For Developmentally Appropriate Practices assignment, You are a parent who is concerned about the new state-mandated, textbook-based curriculum for kindergarten, and you are writing a letter to the school board in protest of this new policy. In your letter, define DAP, describe the benefits of DAP, and explain why you feel the use of a textbook-based curriculum may be inappropriate. Describe potential negative effects of this curriculum and how it is developmentally inappropriate to literacy development. Recommend an alternative approach to developing literacy skills. In your letter, use the kindergarten standards from your state and the guidelines for DAP described in the course text as well as in NAEYC resources.

The paper should be two to three pages in addition to the title page and the reference page. Use at least one scholarly reference in addition to your text. Your paper should also be formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Exploring developmentally appropriate practice

“Developmentally appropriate practice requires both meeting children where they are—which means that teachers must get to know them well —and enabling them to reach goals that are both challenging and achievable.”

As a practitioner caring for children, it is your responsibility to seek out and intentionally plan the best opportunities for children that support their over-all well being and healthy development. The practices that you use when working with young children need to embrace the most current, effective approaches in learning and development. These can be described as best practices, thoughtful teaching, quality practices, or Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP). DAP comes from a deep history in early education, research, and what many describe as “good thinking.”

NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) states, “Developmentally Appropriate Practice is informed by what we know from theory and literature about how children develop and learn.” In its Developmentally Appropriate Practice Key Messages of the Position Statement, NAEYC shares the following in defining DAP:

Developmentally appropriate practice requires both meeting children where they are—which means that teachers must get to know them well— to reach goals that are both challenging and achievable.
All teaching practices should be appropriate to children’s age and developmental status, attuned to them as unique individuals, and responsive to the social and cultural contexts in which they live.
Developmentally appropriate practice does not mean making things easier for children. Rather, it means ensuring that goals and experiences are suited to their learning and development and challenging enough to promote their progress and interest.
Best practice is based on knowledge—not on assumptions—of how children learn and develop. The research base yields major principles in human development and learning. Those principles, along with evidence about curriculum and teaching effectiveness, form a solid basis for decision making in early care and education. (This position statement articulates 12 principles – see below.)

Developmentally appropriate practice is a comprehensive educational perspective that supports optimal healthy development for every child. Developmentally appropriate practice embraces both continuity and change; continuity because it guides a tradition of quality early learning and change as it incorporates new research, knowledge, and science in regard to children’s development and learning.
Child development principles that inform DAP

1. All the domains of development are important.

2. Many aspects of children’s learning and development follow well documented sequences.

3. Development and learning proceed at varying rates from child to child.

4. Development and learning result from a dynamic and continuous interaction of biological maturation and experience.

5. Early experiences have profound effects on a child’s development and learning, and there are optimal times for certain learning and development to occur.

6. Development proceeds toward greater complexity, self-regulation, and representational abilities.

7. Children develop best when they have secure, consistent relationships with responsive caregivers and peers.

8. Development and learning occur within and are influenced by social and cultural contexts.

9. Children learn in a variety of ways and are actively engaged in learning.

10. Play is a main way that children learn and develop self-regulation.

11. Development and learning occur when children are slightly challenged and through practice.

12. Children’s dispositions and behavior are shaped by experiences and affect children’s learning and development.
DAP: A decision-making tool

As an early childhood professional working with young children, you are a decision-maker, and you will make many decisions about the children in your program on a daily basis. Understanding DAP – its meaning and intentional practices – is essential in guiding the decisions you will make for young children. Developing the skills to make good decisions for children relies on building knowledge about individual children and child development principles combined with knowledge of effective early learning practices. These are the core considerations in developmentally appropriate practice.
Knowledge of individual children and child development principles

DAP is informed by three areas of knowledge that are critical components in making good decisions for children.
1. Child development appropriateness

Child development follows general, sequential patterns and is interrelated across domains (cognitive, physical, social and emotional). Know and understand milestones and sequences of development in all domains and use child development information for planning and identifying activities, environments, experiences, and strategies (for large/small groups or individuals) to best promote growth and learning.
2. Individual appropriateness

Each child is an individual and develops in her own, unique way. Know each child’s strengths, abilities, needs, challenges, interests, temperament, and approaches to learning. Know their individual skills, ideas and joys. This can be done through time spent together (conversations, etc.), observation, assessment, work samples, documentation, and information from families and past teachers/programs.

3. Social and cultural appropriateness

All children are of culture. Know each child’s cultural and family background – his unique family, values, language, lifestyles, and beliefs. Ensure that the experiences you provide respect these and are meaningful for each child/family. What makes sense to children is their own culture and teachers must consider this, along with overall child development and learning program.
Knowledge of effective early learning practices

DAP focuses on five key areas of early learning practices:

Creating a caring community of learners. Build positive and responsive relationships between children, staff, and families, both among groups and within the program, to create a community that supports all children as they develop and learn to their capacity in all domains.
Teaching to enhance development and learning. Provide a balance of teacher-directed and childinitiated activities and plan experiences that meet individual needs, interests, and learning goals.
Planning curriculum to achieve important goals. Develop a written curriculum that reflects developmental milestones and appropriate early learning goals for children and that supports individualized learning.
Assessing children’s development and learning. Link assessment to curriculum and early learning standards and use authentic assessment methods to measure a child’ s progress.
Establishing reciprocal relationships with families. Work in partnership with families to learn about each child, to develop two-way communication, and to establish supportive relationships with all families…..

ORDER NOW FOR AN ORIGINAL PAPER!!! Developmentally Appropriate Practices

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.