During
the past two weeks I was able to talk with the director of the Head Start where
I am doing my observations. I was also
able to talk to the assessment manager and the education manager. I asked them all what they think about
Developmentally Appropriate Practice and my advocacy of it. The education manager was excited about it
because she is a big proponent of children learning through play which is a
developmentally appropriate practice to use when working with young
children. The director of the program
was eager for me to share my insights with the program. The assessment manager thinks that many of
the teachers need to become more informed about DAP so she was glad that I was
doing my research on the topic.
An
insight I have gained through my observations is that some of the teachers are
very concerned about letting the children have so much free choice time and not
enough teacher instruction. From my
observations, I feel that the teachers want more teacher instruction and the
education manager wants them to have more free choice. I have learned that there needs to be a good
balance of the two. Adults are
responsible for the children’s learning but children also benefit from making
their own choices and interacting with their peers. I believe I will have a lot to share with
this program and hopefully they can find the right balance between children's
self-initiated learning and adult guidance and support.
It looks like you found a great research about DAP and Head Start programs. It's important to bring self-initiated and confidence in children's learning. All of this would improve the school's educational systems.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing to me that the 'trend' in education is to let the children have choices and determine what and how they will learn. Sometimes we as educators have to teach them how to do this. I agree with you that there needs to be a balance.
ReplyDeleteLuanne,
ReplyDeleteI think you picked a great area of advocacy for your research paper. Developmentally appropriate practice is an area that requires the utmost attention from early childhood professionals. Young children need to learn through a variety of age appropriate learning experiences. Early childhood educators have the responsibility of providing these experiences with a balance of free choice play, student guided, and teacher guided activities.
I do agree with the teachers, that there is not enough teacher directed time versus free choice time. I noticed you stated the director was a proponent for children learning through play, which is developmentall appropriate. I guess my question to that would be to what extent is child centered play considered DAP. If children begin to fight or are unsure of how to play a game or solve a puzzle or problem and the teacher is not there to guide, just how much are they actually learning. I found that teaching this is a challenge for many teacher, including myself. It is very difficult to draw a line between how long or how much you should instruct a child. Children do learn through play, but I feel they learn more through guided play.
ReplyDeleteEffective early education should be framework of all early childhood education programs. DAP were designed to promote the young children’s learning and development. All the children that attend early childhood programs should have teachers, assistant teachers, and staff that know the basics of appropriate practices. By knowing DAP programs all the people that are involved in education can understand what is typical at each sage and stage of early development. In our Head Start Program all the staff including bus drivers, social workers, office workers, and managers receives early childhood development. It is extremely important to understand children at this young age.
ReplyDelete