Darcy Townley

Competency Statement 4: Using Developmentally Effective

Approaches
When dealing with young children it is imperative that you, as a
professional understand what is developmentally appropriate. It is
important to know that what is developmentally appropriate in a 3year-old classroom can be radically different in a toddler classroom and
learn to formulate your expectations, teaching strategies, and
disciplinary methods based upon your knowledge of the various age
ranges you may teach. In my own experience, before I had in depth
developmental knowledge I often became frustrated when it came to
managing behavior in my classroom as I hadnt formed realistic
expectations for myself or the children in my room since I had limited
prior developmental knowledge to aid me in forming these
expectations.
While reading this competency my CHD 205: Guiding Behavior in
Young Children kept coming to mind. While this competency deals with
more than behavior in a classroom, it really resonated with me on how
vital it is to use developmentally effective approaches when it comes
to managing behavior in a classroom. To illustrate this point I chose to
submit my Philosophy Of Guidance assignment. In my philosophy of
guidance I speak to the importance of modeling positive behavior, and
setting realistic expectations based on the age group you are working
with. I talk about making sure you dont have too many guidelines for
young children to follow and how you should review these guidelines
often so that the children know what is expected of you.
I took CHD 205 in my second semester so its been quite a while
since I reviewed any of the coursework I completed for that class. Im
happy to say that Im still pleased with my philosophy of guidance. This
is a very important piece to any teachers portfolio and should be
reviewed continuously. Im sorry I neglected reviewing mine for such a
long period of time. I also developed a guidance plan that I added to
my philosophy. This is something that I would like to expand upon. I
had not yet taken any observation courses when I completed this
guidance plan. I now understand what a key part observation plays
when developing a guidance plan. While I included observation in my
guidance plan I will add additional tools such as checklists to my
guidance plan. Also, after rereading competency standard 4 I see that I
should also include various ways for teachers to guide the behavior of
children. There is no one way that children learn and as an educator
you have to be able to teach to the children who learn visually, or by
listening or by doing. You also have to have certain expectations for
each child. Your expectations should speak to their strengths and

highlight those. Again, Im so glad I was able to review this document

at the end of the program. I have learned a lot since I first wrote it.