EDUC - 4205 Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Infant Settings

Application: Observing Developmentally Appropriate Practice

Infants' interactions with people and with their surroundings significantly influence opportunities for healthy development and learning. For this reason, the environment and the curriculum are both especially relevant to the quality of care and education children receive. One of the key roles of the teacher is to ensure not only that environments are developmentally appropriate, but also that an individualized curriculum is developed for each child.

Learning about developmentally appropriate practices involves observing many different aspects of the physical and social environment and curriculum. All of these aspects—from the subtleties of parent-teacher relations to the visible structure of a play area—are important considerations when addressing the needs and fostering the strengths of every child. This week you will observe in an infant setting and focus on both environment and curriculum in relation to developmentally appropriate practice.

To complete this Application assignment, do the following:

Plan your observation:

• Arrange and confirm a date and time to observe in an infant setting that serves children between the ages of birth and 18 months.
• Review what you have learned about being an effective observer in an infant setting.
• Consider what you have learned about developmentally appropriate curriculum.
• Review the information you learned in Week 3 regarding developmentally appropriate indoor and outdoor environments.
• Print out and review the Week 4 Observation Worksheet (linked below).
  

Week 4 Observation Worksheet

Implement your observation:

• Use the Week 4 Observation Worksheet (linked above) as a guide and to record your notes.

Reminder: If you notice that your presence is making a child uncomfortable, consult the infant teacher in the room you are observing within.

Reflect on your observation:

Summarize the following:

• How the role of indoor and outdoor environments and curriculum in this particular setting are helping to provide developmentally appropriate programming for infants and their families
• How the physical and social environment in this particular setting are helping to provide a developmentally appropriate programming that promotes opportunities for a full range of interactions and learning in all of the developmental domains
• How the curriculum in this particular setting is helping to provide developmentally appropriate programming
• Based on what you have learned in this course, suggestions for improving the indoor and outdoor environments, the physical and social environments, and the curriculum you observed

Submit your reflection. (You are not required to submit your Observation Worksheet.)

Assignment length: 2 pages 

Submit this assignment by Day 7 of this week.

Here is the website for week four observation worksheet.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Aoz1ogAaIaf4bheJNDCtHVliocG-Dt_0Hluhxn9gYg8/edit?nativeconvert=1