Chapter 3: Planning and Implementing Effective Small-Group Activities

Chapter 3 was an interesting chapter as well.  One idea that I found to be crucial to developing DAP curriculum was the idea of teachers as effective planners.  According to this chapter, to be an effective planner, the teacher needs to take into consideration the materials that are at hand, the physical space available, at what time of day the plan would be best carried out in, and the context of the classroom, the children’s families, and the community in which they live.  Also, when planning, the teacher must take into consideration the children involved, and their development.

            Another interesting point the book made was demonstrating the difference between goals and objectives.  Before reading this, I assumed they were practically the same thing, but as the book points out, they are clearly different.  A goal is much broader, and the example the book gives is great.  For instance, the goal might be to have the children “complete the task they have begun,” but the objective gives the specifics.  The objective will list in order what is expected of the children or what they hope to be accomplished.  Understanding the difference between the two is important when creating DAP curriculum, and also important so that the children in the classroom will be able to tell the difference between what is generally expected of them, and the steps that need to be taken in order to complete their goal.

            Learning the different “representations” of children was also very interesting to me.  It had been a long time since I have heard about enactive, iconic, or symbolic representation before reading this chapter.  I forgot the meaning of the three representations.  For instance, enactive representation is when children use their bodies to aide them in an activity such as counting, or expressing themselves.  Iconic representation is when children use three dimensional images to construct what they see and think about.  Blocks are a good resource for children to express iconic representation, or painting and coloring are also good resources for iconic representations.  And the last representation was symbolic representations.  Symbolic representations are when children start using words and symbols to communicate their thoughts and ideas.  Knowing and understand these representations is a great advantage in developing DAP practices.  For instance, if a child is having trouble understanding you when you are teaching them simple math (symbolic representation), you could use pennies to show them how many there are (iconic representation), or have them count on their fingers (enactive representation).

            Also, while reading chapter 3, I found that learning and understanding the 6 most common types of activities in an early childhood classroom is also crucial to creating a positive, appropriate environment in the classroom.  It starts at exploratory play, then moves to guided discovery, then problem solving, then discussions, then on to demonstrations, and finally to direct instruction.  These are important to remember because maybe not all of the children are at the same level.  For instance, in the classroom you may have a student that is not to guided instruction yet, but still needs demonstrations.  As a teacher, it is important to be aware of these different learning activities, and also the children within the classroom, knowing what level they are at, and adapting the curriculum so that everyone is able to follow and understand.

Question:  If a child is severely behind their other classmates, but their parents are insistent on them staying within the classroom with their peers, what are some ways to adapt the curriculum so that they will not feel left out or embarrassed of being behind?