Journal Topic #2:Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum

While I have been working in this practicum, I have created my own developmentally
appropriate curriculum. Well, at least for the small amount of time I was allowed by the lead-
teacher to exercise my ideas. I kept in my mind desired goals as well as What I have learned
about the children both working as a group and working with them on an individual basis, I
planned a few experiences to help to promote the childrens learning and development. One of
the activities I decided to introduce to these special needs students is a scissor activity. Very
simple. I had each child pick up a pair of childs safety scissors. I then showed them the animal
at the starting line of where they were to place their scissors. I made sure that each student knew
how to properly hold the scissors, which only two of the eight students knew how to do. I held
my hand on theirs to show them how to correctly work the scissors. Then, I explained how to cut
on the dotted line to the other end of the paper. This exercise consisted of four dotted lines to
follow and cut. Three children could not hold an attention span to finish all of the lines. One
child finished three lines, and four of them successfully finished the cutting activity. The children
have worked on other learning activities with me such as painting with snow made of glue and
shaving cream, making snowmen from water bottles, painting hearts at the art easel and using
fat crayons to color rainbows.
I cannot override how the lead teacher wants her curriculum to be taught in this classroom. I
get a very small window of opportunity granted to me to do what I would like to do with these
students. At this time, I have over 50-hours of service on-the-books for this classroom at this
point. I have grown to learn the interests of the children in this classroom. I have gained this
knowledge by talking to them and by observing their personal actions, what they say and how
they react to new material presented to them, and by how they interact with their peers. In my
future classroom, I will have a deeper learning curriculum for these special needs children. My
ideas of a deeper learning curriculum includes incorporating hands-on learning with audio/visual
equipment such as cassette recorders, microphones, ear phones, classroom computers, a
television, audio tapes and implementing lights and sounds and speaking tools like Simon Says,
toys like phones that light up and talk, a See-and-Say and talking childrens story books, just to
name a few.
To incorporate anti-bias into the classroom, we can have books to read that show and talk
about people from various cultures and people at various ages working, playing, eating and going
to school together. These examples will also be randomly displayed around the room on posters.
When working lessons, all boys and all girls will be included on an equal basis and there will not
be a specific boy or girl role. In the future I will look forward to using assistive devices like
speech generating devices such as computers as they are simple to use; all the students need to
do is to listen to the spoken message. The simpler ones have a visual display that will show a
symbol or a picture of what they are discussing while the more complex ones allow the students
to type their requests into the device, and its spoken out loud to the teacher. There are specific
computer programs that allow for the children who have difficulty using their hands frequently to
use a touch screen monitor instead of using a mouse.
As an early childhood educator, there are several ways I can develop my curriculum
expertise. One of these ways include joining a professional organization as they provide
continuing educational opportunities, newsletters that offer resources to help you stay on top of
the latest research and they provide mentoring and allow for you to develop contacts within your
areas of expertise. A second way is to become an action researcher where I research in my
practice and I make myself always engage in investigation and strive to improve learning.
In comparing and contrasting the reality of my classroom with the DAP practices I have
learned about, I believe how I want to run my classroom and the materials I picture in it is very
realistic. I believe my vision is age-appropriate and individual appropriate. My classroom will
have the environment to encourage the students to be active learners. It will include materials to
make the children critically think, cooperatively work together, solve problems, develop self-
regulatory skills and enjoy learning.
In considering the reality of my classroom with the guidance provided by the NAEYC Code
of Ethical Conduct, I believe it to be pretty well-rounded. I will create the best classroom
atmosphere so the children have a secure environment that creates consistent relationships with
positive responsive adults and also creates opportunities for positive peer relations. I will create a
wide-range of teaching strategies which will include play, persistence, initiative and flexibility.