Reflective Analysis of Portfolio Artifact

Rationale/Reflection
NAEYC Standard:
STANDARD 4. USING DEVELOPMENTALLY EFFECTIVE APPROACHES
Candidates prepared in early childhood degree programs understand that teaching and learning with
young children is a complex enterprise, and its details vary depending on childrens ages, characteristics,
and the settings within which teaching and learning occur. They a) understand and use positive
relationships and supportive interactions as the foundation for their work with young children and
families. Candidates b, c) know, understand, and use a wide array of developmentally appropriate
approaches, instructional strategies, and tools to connect with children and families and d) positively
influence each childs development and learning (NAEYC, 2010)

Brief Description of Evidence:

As part of my ECED 243-Cognitive Curriculum course during the fall semester of 2014 I created an
invitation to learn. I picked the theme of dinosaurs. I created and implemented a few activities to go along
with this theme. These included sensory bottles, plastic dinosaur impressions out of play-doh, and
searching for smaller dinosaurs in a bowl of pebbles. This invitation involved math and science plus the
use of fine motor skills. After completing this invention, I sent home a documentation panel showing the
steps of the invitation for the children to show their families.

Analysis of What I Learned:

By setting out this invitation to learn in my practicum class room, I learned that teaching and learning
with young children is a complex enterprise depending on the childs age, characteristics, and the setting
of where the learning takes place such the type of invitation and the childs interests. Through this
activity, I learned the importance of positive relationships and supportive interactions with not only the
children, but also their families. I learned this by observing and interacting while completing this activity
and sending home a panel showing what the children accomplished.

How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the

NAEYC Standard:
I prove my competence in this standard by my ability to understand and produce many types of
developmentally appropriate approaches, instructional strategies, and to provide many different tools to
connect with the children in my future class room by observing their interests and their best method of
learning. I prove this by understanding the effect that positive influences have on a childs development
and their learning. I prove competence by my understanding and belief of natural learning, meaning
letting children explore what interests them. This theory is supported by Maria Montessori.