QUALITY DAP TEACHING

ECE standard 4 / CDA Goal 1,3, & 5

Students will identify, explain, and demonstrate the role of the teacher in planning and facilitating developmentally appropriate practices (DAP).

2. What does Developmentally Appropriate Practices mean?

• Choosing activities: • that are age appropriate for each child • that challenge and encourage learning on an individual level• that focus on the interests of the child• that are active, concrete, and hands on• that are multi-cultural and not gender specific

GUIDELINES FOR DAP TEACHING:

Make it fun. If your not having fun, you're doing something wrong & learning isn't happening.• Never drill• Let the children do most of the talking and moving. • Teach excitement and enthusiasm for learning.

                                           

GUIDELINES FOR TEACHING: Child must be actively involved to learn. The object is not

the story but the child's response to it that counts.

GUIDELINES FOR TEACHING:

Risk looking silly, loosing perfect discipline, and showing emotion.

Eye to eye contact. Sit so this can happen.

GUIDELINES FOR TEACHING:

Short attention span: 5 to 10 minutes on one thing. Change often.

Reward accomplishments – attention, praise, treasure box, privileges, notes home, and badges/certificates.

1. What is the role of the teacher in planning and presenting DAP activities for young children that are Child Directed and Child Supported?

Explain teacher directed activities.

• Child Directed, Child Initiated, and Child Supported = ________________________

• Teacher directed & teacher initiated= _______• By creating Child focused DAP activities, the children will be

encouraged to discover for themselves their world on an individual level.

• Love of learning will become a major part of these activities.

What the Educator Does:• ENGAGE: Create interest & curiosity• EXPLORE: Encourage learning to occur

and act as a facilitator and consultant.• EXPLAIN: Explain and justify learning• ELABORATE: Apply & expand to alternate

explanations.• EVALUATE: Observe and assess learners

and learning. Learners can assess their own learning.

HOW TO HELP A CHILD DISCOVER FOR THEMSELVES:• Learning is not something we do to the child, it comes

from within. • A good learner: (provide this environment)

• loves learning• eager discoverer• wants to know

HOW TO HELP A CHILD DISCOVER FOR THEMSELVES:• Know child inside and out.• Focus on what the child is feeling.

-Avoid putting adult ideas into children's heads.

HOW TO HELP A CHILD DISCOVER FOR THEMSELVES:

Be a skillful observer:• What most attracts the child's attention?• What action schemes is the child repeating?• What consequences is the child producing with his

actions?• What does the child say as he explores and who is

it directed at?• How does he cope with momentary distractions?• Does he integrate the actions of others into his

own play?

HOW TO HELP A CHILD DISCOVER FOR THEMSELVES:• Listen carefully to questions asked by the child.

• They contain assumptions about the world held by the child & gives the teacher ideas for learning encounter.

• Play with the child and imitate, thus the child will imitate you.

HOW TO HELP A CHILD DISCOVER FOR THEMSELVES:• Present novel variations on the theme.• Change the play to expand it, unobtrusively introduce

new ways of doing things. • Be a source of challenge and exploration.

3. Describe how children learn best (discuss hands on and active learning).

• By discovering their world through the use of all of their senses.• Hands on concrete learning

• Basic learning styles include field-sensitive, field-independent, visual learners, and auditory learners.• Field-Sensitive: Children who are more interactive with others;

volunteering, assisting, and helpful, they also try to gain attention.• Field-Independent: Children who are more independent and prefer

to work on their own. They enjoy competition as well as individual recognition.

• Visual Learners: A child who depends a great deal on the sense of sight. This child will notice small visual changes in the environment.

• Auditory Learners: A child who learn best through hearing. This child is the first to hear a fly in the classroom or a snow plow outdoors.

• Tactile: A child who learns best through doing. This child needs to be shown and allowed to do it with you. Hands on.

4. How do you use DAP in selecting materials and activities for children?

• Make sure the activities that are planned are appropriate for the age of the children that you are working with. You don’t want to give them a task that is so hard they can’t do it. This causes the children to become frustrated and often they give up.

• If the tasks appear to be hard, create a new variation that fits the child’s needs. DO NOT JUMP IN AND DO IT FOR THEM.

5. How can you plan creative activities for children?

• When planning activities try to make it fun for the children. Keep in mind though that they need to be DAP as well.

• It should be something that is going to help spark their interest in the activities, is active, concrete, and uses all of their senses.

6. What does DAP have to do with stages of development in children?

• DAP is focusing on the individual child’s interests, needs, and skills.

• A 2 year old and 5 year old are interested in different things, have different needs, and have different skills.

7. Why is it good for children to repeat activities?

• Children learn best by repetition – learning and doing a skill over and over again.

• “Practice makes perfect.”

8. What is positive questioning (open-ended)?

• Asking the children a question that requires a response more than a yes or no or a single word answer.

• Positive questioning techniques• Have ways to ask the children what they are learning from the activities.

These aren’t in the form of a test but more in a way that children feel comfortable and are able to let you know what they are learning.

• Sometimes this could be as simple as having them draw a picture about the things that they have learned.

• Why do you think that happened?• What will happen if….?• What do you think about….?• What do you see…?• What are you doing with…?

• Closed-Ended questioning: single word answers, yes/no

QUALITY DAP TEACHERS KNOW THAT Children are Active (not passive) Learners so they..

• Give children opportunities for gross motor activities each day.

• Keep inactive segments short. • Provide free-choice periods.

• Adapt to differing styles and abilities• Provide many opportunities for children to communicate• Facilitate successful completion of tasks. • Recognize that children learn through trial and error.

QUALITY DAP TEACHERS KNOW THAT Children are Curious so they..

• Build activities around children’s interests.

• Provide many chances for children to explore.

• Encourage children to pose problems and investigate solution.

• Facilitates development of self control• Allow for increasing independence as

child acquires skills

QUALITY DAP TEACHERS KNOW THAT Children are Playful so they..

• Integrate play throughout the day. • Provide variety of props and manipulative objects. • Encourage children to create and use their own ideas. • Create a classroom design and schedule that allows children to

move about freely. • Recognize that high quality play is often noisy.• Make it fun by teaching with excitement and enthusiasm for

learning.• Risk looking silly, loosing perfect discipline, and showing emotion.

• Experience it with the child because learning should be a walk of discovery, not a race to the finish line.

QUALITY DAP TEACHERS KNOW THAT Children are our Future so they..

• Respond quickly to each child’s needs• Be alert to signs of stress in children’s behavior.• Build self-concept by

• Respecting • Accepting• Using positive guidance• Comforting the child regardless of the behavior.