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 knowledgebase. 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,
or how to help them academically, which can be due to many factors throughout their life; for example, their
home life, who they interact with, where they live, etc. This experience allowed me to break down my life and
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. Knowing 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 strategies 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, at their own pace, and in
their own way. With this knowledge, I am able to promote child development and learning in my classroom by
creating lesson plans that are easy to personalize.