Week 3 discussions and assignment

discussion 1

Review the Six Types of Involvement: Keys to Successful Partnerships from the National Network of Partnership Schools.  Using the terminology from this model, describe the kinds of parent and community involvement you have observed in schools or child care centers where you have worked, volunteered, or attended.  If you do not have this kind of experience, visit the websites of several local child care centers and summarize the information about parent involvement that the centers have included.  Also describe how these schools or centers could improve their level and type of parent and community involvement based on the NNPS model.  Your initial discussion post should be at least 200 words in length.

discussion 2

“Every environment implies a set of values or beliefs about the people who use the space and the activities that take place there….each environment also influences the people who use it in subtle or dramatic ways” (Jaruszewicz, page 10).

In Week One you discussed a teaching philosophy and curriculum which most closely matched your own teaching philosophy.  This discussion question will expand on these ideas and focus on the classroom environment.  Watch each of the following videos:

1. Montessori approach: Developmental Stages
2. Reggio Emilia approach: Reggio Approach
3. Waldorf approach: Waldorf’s Integrated Way of Learning

Pay particular attention to each classroom environment.  Choose one approach that you identify with most (it may be the same or different from the approach you discussed in Week One).  Utilizing the text and at least one additional resource, please discuss specific values and beliefs of the teaching philosophy/approach you selected, and explain how these values and beliefs are reflected in the classroom environment design.  Expand on how the classroom environment design supports the teaching philosophy and curriculum.  What elements would you identify as especially important for you to include when implementing this teaching philosophy and curriculum?   Your initial discussion post should be at least 200 words in length.

ASSIGMENT

Mandated Curriculum vs. Developmentally Appropriate Practices

You are a parent who is concerned about the new state-mandated, textbook-based curriculum for kindergarten, and you are writing a letter to the school board in protest of this new policy. In your letter, define DAP, describe the benefits of DAP, and explain why you feel the use of a textbook-based curriculum may be inappropriate. Describe potential negative effects of this curriculum and how it is developmentally inappropriate to literacy development. Recommend an alternative approach to developing literacy skills. In your letter, use the kindergarten standards from your state and the guidelines for DAP described in the course text as well as in NAEYC resources.

The paper should be two to three pages in addition to the title page and the reference page. Use at least one scholarly reference in addition to your text. Your paper should also be formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.