Guidance of Young Children Essay -- Teaching Young Children

1. Developmentally appropriate practice as defined by NAEYC is a â€Å"framework of principles and guidelines for best practice in the care and education of young children, birth through age 8. Children cannot perform tasks that they are not yet developmentally capable of doing and teachers have to be aware of this. One would not expect a one year old child to be able to write their name, not only because they are not cognitively able to understand this task, but also because their fine motor skills have not developed enough to hold a writing instrument. Therefore, most adults would realize this task is not developmentally appropriate. A kindergarten teacher, for example, can able to expect his or her students to know why it is necessary as well as how to clean up their tables after coloring. This task would be developmentally appropriate for most 5 year olds. Making sure that developmentally appropriate tasks are utilized is important because children can easily get discouraged an d may feel inadequate if they cannot perform a task this is simply not within their developmental capabilities. 2. The majorities of teachers that I have interacted have tended to display the authoritative parenting style. They appeared to have respect for their students and allowed them to have a voice in classroom decisions. The teachers also exuded warmth and had genuine care and concern for their students. When students required discipline, the teachers did explain the reason to the child in most circumstances. However, one teacher that I worked with encompassed all three of the parenting styles. With certain students, she presented herself with an authoritative style. These students tended to follow directions, were well behaved and did well on ... ... the entire classroom the new skill or information and then have the children make an attempt. The teacher can focus the attention on the children who appear to be struggling. A wonderful form of learning that can utilize Vygotsky’s ideas of scaffolding and the zone of proximal development is cooperative learning. When children are grouped together with their various ZPD’s, together they can help each other learn and the teacher can assist each group as needed. Not only does this help the children who are struggling, but the students who have a firm grasp of the skills further them by teaching their fellow classmates. Bibliography Gartrell, D. (2004). The power of guidance, teaching social-emotional skills in early childhood classrooms. Belmont, CA: Delmar Marion, M. (2012). Guidance of young children. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc