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.