Plans Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum
Overview
This Assessment is a Work Product in which you will design a set of learning experiences that could be implemented as part of an effective curriculum for preschool children (ages 3-4). Ideally, curriculum planning is a collaborative process.
For this Work Product, you will interview a teacher to learn more about his or her curricular goals and find out how you can collaborate with one another to achieve those goals. You will also observe in the teacher's classroom in order to learn more about the children in the setting.
If you are currently working as an early childhood teacher, collaborate with a colleague in your setting to complete this Assessment.
You will collaborate with a colleague or early childhood teacher to design three learning experiences that are appropriate for the children in the preschool classroom that you observed. (Implementation is not required, but it is important that you have a real setting in mind as you plan.)
Your response to this Assessment should:
1. 1. Reflect the criteria provided in the Rubric, which provides information on how the Assessment will be evaluated.
2. 2. Adhere to the required assignment length.
3. 3. Use the APA course paper template available here. All submissions must follow the conventions of scholarly writing. Properly formatted APA citations and references must be provided where appropriate.
Professional Skills: Collaboration and Written Communication is assessed in this Competency. You are strongly encouraged to use the Writing Checklist and to review the Rubric prior to submitting.
Instructions
Before submitting your Assessment, carefully review the rubric. This is the same rubric the assessor will use to evaluate your submission and it provides detailed criteria describing how to achieve or master the Competency. Many students find that understanding the requirements of the Assessment and the rubric criteria help them direct their focus and use their time most productively.
Rubric
Access the following to complete this Assessment:
• Interview Guide
• Learning Experience Plan Template
Curriculum Planning
Identify a preschool setting that provides educational programs for 3- and 4-year-olds. Arrange to visit and interview a teacher and to observe in his or her classroom for at least two hours. Use the "Interview Guide" document to inform your questions during your scheduled interview.
Keeping in mind all you have learned about the context of the preschool program and the standards that inform its curriculum, plan three learning experiences around a central theme chosen in collaboration with the teacher you interview. Use the template provided in the "Learning Experience Plan Template" document.
Taken together, the learning experiences must include all content areas addressed in the Rubric (literacy; math, science, and technology; health; and the arts) and must address all domains of development (cognitive, social, emotional, and physical).
Remember that, because your learning experiences are designed around an integrated theme, multiple content areas and domains of development will be represented within each learning experience.
Write a 7- to 10-page narrative analysis of your Learning Experiences Plan that includes a brief description of the central theme and explanations of the following:
1. How the learning experiences, taken as a whole, reflect at least three indicators of effective curriculum
2. How the learning experiences reflect appropriate learning standards and the goals identified by the early childhood teacher you interviewed
3. How knowledge of the children and families informed the learning experiences
4. How the learning experiences promote language and literacy
5. How the learning experiences promote math, science, and technology learning
6. How the learning experiences promote learning in the arts
7. How the learning experiences promote social, emotional, and physical development
8. How the assessment strategies used in the learning experiences informed your understanding of children's learning and development
9. How play is incorporated into your learning experiences and why this is a vital component of the early childhood curriculum
10. How the learning experiences you planned can be differentiated to meet the needs of individual children, including those with exceptionalities (Note: Include a description of at least two strategies.)
11. How you collaborated to develop the learning experiences, including:
o An explanation of the value of collaborating in the curriculum planning process
o A description of any challenges you experienced
o An example of ways you compromised, demonstrated respect, and/or shared responsibility to develop the learning experiences.