Running head: EFFECTIVE TEACHING PRACTICES- CONTENT REVIEW WK 4 1

Effective Teaching Practices- Content Review Wk 4

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Effective Teaching Practices- Content Review Wk. 4

Pages 357 and 363 of the course text outline six general principles of effective curriculum. Select two principles of effective curriculum and explain how each can be used to support the development and learning of each and every child.

Among these principles are supporting children to be active learners and acknowledgement of the fact that, children learn through interactions. Active learning involves giving children the opportunity to ask questions regarding their surroundings. Here, children develop their skills and cognition capability, and using their preferences and abilities, they sense the world around them. These preferences and abilities are explained in Gardner’s theory on multiple intelligences as vital components of child interaction (Gardner, 2006).

Therefore, class activities and learning materials should reflect each child’s abilities. For instance, puzzles support intellectual development, discussion sessions enhance communication, linguistic and interpersonal abilities; colored building blocks to stimulate imagination and creative power; experiments and drawing graphs develop reasoning and mathematical skills. Allowing children to care for live form, plants or animals builds on naturalistic intelligence, and finally, musical intelligence is developed by providing musical instruments and even incorporating singing sessions into the curriculum (Darragh, 2009).

By learning through interactions, children express their strengths and weaknesses. Their learning process is affected by the environment, both physical and social. Creating a good interactive environment will go a long way in enhancing the learning process. Children should have an environment that reflects the interests and learning styles of the children. In making a classroom curriculum, the focus should be on developing nurturing and supportive interactions.

In order to individualize curriculum, preschool teachers in high-quality inclusive classrooms must pay attention to each child’s unique challenges as well as the resources and strategies needed to meet those challenges. Based on what you have learnt this week, explain the importance of matching instructional resources, teaching activities, and children’s developmental levels. Then identify two strategies teachers can use to support individual children’s development and learning within thriving, inclusive classroom communities.

Each child is an individual in his own right, with his own strengths, limitations and needs. Designing a blanket plan for a class will not be effective in meeting the children’s needs. What is required is a consideration of the needs of each individual child and designing an environment to meet these needs. In this respect, play and sensory engagement should be incorporated into the curriculum. With sensory engagement, children are exposed to common features to stimulate all the five senses.

For example, a classroom setting can include hard and soft, or rough and smooth objects, chirming bells to stimulate differentiation of different notes and multicolored works of art for sight (Darragh, 2009). Play provides a suitable environment for growth and development. It gives children a chance to interact directly with each other and with the environment. Play is one the mediums that can meet the needs of every child. The dynamics and rules of games teach children what is expected of them, enhancing positive interaction and development of relationships. The proper play environment, space, materials and time should be provided to encourage play activities.

Foundational themes of preschool social studies curriculum include supporting children’s understanding of their relationship to others and effectively participating as a member of the community (National Council for the Social Studies, 1994) Consider the information on the Anti-bias curriculum outlined on pages 383 and 384 of the course text. Providing examples of at least three strategies, explain how implementing an anti-bias curriculum can play a key role in developing high quality, inclusive classroom communities.

It is an unfortunate reality that the world we live in is marred with prejudice based on gender, race, or social class. An anti-bias curriculum does not seek to downplay these differences. Rather it seeks to create an appreciation for the differences, encouraging each child to embrace their uniqueness (Spring, 2006). While stocking children’s libraries, books should be screened. Books with pictorial representations of the superiority of man over woman, white over black, rich over poor should not be included in the library. Exposing children to these stereotypes will only serve to fuel prejudicial tendencies.

The anti-bias curriculum is implemented in four stages (Darragh, 2009). The first step is creating the climate. This involves learning about oneself, bias and anti-bias ideas, airing these issues out in the open, discovering the children’s thoughts about the differences among them, and adjusting the environment to reflect these diversities. The next step is non-systematic implementation. The teacher takes advantage of unplanned situations to educate the children for example, if a child claims that a girl’s job is to cook, the teacher should take this opportunity to explore these thoughts and educate.

The teacher should then initiate a systematic implementation incorporating the children’s opinions. Based on these, goals and objectives of the teaching process are clearly defined. Finally, the teacher should implement an ongoing initiation to ensure that the children are continuously educated on their diversities and how to embrace them. These processes may be repeated as many times as possible if need be (Darragh, 2009).

 

References

Darragh, J.C. (2009). Introduction to Early Childhood Education: Equity and Inclusion. New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education.

Gardner, H. (2006). Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Spring, J. (2006). The Intersection of Cultures: Multicultural Education in the United States and the Global Economy. New York, NY: Routledge.