Discuss developmentally appropriate learning activities of your centre

6
What Are My Responsibilities as a Planner?
Female teacher with red pen and paperwork sitting at desk.
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Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

Describe factors that affect the planning context.
Describe important considerations for planning the environment.
Explain the types of resources available to teachers for planning.
Describe a continuum of approaches to planning and how they are similar and different.
Introduction
Now that you have met your children and their families, collected information, and considered many ways to connect with them in the context of your community, its time to begin planning curriculum activities and how you will set up the environment to support them. Remember from Chapter 2 that you have the printed material accompanying the comprehensive curriculum used in your school and the supplementary literacy program that specifically targets at-risk learners. You also have your administrators assurance that you will have a good bit of freedom to make your own decisions as long as they are consistent with the curriculums goals.

Your teaching space has some nice featuresnotably access to a lavatory for the children inside the room, plenty of natural light from windows along one wall, a door to the adjacent playground, a classroom sink with counter space, a variety of child-sized furniture and movable storage units, and a storage closet. It also presents challenges that will affect how you will arrange your space, including where some of the above features are located, a limited number of electrical outlets, and permanently installed carpeting in one part of the room. With all of this in mind, how might you begin making decisions about how to arrange the classroom?

In addition to thinking about how to organize the physical environment, you might ask yourself several additional questions as you begin to plan your curriculum activities. What approach will you take to organize your ideas? How will you plan curriculum activities in ways that are developmentally appropriate and flexible? How will you make sure you are addressing learning standards? This chapter focuses on practical strategies for effective planning.

From the Field

Preschool teachers Jennifer and Elise discuss the importance of communication between teaching colleagues.
Critical Thinking Questions

How do you feel about working with another teacher or assistant teacher?
What will you do to begin establishing an effective, professional relationship?
6.1Contextual Factors That Affect Planning
Regardless of where you teach, your circumstances (or context) will impact your planning. Among the most important factors that affect planning are the curriculum, the children, their families, your teaching colleagues, and the physical settingthe building and learning spaces.

The Planning Context
Whether you are given a curriculum to implement or expected to select or design curriculum yourself, planning should be a responsive process. You will need to balance planned activities with what you observe about the needs, interests, and characteristics of children. (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gestwicki, 2011).

To varying degrees, the type of early childhood setting in which you work will influence how planning occurs. Home-care providers are typically independent and care for the widest age range of children in the same setting. They have to plan and implement care and activities for infants and toddlers as well as preschoolers and school-age children. Early childhood educators in child-care centers or preschools may have considerable flexibility or be expected to implement a particular curriculum. In primary classrooms, especially in the public schools, planning will likely be closely correlated with prescribed curriculum, state learning standards, and designated assessment procedures.

Context can also influence the planning tools you use and your accountability for them. Some teachers may be given or expected to use a planning book or specific forms on which to write their plans. You might be required to turn in plans weekly, monthly, or on some other schedule for review by a supervisor. Most state child-care licensing regulations also require that current/ongoing activity plans be prominently displayed and shared with parents. For example, the Pennsylvania Regulationreads as follows:

3270.111 Daily activities.

(a) A written plan of daily activities and routines, including a time for free play shall be established for each group. The plan shall be flexible to accommodate the needs of individual children and the dynamics of the group.

(b) The written plan shall be posted in the group space.

More From the Field

Program director Rita Palet explains the importance of professional preparation, chemistry, and give-and-take in teaching relationships.
Critical Thinking Question

What would you do if you were paired with a teacher whose views about learning and curriculum differ significantly from yours?
Even if you are wholly in charge of your class or group of children, you may have a coteacher or assistant, or you may be part of a bigger teaching team, which means that other individuals will influence or perhaps have some control over your planning. Teachers in a center or school, for example, often plan collaboratively, as a group, by grade or age level. Further, the extent to which your ideas are incorporated into plans may be influenced by the group dynamics or competing points of view. For example, if you plan with a team of two lead teachers and two assistants, one of those individuals may tend to dominate conversation or another may be reluctant to consider trying new strategies. These are issues that would have to be worked out as you developed a collaborative approach to sharing ideas.

Finally, the physical setting within which learning takes place will impact your planning. You will have to consider what space you have, how the classroom will be arranged, what space you must share with other classes, and so on. Your planning for both the physical environment and activities will certainly have to consider how to reflect the diversity and cultural characteristics, experiences, and interests of the children and families in your group.