Reflective Analysis of Portfolio Artifact

Rationale/Reflection
NAEYC Standard:
STANDARD 5. USING CONTENT KNOWLEDGE TO BUILD MEANINGFUL CURRICULUM
Candidates prepared in early childhood degree programs a) use their knowledge of academic disciplines to
design, implement, and evaluate experiences that promote positive development and learning for each and
every young child. Candidates understand the importance of developmental domains and academic (or
content) disciplines in early childhood curriculum. They b) know the essential concepts, inquiry tools, and
structure of content areas, including academic subjects, and can identify resources to deepen their
understanding. Candidates c) use their own knowledge and other resources to design, implement, and
evaluate meaningful, challenging curriculum that promotes comprehensive developmental and learning
outcomes for every child. (NAEYC, 2011)

Brief Description of Evidence:

During the summer semester of 2014, while enrolled in ECED 243: Cognitive Curriculum course, I
created an invitation to learn with a documentation panel that incorporated several learning experiences and
met the necessary educational standards.

Analysis of What I Learned:

Through completion of this project, I was able to see the complete process of taking a child-driven idea
for a theme to creating and implementing activities that will enhance the classroom learning process. Using
Howard Gardners theory of multiple intelligences, I am more aware of how children can learn and what
experiences will initiate learning for each of them by providing them a variety of experiences. Children really
relate to the learning process when the classroom comes alive with the theme and each learning center is setup to explore that theme in a more specific direction.

How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the NAEYC Standard:

This project is just one of many projects in which I was able to design, implement, and evaluate
learning experiences in my classroom or school. By researching essential concepts, inquiry tools, and structure
of content areas, including academic subjects, I am able to identify resources such as, literacy components, art
creation, social awareness, and spatial sensitivity to deepen each childs understanding. Each activity was
created with my knowledge of Indianas Foundation standards for early childhood education and a specific
standard would be met when a child would complete that particular activity. This experience was evaluated
by my peers and by my educational advisor to ensure that my teaching was effective. My own understanding
of developmental domains and learning outcomes for a preschool curriculum has been strengthened due to
this experience.