Teaching and Learning in Preschool —
Abstract of

Chapter 2
Using Individually Appropriate Instruction in Preschool

Elizabeth Claire Venn

Monica Dacy Jahn

Quality preschool teachers must be astute child observers and strategic planners, using what they know about human development coupled with an intimate knowledge of children as learners. Preschool teachers need to be well trained and serve as early childhood education experts, designing appropriate instruction for individual students. In addition, preschool teachers should identify each student's zone of proximal development and then carefully plan playful activities that move the child along in his or her individual learning progression. This chapter delineates and clarifies three critical teacher competencies for quality preschool instruction: (1) knowing and understanding each individual child across the developmental domains, (2) knowing preschool curricula and appropriate developmental compendiums, and (3) knowing how to provide appropriate explicit and implicit instruction.

Venn, E., & Jahn, M. (2004). Using Individually Appropriate Instruction in Preschool. In Teaching and Learning in Preschool (pp. 23-32). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.