FATIMA, STANDARD 5

Standard 5 (NAEYC-INI-2010.5): Using Content Knowledge to Build Meaningful

Curriculum
Exhibit 1: Curriculum Evaluation
Description
The selected exhibit is one of my assignments in SEEC 500, Analysis of Instruction in
Early Childhood Education, a compulsory course for the Masters in Early Childhood program at
Northern Illinois University. I feel this is one of the assignments of the said course through
which I could demonstrate my professional competence acquired during completing this
assignment with regards to NAEYC standard 5, which requires early childhood teachers and
educators to use their professional knowledge and competencies for the promotion of
development and learning of the young children.
For this assignment we had to identify the various strengths of early childhood
curriculum models and evaluate them in term of teacher intentionality, adaptability to various
developmental levels and special needs, and classroom implications. We also had to analyze and
report the recent research and current issues related to the models we selected. This was a group
project. I and my other class fellow decided to evaluate the High Scope curriculum model. I
have selected this exhibit because this exhibit reflects my professional knowledge and
competence with regards to NAEYC standard 5. This standard puts its focus on the strengths of
early childhood teachers and teacher educators in terms of their capacities to devise, apply, and
evaluate early childhood curricular models that could best fit according to the needs of young
childrens developmental domains.
Through this assignment, we evaluated the High Scope curriculum model. In order to
evaluate the High Scope curriculum model, we struggled to put our full strengths to build our
capacity for the understanding of what we can offer for our young childrens developmental

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needs. This exhibits fits the first part of the NAEYC standard 5, which requires early childhood
teachers and educators to build their capacities in the domain of understanding of young
childrens developmental needs and the knowledge of important curricular models and to design,
implement, and evaluate the experiences they provide to young children through these
curriculums. Before evaluating the High Scope curriculum, my friend and I sought permission
from our instructor to work on this curriculum.
We discussed all components of the High Scope curriculum model in detail so that we
could establish our consensus on one point. It was very important to mention here that we would
not be able to evaluate the High Scope model if we had not reviewed other curriculum models
thoroughly. This was essential to have the understanding and knowledge of other curriculum
models because, without this, we could not evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the High
Scope model. We reviewed other curriculum models offered in this course. For instance, we
reviewed the Montessori Model, Creative Curriculum model, Waldorf model. Project Approach
model, and Reggio Emilia model. We had discussed these curriculum models in our learning
modules, and extra reading materials provided by our instructor helped us greatly in completing
this assignment.
I believe this assignment best fits the first part of the NAEYC standard 5, because the
theoretical framework of High Scope requires to be in line with the theory of teaching and
learning. This includes that the teacher supports each childs capacity to develop individual
talents and abilities through on-going opportunities for active learning, and researchers and
teachers have to be able to work as partners so that theory and practice receive equal
consideration. The evaluation of this curriculum model also clarified the idea that young children

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are able to construct and interpret their own meaning of an idea and concept from their
surroundings.
Exhibit 2: Unit Plan Project
Description
The second exhibit which I have selected is one of my assignments in SEEC 503,
Primary Curriculum, a compulsory course for the Masters in Early Childhood program at
Northern Illinois University offered in the Spring 2016 Semester. I feel this is one of the
assignments of the above mentioned course through which I could demonstrate my professional
competence acquired during completing this assignment with regards to the second part of
NAEYC standard 5, which requires early childhood teachers and educators to build and use their
professional knowledge and skills required to create and design effective and meaningful
learning activities for young children. This part of the standard also requires early childhood
professionals to identify the resources for promoting comprehensive outcomes for the
development and learning of young children.
This was also a group project and we were four in one group. We were asked to plan a
developmentally appropriate primary-grade level curriculum/theme. This thematic plan was
supposed to be submitted in its entirety. As a member of a group, we shared responsibility for our
entire project. We worked with our group to develop components of the plan throughout the
semester. We presented a part of our curriculum project to the rest of the class at the end of the
semester. This unit project had different components. As I mentioned above, we shared the
responsibility and divided the task between us. The different components of the unit plan were
development of three to four lesson plans on a central theme, rationale for selecting a particular
theme, writing lesson objectives, writing description of a school in our district, assessment,

