At our Reflective Practice group last month, we discussed the importance of teaching to EACH CHILD. As we help children be ready for school, it is critically important that we see the needs of each child individually. The Early Achievers point system recognizes this in several places:
Ongoing assessment of children’s strengths and needs to monitor progress (e.g., child portfolio/work sampling assessments) and inform instruction (2 points)
When facilities gather information to learn about each child’s progress and needs on a regular basis, they are better able to plan and provide individualized instruction that best supports each child’s growth and development.
This component looks at how facilities gather and use information about children by considering:
• Are both formal and informal assessments used?
• Is information about each child’s strengths and needs collected and assessed on an ongoing basis at least three times per year?
• Are assessments conducted with all children within 90 days of enrollment?
• If child assessment information is collected, how is it used to inform curriculum and activity planning and to monitor child progress?
Individualized instruction for all children (1 point)
Individual child information is a valuable planning tool to support children’s development and school readiness. This component considers:
• Are each child’s background, interests, and approach to learning and developmental needs considered when planning activities and during provider-child interactions?
Periodic review and use of child assessment data for continuous program improvement (e.g., analyze group patterns and behaviors) (1 point)
Looking at trends or patterns in child assessment information across children is a valuable planning tool to support groups of children. This component considers:
• How are the needs of all children in a group considered when making plans to improve programming?
• Are specific action plans in place to address targeted enhancements based on data?
This component refers to aggregate data, which means assessment information about a group of children (e.g., classroom) that is combined to get a high-level look at the group’s strengths and needs.
At the group meeting, we used paper dolls to create “children” – they could be based on an actual child, or an imagined one. We identified the interests, challenges and emerging skills for each child. In small groups then, we took these children as if they were a new “class” and discussed how to plan experiences that nurture the emerging skills, take into account the interests and factor in the challenges of each child.
Rather than teaching only to a theme, how can you be conscious of teaching to the individual children in your group?
