Can you help me understand this Social Science question?

Week 2 – Discussion

Early childhood educators must ensure that through the curriculum decisions they are making, they are meeting the needs of the diverse learners they work with as well as helping children to grow across all developmental domains. “People are often surprised at how much planning it takes to ensure a productive, smoothly running early childhood classroom” (Kostelnik, Soderman, Whiren, & Rupiper, 2015, p. 75). It takes so much planning because we are making intentional decisions about what, how, when, and why we are implementing curriculum. Figure 3.1 from your primary text illustrates the process that teachers go through as they are preparing to plan lessons and units (Kostelnik, Soderman, Whiren, & Rupiper, 2015, p.79). Understanding this process is critical to being able to plan effective lessons whether you are working with one, five, or 20 children at a time.

Using Figure 3.1 (p. 79), Chapters 3 and 4 of your course text, and the Early Childhood and Child Development Lesson Plan Handbook, address the following:

• Explain the intentional nature of developmentally appropriate planning. Make sure to discuss the downfalls of planning not being intentional.
• Describe the process early childhood educators go through as they prepare to teach, including how learning differences influence and impact the planning process.
• Discuss where within the planning process early childhood educators address the needs of diverse learners and ensure their planning is culturally responsive. Make sure to include information about adapting curriculum to meet the needs of each and every child.
• Discuss the importance of differentiating lesson plans in order to meet the needs of small-group or whole-class instruction. Use some of the strategies shared in the text for teaching in small-group and whole-class instruction to support your perspective.
• Explain how having a deeper understanding of creating effective lesson plans help you to be able to uphold the following sections of the 2009 NAEYC Standards for Initial and Advanced Early Childhood Professional Preparation Programs. (Links to an external site.) Provide specific examples related to small-group and whole-class instruction lesson plans.
  • 4b. Knowing and understanding effective strategies and tools for early education.
  • 4c: Using a broad repertoire of developmentally appropriate teaching/learning approaches. (NAEYC, 2009)