1.

Facilitated discussion on the NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Practice

highlighting the 12 principles of Child Development and Learning.
Developmentally appropriate practice is not based on what we think might be
true or what we want to believe about young children.
Developmentally appropriate practice is informed by what we know from
research and experience about how children develop and learn. In particular, a
review of the research literature yields a number of well-supported generalizations, or
principles.
No linear listing of principles can do justice to the complexity of the phenomenon
that is child development and learning. While the list is comprehensive, it certainly is
not all-inclusive. Each principle describes an individually contributing factor, but just
as all domains of development and learning are interrelated, so too do the principles
interconnect. For example, the influence of cultural differences and individual
differences, each highlighted in a separate principle below, cuts across all the other
principles that is, the implication of any principle often differs as a function of cultural
or individual givens.
All the limitations of such a list not with standing, collectively the principles that
follow form a solid basis for decision making for decisions at all levels about how best
to meet the needs of young children in general, and for decisions by teachers,
programs, and families about the strengths and needs of individual children, with all
their variations in prior experiences, abilities and talents, home language and English
proficiency, personalities and temperaments, and community and cultural
backgrounds.
2. Writing of reflection papers about Developmentally Appropriate Practices
(DAP)
Play is the way children learn about themselves, their surroundings, the people
in their lives and the world around them. Play helps children become more creative
and helps advance their skills and personalities. They learn to solve problems and
how to get along with others. This give them the opportunity to develop physical
abilities, gratification in being in the outdoors, and helps them understand how the
world round them falls into place. Positives experiences in play helps the child
develop positive emotional health.
By the ages 3 to 5, children can portray certain roles, work together with their
classmates and plan how they will play. Play helps influence the development of self-
regulation in children and helps motivate them into keeping their roles and following
the rules of play. This helps them grow emotionally, socially, and cognitively.
Children need the combination of social-emotional and intellectual skills to
succeed in school. Motivational qualities begin to come out during the pre-school
years. Children should be excited and curious about school and need to be able to
follow directions, exhibit self-control, and be able to listen and pay attention to others.
They need to be able to understand and appreciate the feelings of others, control
their own feelings and behaviors, and need to know how to get along with other
children and teachers.
 Children cannot be able to act in this manner without the correct guidance and
without interacting with peers of the same age for an extended period of time more
than one day a week. To achieve this, teacher need to set up their class schedules
around the children play time so that there are several moments where the children
can interact with each other and feed off each other’s reactions and behaviors so that
they may grow socially. During these times, the children should be able to play
pretend with each other in a dramatic setting, paly in grouped together or have other
small group activities where they can interact with each other. Teachers should be
there to observe the children and if needed, guided the children so that their play is
productive, but without taking over the play so that is it more teacher guided instead
of guided by the children. Teachers should comment on possibly what roles to play,
and how to make the story continue and take different turns so that each child can
play a different role to experience different roles. This will help the children that are
younger and more inhibited to come out of their shell a bit during play. The less
skilled children will feed of the more advanced and be able to progress faster by
understanding and interpreting each other’s interactions.
Effective teachers have a classroom that is child-guided and teacher-supported
as opposed to teacher-guided and child-supported. As a teacher you need to be able
to take action and enrich the way a child play time and enhance the earning that is
done while playing; encouraging open communication between the children during
pretend play by incorporating themes and inspire role playing. There should be rules
in place and a verbal exchange between the children that helps promote language,
literacy, and social and emotional development.
This practice is very prominent in the practicum class I am in. The cooperating
teacher acknowledges what the children say and do; clear on letting the children
know when they are behaving positively. Encouragement is key in her teachings,
inspiring motivation to achieve the next developmental milestone the child faces.
What I find difficult, even though she does her best, how do you encourage and push
a child to learn even when they refuse? How do you go about creating a challenge for
a child that refuses to learn and how to you pinpoint what the circumstance behind
the stubbornness is? Even with asking questions, giving directions, and
demonstrating different aspect of learning, how do you instill a positive learning
environment when the child will not budge and shoes sings of regression instead of
progression?