Reflective Analysis of Portfolio Artifact

Rationale/Reflection
NAEYC Standard:
STANDARD 1. PROMOTING CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING
Candidates Prepared in early childhood degree programs are grounded in a child development knowledge
base. They use their understanding of young childrens characteristics and needs, of multiple interacting
influences on childrens development, and create environments that are healthy, respectful, supportive, and
challenging for each child. (NAEYC, 2010)

Brief Description of Evidence:
During the spring semester of 2013 during my ECED 120- Child Growth & Development course, I
individually studied and researched my life experiences through Eriksons eight stages as a guideline. The
structured paper I composed required me to elaborate on situations I experienced through different stages of
my life so far. For each stage I have completed in life, I looked at Eriksons eight stages and used them to
reflect on my own life.
Analysis of What I Learned:
Through completion of the Eriksons Self-Study, I was able to develop a better understanding on how
the situations that occur during these stages of life negatively or positively affect the children and their
learning development in the future. Going through each stage of my life made me realize why I am where I
am today and how I got to this point. Also while going through each stage of my life, I was able to understand
more of why children act the way they do, which from my understanding is because of the stage they are in
currently.
How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the NAEYC Standard:
The Erikson Self-Study demonstrates my knowledge of understanding where the children are at
academically, which can be due to many factors throughout their life; for example, their home life, who they
interact with, where they live, how they are educated, etc. This assignment allowed me to break down my life
and experiences to see how each stage affected my own life, which helped me understand that a childs
environment does have a great impact on how children develop and learn. Understanding each stage helps
me put together the different pieces and help children get through or succeed a current stage in life. Also
because I understand each stage of development, I am eligible to positively develop educational growth for
each individual child who is in different stages of development. Through my self-study, I am confident that I
am able to positively increase childrens understanding and development with knowing all children learn
differently and at their own pace.