved
development
Averette, P., Crane-Mitchell, L., Hedge, A., & Sugita, C. (2014). Japanese nursery and
Bartholomae, S., Peter, C., & Meschke, L. (2012). Developmentally Appropriate Practice
https://learning.fresno.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=861535.