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Activities
Activity 1: Jigsaw
Videotape, to show in class, three–five children who are engaged in a small-group activity in an inclusive preschool setting. Have students count off into five different groups and move to a location where they can sit with their group. Assign each group an area of development to assess during the activity: adaptive, cognitive, communication, motor, and social.
Watch the videotaped activity two times, first focusing on a child in the group who is typically developing and then focusing on a child who has developmental delays. For both viewings, ask students to list what the child can do, what the child cannot do, and what the child can do with support relevant to the specified area of development (i.e., adaptive, cognitive, communication, motor, and social).
Once the students have summarized their findings, ask them to move back to their original places so they are with a group that represents each developmental area. Each group should develop a description of each child’s overall development based on the information they have obtained.
Provide chart paper to summarize findings, and ask students to share their findings with the rest of the class.
Activity 2: Assessment Critique
Bring an assortment of commonly used early childhood assessments to class.
Suggested assessment instruments to select for this activity might be: Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System (AEPS®) for Infants and Children, Second Edition; Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI), 2nd edition; High/Scope Preschool Child Observation Record (COR); The Creative Curriculum; Denver Developmental Screening Test (Denver II); Galileo; Hawaii Early Learning Profile (HELP); Learning Accomplishment Profiles; Peabody Motor Scales; and the Work Sampling System (WSS).
Have the students critique the instruments to determine their utility for curriculum planning. Ask the following specific questions:
- Is this instrument intended to be used for program-planning purposes? If not, then for what purpose?
- From what you know about your state’s early childhood standards, how well does this instrument evidence critical standards in language/literacy, math, and social-emotional development?
- How would you administer this assessment in your classroom if you were to decide to use it?
- What level of expertise would you need in order to effectively administer this assessment?
- Is this an assessment that you think you could use for children with and without disabilities?
Develop a videotape of an inclusive preschool classroom. Focus on the language/literacy aspects of the environment (e.g., book area, writing center, child display, teacher reading to children, children writing).
Show the videotape in class. Have the students complete some components of the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO) Toolkit, Research Edition, that don’t require a teacher interview. Ask the students to compare their scores with one another in small groups.
In a large group, discuss the results as well as the students’ impressions of the instrument.
- What is emphasized in the tool? What is not emphasized in the tool that should be?
- How would the tool be helpful in your classroom?
- What do the data tell you about the quality of the program?