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description of support for Tier II/Tier III and ELL learners, description of how parents would be
involved, interdisciplinary application of this unit plan, description of resources, and theory
supporting lesson plans. Besides these components, one of the components of this unit plan was
to review a NAEYC research article that could reflect on developmentally appropriate practices
for young children.
We selected the theme of Market Place. We developed three lesson plans on the topics
of Money and Costs, Components of the Marketplace, Exchange of Goods: Locally
and Globally, and Classroom Marketplace. This assignment actually gave us
the deep understanding and knowledge of academic disciplines for the
development of meaningful learning experiences for young children. This
activity was very insightful as we intertwined all constituents of inclusive
education in one-unit plan. Our unit plan was so comprehensive and selfexplanatory in the sense that it could be implemented in any classroom
setting and in any context. I believe this exhibit demonstrates my
professional competencies with regards to NAEYC standard 5 in terms of
using our content knowledge and professional experience of working with
young children.
One of the requirements of this unit plan was to describe one of the
elementary schools of our region by providing its demographic features and
its performance in comparison to other elementary schools of the district. We
selected Rockford Elementary school. The demographic information we
obtained was very useful and informative for us because, as international
students, this was the first time that three of us got an idea of the number of

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students and their cultural backgrounds. This knowledge also informed us

about how many students are with IEPs (Individualized Education Plans)
district wise and the percentage of parental contact. It was very interesting
that Rockford public school (RPS 205) has a percentage of 95.5% of parental
contact. It impressed me a lot. I am interested to see what efforts this school
is doing in bringing the parents closer.

Reflection on NAEYC Standard 5

NAEYC standard 5 requires early childhood teachers and teacher educators to equip them
with the content knowledge of their discipline and be able to design and implement
developmentally appropriate early childhood curriculum with its full potential. In order to do
this, an early childhood teacher and teacher educator must have the comprehension of young
childrens educational needs and the ways through which development and learning of these
young children could be promoted through meaningful learning experiences. I am fortunate in
the sense that I was given this opportunity to build my personal and professional competence
through having the courses of Primary Curriculum and Analysis of Instruction in Early
Childhood Education as my compulsory courses in Spring and Summer semesters 2016,
respectively.
Both these courses were based on the deep understanding of child development
philosophy and the methods to enhance and improve young childrens learning outcomes under
the umbrella of inclusive education. The Analysis of Instruction in Early Childhood Education

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course was inbuilt with tasks related to various early childhood curriculum models, online
learning modules, and, most importantly, evaluation of a curriculum model task. This course
built my understanding regarding different curriculum models and approaches, especially when
we had to evaluate any one of the early childhood curriculum models. The process of evaluating
an early childhood model was interesting and insightful, because we are able to learn a concept
most when we critically evaluate it. While we evaluate it, we do not just focus on its strengths,
we also see what are the gaps to be filled in, how we can improve it, and what are the possible
ways through which we could improve it.
The exhibits that I have selected for NAEYC standard 5, I believe, are the most
appropriate exhibits that could reflect my professional competence with regards to NAEYC
standard 5. As I have mentioned earlier, this standard demands an early childhood teacher and
teacher educator to be well equipped not only with the knowledge related to young childrens
curriculum, but also possess the skills of designing and implementing these curricula by
considering resources to promote young childrens development and learning outcomes. Thus, I
am confident enough to share that both these exhibits have played an important role in building
professional skills and content knowledge with regards to young childrens curricula. Both
exhibits were completed through group work. I have been teaching my trainee teachers the
benefits of group work, but I experienced its benefits while working with my classmates in
group.
The learning through evaluation of the High Scope curriculum model made me think to
introduce this curriculum model in my training sessions. It is also a fact that any curriculum
model for young children is not as comprehensive as it should be. It needs some modifications in
order to implement it in any context. Therefore, while I was thinking to introduce it to my trainee

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teachers I felt I have to build my capacity in the area of training my teachers regarding how they
would be able to scaffold young childrens learning through providing these young children with
the appropriate choices for classroom activities. I have gained just theoretical knowledge of
young childrens curriculum models. I think it is my weakness that I am not entirely sure about
its implementation in my context. As far as the other exhibit is concerned, I believe that I can
execute it in my context because the main part of that unit plan is making the learning process
meaningful and inclusive for all types of students with their families participation.
The learning and the professional competence I acquired through these exhibits has
motivated me to redesign my training manuals and training sessions accordingly. I think it would
be one of my future professional goals to build my own capacity on how I would be able to train
the teachers regarding their roles as facilitators, meaning how they would be able to facilitate the
learning of their students. To achieve this goal, I will use the skills gained through these exhibits
by working in groups. Therefore, I will develop a training manual for my colleagues on the High
Scope curriculum model, will give them an orientation on it, and will get their feedback on how I
will be able to train my teachers. During this orientation, my colleagues and I will decide the
whole mechanism of the professional development, keeping in view the resources, challenges,
and how we will be able to best address those challenges. I, as a faculty member of a teacher
training institute, have been working with different local and international organizations, so these
professional relationships will also help me achieve my goal.
Along with giving training to my teachers, I have also plans of giving an orientation to
their principals as well, because these teachers cannot work in isolation and coordination among
all stake holders is critical, so involvement of the principals in this process is very important. It

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will not only give the program an ownership but also make the professional development
program more effective.