Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum in Action

Introduction

Curriculum is a formulated model that trainers apply in the formulation of developmentally appropriate practices. Several aspects of a curriculum encompass the lessons attended by the students, teaching materials used in a teaching procedure, strategies as well as teaching methods, and a general class setup, among others that are used in influencing the studying procedure (Kostelnik et al., 2018). Despite this being the case, the trainer must formulate or develop appropriate activities for child development with the scholars or children via a teacher who is training in their classroom setup. In response to the formulation of developmentally appropriate tasks for students, a teacher needs to examine the culture of every child, and the children’s needs, interests, and skills in the classroom setup. This paper aims to develop developmentally appropriate tasks for preschoolers aged 3 to 5 years.

Rationale for creating a detailed weekly lesson plan

Developmental age, the developmental activities that I will premier in this paper are activities that deal with preschool children. The age of the children is three, four and five respectively. From the above statement, it will be necessary for a teacher to be aware of the activities that preschoolers love doing most. It will help the teacher formulate all the learning activities that the children will love and, more so, those that will assist the children in developing according to the various life stages of development and growth (Bullard, 2019). The age bracket of 3 to 5 years is vital because, at this level, they develop curiosity about things they do in their lives. Furthermore, at this stage, the children try to find out more about everything that surrounds them, they become more active, expressing their feelings, and above all, they are independent. Therefore, trainers need to develop learning tasks that will enhance an emotional, societal, language, physical as well as cognitive skill of a child. Classroom management, considering that the preschool students will be placed in a class setup, it shall be important for a trainer to have a better management of all activities in a classroom. It has some beneficial since it will permit teachers or other individuals who may teach the students in a preschool in the engagement of all children in the learning process. Additionally, class management, specifically the preschoolers, is of great benefit since the regulations and rules that the teacher will develop will assist the children in knowing what they need to do while at school. In addition, using both routines and rules that the children will follow in the classroom setup will prevent undesired habits in the classroom (Vamvoudakis et al., 2021). Therefore, the teachers need to formulate the classroom setup by considering the learners’ personal needs to attain this goal.

The teacher needs to be consistent while implementing routines and rules to be adhered to, together with the consequences for children who violate the set rules and regulations. Theoretical Alignment, the B.F Skinner Operant Conditioning model will be of great help for preschool students. Following this theory, punishments and rewards for habits are shown by students while in a class containing several influences on the studied things and what is not studied by the children. A major emphasis in this includes the change of a particular habit that are either liked or disliked; therefore, it is practiced via a negative or positive reinforcement depending on the behavior type shown by the learner who the teacher is training. In assessing this theory, it is important to note that the whole learning process is through reinforcement. It implies that for the desired habits, there is positive reinforcement, while for the disliked habits; there is the use of negative reinforcement. Following the above explanation, it is notable that the framework is of great help for preschool children. Some types of positive reinforcements will be identifiable and used in the classroom setup. For example, a child who will execute the assigned activities by the teacher will be rewarded and encouraged to perform more next time. It is a type of positive reinforcement, and if used, the child will feel that the teacher has rewarded them, and the child will, in turn, perform to their level best for them to receive congratulations from the teacher. Despite this, the teacher needs to develop a form of negative punishment that will be applied when the children are involved in undesired habits. For example, if a child fails to adhere to the set instructions by the teacher, they will be instructed to run to the field and come back to the classroom.

It does not imply that the trainer will use punish all children but to caution the rest of the children who do not follow instructions. The teacher can decide on the method of punishment to be applied per the type of habit that the child is engaged in and good or not good. Curriculum Approach, considering that the learners that I have selected are under a preschool category of studying, it is advisable to apply a creative model. Therefore the curriculum method is applied to children because it is always formulated so that children are motivated to be creative in any activity they are involved in and out of the classroom setup. Additionally, the curriculum will be applied to preschool children since it will support every child’s emotional, cognitive, language, and physical development in the classroom setup. To realize all this, then a child and play-directed tasks in and outside a classroom setup shall be the foundation of studying in the center-basis setup in the preschoolers. Thus, for the importance of center-based children and organization, the instructor needs ensuring that the studying atmosphere is free of anything that can lead to harm. Furthermore, the learning atmosphere needs to be formulated so that children have the freedom of interaction not only with their fellow children but with the teachers and other people in an institution.

