Introduction
The school I was attached to was (give the name) and is located in (give area: street and town name or city name). It is a small childcare center set up last year by (give her name) who owns the school. She did not have enough experience in the care of young children and the education they need but believed that training of young children should start as early as possible for them to grow mentally. She emphasized memory training by way of playing games, the use of flashcards, and hands-on work to activate their brain functions. The school is now about a year old and has seen many children grow in the way they think and act.
Body Content
The school is headed by a principal assisted by three teachers who are DPT trained. Two of these teachers are trained English teachers while the other is a Chinese teacher. The center has a capacity of 27 in total. The children enter the school as toddlers before joining Nursery 1 and 2 from where they graduate to Kindergarten 1 and 2. Their curriculum is conducted in a thematic form; Mathematics and languages are taught alternately. They are taught language explorations on Mondays and Wednesdays while mathematics explorations and investigations are done on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Fridays, they take moral education, art and craft, and science. All these on Friday are introductions, explorations, investigations, and sensory. Outdoor games are done daily after classes in the evening. All lessons from Monday to Thursday are carried out in individual classes. It is only on Fridays that students on each level are put together to study. This enables them to share ideas and socialize thus pulling them closer. This also creates conflict between them which prompts conflict resolution amongst themselves.
There is an observation that I made from the school; since it is just newly set up, the owner would not want the school to experience problems in lesson presentations given to the children and therefore monitors the curriculum closely. The operator believes in a brain-training program and sets up the curriculum, to be used by the teachers, with the principal. Before the start of any lesson during the day, children are taken through a brain training session by their teachers. This enables them to remember what they have learned and expanded their memories.
I think the adoption of DAP has been successful since the teaching materials are made in a way that fits the learner. The curriculum is in thematic format and the learning sheets are prepared according to the age of the learner so that it’s easier for them to learn, understand, and remember. Also, extra sheets are available to teachers for them to be able to give more support to these young ones if need be. Teachers also ask the children questions at the end of the lessons to gauge their understanding. The questions are not limited to the subject matter but are open to help them extend their way of thinking. Furthermore, students are given homework to boost their memory and independence as they work at home without the support of their tutors. They also learn to ask for support from other people (mother, father, and other members of the family or any person within their reach) apart from their regular tutors. This work is reviewed by the teachers when the learners turn up for school the following day. These constant checks enable the learners to grow as those areas that need to be revisited are noted.
A careful evaluation of the different aspects of the center shows that they have succeeded in implementing the DAP. When children are allowed to go out and play in the afternoon, they can explore different types of games and plays because of the availability of play areas and different equipment. They make their own decisions as to the type of play ranging from sandpit play, hopscotch, slide, basketball, badminton, hula hoop, and planting. The freedom to choose relaxes their minds as they don’t get annoyed for being forced to do what they don’t want and also reduces unwillingness to attend school. If for example, a child who loves badminton is taken to a basketball court, they are likely to fight with others if they are blamed for a lost ball or are run into by an opponent. Also, the freedom to choose enables them to select what they can ably do. Running is much more breath-taking than playing chess. Careful selection and decision making are therefore important.
Another thing is that emotions and socializing tend to be co-related. Teachers are encouraged to be as sensitive as possible to avoid a teacher-learner conflict. Their relationship with young learners should always be right to enable a smooth passage of information from them to the children. The questions they ask should also aim at improving the intellectual standard of the child and should be open for answering by any student by a show of hand. Certain children will not answer questions if pinpointed, not because they don’t know but because they think the teacher is not friendly with them (Steiner, 1996) and they tend to develop a bad attitude towards the teacher.
This institution should therefore promote various ways of fostering the young child’s learning and development. While some children would not feel good for being pinpointed to do some things in class, others need it as they cannot do it on their own. It may be because they do not know or they may just be lazy. To involve the participation of all, the learning methods should be flexible (Tizard, Hughes & Pinkerton, 2000). At times students want to chorus the answers because the questions being asked are easy for everyone.
Conclusion
The development of a young child, their care, and education is therefore of paramount importance as it is likely to affect their adulthood. The teacher at all times should be very careful with what they pass to them and how they pass the education. Their behavior as they associate with these children should also be good as the children will grow with them adopting their styles.
Recommendations
Despite the success, I feel that the timetable should be arranged such that the children are taught English language, Mathematics, Chinese, and all co-curriculum activities daily then moral education, science, art & craft on Friday. This format in my view can be even more beneficial to all children and would help the teachers not rush to finish the learning sheets if the children are slow.
References
Steiner, E. (1996). The Nursery School Idea. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 4(2), 184-194.
Tizard, B., & Hughes, M. (2000). Adults’ Cognitive Demands at Home and Nursery School. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 23(2), 105-116.