Developmentally Appropriate Practice Essay

Words: 637
Pages: 3

Developmentally appropriate practice means to me having the ability to teach children skills based on their appropriate stage of development. You have to be able to set curriculum for your students that meet the developmental needs based upon the observation of the children's individual strengths and weaknesses. “DAP is not a curriculum but a framework for how to think about curriculum in a way that takes into account what we know about how young children grow and learn” (Jaruszewicz, 2013, sec. 1.3). As a parent, when I think about the benefits of developmental appropriate practices, teachers have to learn adapt to children and their families when they know how children learn and develop (NAEYC). Providing children with the appropriate amount of challenge, support, sensitivity, and stimulation are maintained by good teachers within the standing of DAP (NAEYC). Teachers should choose the format that is best suited to help a child achieve the desired goal given their age and developmental level. Effective early …show more content…
Textbook-based curriculum may be to advanced or difficult for a Kindergarten child to understand. I don’t think a textbook is age-appropriate nor has enough excitement to keep children engaged within learning. Children are drawn to pictures more then words at the stage of development, so it would be an experience to keep them focus on a book that contains minimum pictures. I wouldn’t want them to think that learning through a textbook is just for them to simply collect facts about something and store the information in the brain. DAP in the classroom pertains to meeting children where they are so that they can reach goals and make sure that the goals and experiences are suited to their learning and development and textbooks just doesn’t do this for all