The Teacher- Child Interaction Linking Developmentally Appropriate Practices to the Characteristics of Effective Instruction

Links… Student Centered Classrooms… Students construct their own knowledge based on experiential, holistic, authentic, and challenging experiences. Child-Initiated Learning Opportunities… Children are given ample opportunities to construct knowledge based upon their interests and experiences.

Links… Teaching for Understanding… Students engage in a variety of thought provoking activities such as explaining, finding evidence and examples, generalizing, applying, making analogies, and representing the topic in new ways. Teachers assist students in making connections between prior knowledge and new knowledge to develop understanding of a concept. Studies… Project based investigations, carried out over the period of several weeks. They are relevant to children’s everyday experiences, allow first hand exploration and promote content learning in science and technology, as well as social studies, using skills in literacy, mathematics, and the arts.

Links… Assessment FOR Learning (Formative Assessment)… Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students as part of instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of core content. GOLD Assessment…authentic, ongoing, observational assessment to determine what children think, know and can do. It is used to guide children’s learning which is responsive to individual and group needs.

Links… Rigorous and Relevant Curriculum... A rigorous curriculum is one that is complex, provocative, and personally or emotionally challenging. Goals Must Be Challenging and Achievable… Content is embedded in interest areas where play, both directed and undirected, is a critical component of learning. Play helps children learn new concepts and problem-solving skills in a natural, fun way. Cognitive development is nurtured and enhanced. Play also plays a large part in enhancing children’s school readiness.

Links… Teaching for Learner Differences... Teachers understand essential concepts and skills, to identify the contributing factors affecting the desired outcome, and to utilize a variety of methods to teach and reinforce the desired concepts and skills. It includes providing access to the general education curriculum for all students. Understanding Child Development.. Development and learning proceed at varying rates from child to child, as well as at uneven rates across different areas of a child’s individual functioning.