Teacher training week 1

We have completed our first week of training with our various Vidya Sahayog teachers who are undergoing the program, and it was a great start.

We began with an introduction of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP), moved onto the content areas that should be incorporated into any early childhood classroom which includes 58 key developmental indicators (KDIs), and then discussed how we use these tools to plan age appropriate, open-ended activities in our schools.

A developmentally appropriate curriculum takes into account three main points:
1. What is appropriate at each age and stage of development

2. What is individually appropriate for each child in our classrooms

3. What is culturally important about our children and their families

There are eight main content areas that we discussed as being important to incorporate into our curriculum. These are:

- Approaches to learning

- Social and emotional development

- Physical development and health

- Language, literacy, and communication

- Mathematics

- Creative arts

- Science and technology

- Social studies

Within these areas, there are 58 KDIs that are more specific about each area. A list of these can be found here.

Lastly, we worked on planning appropriate, open-ended activities for our classrooms using activity planning sheets. The planning sheets challenge the teachers to think not just about what our children will actually do during the activity, but what they will be learning, as well. We will continue to complete these activity sheets together so that by the time we are done with training, each school has a binder full of engaging, open-ended activities to try with their students.

Our teachers expressed having little access to materials, so we began making lists of desired materials so we can try to get these items to the teachers as soon as possible.

Most of the early childhood classrooms that these women teach in only have a chalkboard, and chairs. If we can provide them with at least the basics to assist their children, we can do a great deal. Not only do we want to provide our teachers with basic materials, but we want to help them discover what can be used as learning materials from what they have laying around at school or at home. For instance, old boxes, empty toilet paper rolls, empty plastic bottles, scrap paper, paper clips, old strings, old newspapers, etc. If we use our imagination, these items can be made into wonderful learning materials.

This coming up week, we will begin a discussion on how to plan for not just single activities, but for a whole day, and how to use a consistent daily routine.