The impact of COVID-19 on Developmentally Appropriate Practice during preparations to deliver activities remotely for preschool-aged children.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been far reaching, even into the classroom disrupting life as it was. Young children and teachers can no longer leave their home and go into the physical classroom. Classes are now being held in the home by means of technology. 

This has been a new experience for myself and my fellow colleagues, this experience brought with it some challenges and an opportunity to grow in the field and be more creative and innovative. In planning for young pre-school aged children our activities must be developmentally appropriate in order to meet the learning needs of the children. As a team we realized that with classes being done remotely this aspect of the planning must not change but take on a different delivery. I first had to think about the children and their profiles to ensure that as I planned their goals and experiences would be applicable how they learn and develop as well as challenging enough to encourage interest and progress (Virtual Kit: Developmentally Appropriate Practice, 2020). This proved to be a bit challenging, given the fact that the children will be at home in a totally different environment. The parents now were the ones to be heavily involved as they assisted us teachers in ensuring that the children had a great experience and opportunity for growth and development from home and in a comfortable environment. Having the correct and most effective materials and delivery method then was also the next factor to consider after planning the activities. Planning the activities I found was the easy part, the delivery method however was proving to be the headache for me. I secured the material, but being behind the camera was no easy task. The job however was done after many tries and the team successfully delivered 1 week of interactive and fun lessons to promote engagement and learning.

References

 

Virtual Kit: Developmentally Appropriate Practice. (2020). Retrieved from Kansas Inservice Training System: https://kskits.drupal.ku.edu/virtual-kit-developmentally-appropriate-practice