Another reason for applying best and creative strategy in a learning institution in the preschool children is that they offers the trainers and more shareholders who are teaching the learners in identifying several materials needed by the children for effective learning. Some of the appropriate materials include music instruments, art materials, toy blocks, and other materials that the teacher will choose. With the use of the materials above, learners are guided by the teachers on the way of going about with themselves and children, and by the end of each day they shall be able to exploit various shows that are not known if a person is never careful. With the help of a creative curriculum, instructors shall be able to direct as well as provide ideas to learners and support them in the achievement of what they are working on by observing them while in the classroom. The most beneficial thing is that this strategy will be effective for the trainer to ensure adequate materials for every task that the children will be involved in daily. Additionally, the teacher needs to be a good planner, and they need to formulate various numbers and ensure there are adequate materials for every task each day.  

Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAPs)

Developmentally appropriate practices are the teaching practices with the need of assisting young children in their development as well as effective learning at their early ages of studying. It is important because education in the preschool stage forms the foundation for their careers in the future where children shall pursue developmentally appropriate practices. The preschool teachers to be involved must be well decided so that every child’s aim or requirements are well addressed (Ryan et al., 2021). Bearing this in mind, professionals ought to ensure that the developmentally appropriate practices included in the process shall help children make better choices. Considering that the selected option is a well-based preschool process, to form developmentally appropriate practices, the personal interest as well as aims for every learner must have to be well factored in at the stage of planning.

In addition, there is a requirement for professional handling of these children to consider all the cultural together with social expectations from the parents and other closer members for each learner in a center-basis of an institution providing services of a preschool. Besides, a professional handling each child in the state of studying must consider the best coaching approaches, methods, as well as practices to meet a requirement of each child in a centrally based preschool method. In such scenario, a trainer shall require a higher range of coaching forms since children who are well handled comes from several backgrounds in social and culture. So, the integration of several ways for teaching shall be of important in realizing of developmentally appropriate activities. Through having it in place, a trainer shall accommodate necessities for every child with no regard towards changing situations and the wants for every learner.

Lesson Plan 1

Developmental Focus or Content Area: Methods to Studying

Age or Grade of Children: 3-5

Lesson Length: 30 minutes

Worksheets decrease children’s beliefs in themselves. They understand what is not good, but they cannot know why it is not good, or they cannot understand the best answer. They have no methods of utilizing attempts and mistakes to find the most suitable answer. Leaners who see most of the wrong answers may perceive defeat in their power. It cannot be necessarily harmful to learners who occasionally use coloring in school activities but it is a learning activity used by many teachers in their teaching plans. Most children use most of their time coloring books instead of using that time to develop creativity in other appropriate ways. Besides learning how to color between lines using colors which a child is capable of doing using a good pencil is not of any importance to the learner. Coloring pages is not an art and does not promote creativity in any means.

Lesson Plan 2

Developmental Focus or Content field: Math

Age or Grade of Children: 3-5

Lesson Length: 30 minutes

Self-selected and child-driven activities help children in learning at their personal pace. Through a self-directed, there are no academic benchmarks and timelines to adhere to. Learners have the chance of developing their personal expertise, daily in sensible ways. It also molds internal motivation. Without the adult’s definition of activity effectiveness, children will locate the inner joy of any play. They tend to naturally challenge themselves to opt for new and innovative ideas and they will be happy when doing so.  

Conclusion

It is appropriate to know that it is the trainer’s or the teacher’s role to come out with developmentally appropriate practices that will enhance knowledge and skills development. They will assist all students in the achievement of their desired objectives. The significance is for the instructor to locate all the learning resources and ensure that this learning area shall be formulated and that it should not be an object that can lead to damage to any child. Having these in place, instructors will be sure that they have met all the wants of all learners and the learning procedures shall attain the goals.

References

Bullard, J. (2019). Creating curriculum in early childhood: Enhanced learning through backward design.

Kostelnik, M. J., Soderman, A. K., Rupiper, M. L., & Whiren, A. P. (2018). Developmentally appropriate curriculum: Best practices in early childhood education. Pearson.

Ryan, S., Graue, M. E., Gadsden, V. L., & Levine, F. J. (2021). Advancing knowledge and building capacity for early childhood research. American Educational Research Association.

Vamvoudakis, K. G., Wan, Y., Lewis, F. L., & Cansever, D. (2021). Handbook of reinforcement learning and control. Springer Nature.