An effective teacher or family child care provider chooses a strategy to fit a particular situation. Its important to consider what the children already know and can do and the learning goals for the specific situation. By remaining flexible and observant, we can determine which strategy may be most effective. Often, if one strategy doesnt work, another will.
- Acknowledge泭what children do or say. Let children know that we have noticed by giving positive attention, sometimes through comments, sometimes through just sitting nearby and observing. (Thanks for泭your help, Kavi. You found another way to show 5.)
- Encourage泭persistence and effort rather than just praising and evaluating what the child has done. (Youre thinking of lots of words to describe泭the dog in the story. Lets keep going!)
- Give specific feedback泭rather than general comments. (The beanbag didnt get all the way to the hoop, James, so you might try throwing it harder.)
- Model泭attitudes, ways of approaching problems, and behavior toward others, showing children rather than just telling them (Hmm, that泭didnt work and I need to think about why. Im sorry, Ben, I missed part of泭what you said. Please tell me again.)
- Demonstrate泭the correct way to do something. This usually involves a procedure that needs to be done in a certain way (such as using a wire whisk or writing the letter泭P).
- Create or add challenge泭so that a task goes a bit beyond what the children can already do. For example, you lay out a collection of chips, count them together and then ask a small group of children to tell you how many are left after they see you removing some of the chips. The children count the remaining chips to help come up with the answer. To add a challenge, you could hide the chips after you remove some, and the children will have to use a strategy other than counting the remaining chips to come up with the answer. To泭reduce challenge, you could simplify the task by guiding the children to touch each chip once as they count the remaining chips.
- Ask questions泭that provoke childrens thinking. (If you couldnt talk to your partner, how else could you let him know what to do?)
- Give assistance泭(such as a cue or hint) to help children work on the edge of their current competence (Can you think of a word that rhymes with泭your name, Matt? How about泭bat . . . Matt/bat? What else rhymes with泭Matt泭andbat?)
- Provide information, directly giving children facts, verbal labels, and other information. (This one that looks like a big mouse with a short tail泭is called a vole.)
- Give directions泭for childrens action or behavior. (Touch each block only once as you count them. You want to move that icon over here? Okay, click on it and hold down, then drag it to wherever you want.)
DAP Resources
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DAP Position Statement
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Which DAP Resource Is for Me?
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3 Core Considerations of DAP
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