Dream School Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Dream School - Term Paper Example Therefore, activities and materials used in the school will be design to provide the preschool children with a wide range of experiences in all developmental stages. Consequently, these can facilitate their growth and give them numerous opportunities from which they can choose from to carry out preferred tasks. As such, these materials and methods in the school will reflect the philosophy of Piaget and incorporate the most appropriate materials of other educators in order to assist the learning process of children. Similarly important would be the children’s teacher, hence the presence of well qualified teaching staff members to positively contribute to the personal development and fulfillment of preschoolers as well as instill the values of care and love. The following sections will then look into the educational philosophy, curriculum, physical building and facilities, and the choice of teachers in the ideal school that aims to emphasize the developmental learning of prescho olers. Educational Philosophy The educational philosophy of the school would place an emphasis on interactions between adults and children as well as relationships in school and at home. The school will also incorporate developmentally appropriate practices that have been established by professional organizations that support early childhood education, such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children. As developmentally appropriate practice entails, teachers must be knowledgeable regarding the different stages of a child’s development as well as their implications. Such knowledge consequently becomes the principle from which they share information, construct the content of the curriculum, evaluate what has to be implemented, evaluate what the children have learned, as well as determine how their curriculum will be adapted to meet the individual needs, interests, and strengths of children in preschool age (Bredekamp and Rosegrant, 1992). In addition, teache rs should know the children they are teaching as well as their families to increase their awareness of the latter’s cultural and social settings. The school’s principles are centered on the recognition and responsiveness towards preschool children who are in the preoperational phase of development, as noted by Piaget. They recognize that objects do exist without touching them and can develop their own set of symbols, such as words and images, as representations of the real world. The school also recognizes that lessons will take place through assimilation, adaptation and accommodation. When children are introduced to new occurrences, they will try to understand these by associating them with the things that they have already known. Once they have obtained experience with such new phenomenon, their thoughts, feelings, and approaches may change to accommodate the attributes of this new phenomenon. Implications then point towards the need for children to be exposed to new experiences which can be associated with previous ones but, to some extent, should also bring about challenges for their way of thinking. Therefore, in order for this ideal school to maintain practices that are appropriate for children’s development, they must establish a secure, stimulating, and nurturing environment as well as develop a flexible curriculum, reflecting the themes and activities of teachers and children. These young