FATIMA, STANDARD 6

Standard 6 (NAEYC-INI-2010.6): Becoming a Professional

Exhibit 1: Final Reflection Paper.
Description
The exhibit I have selected to demonstrate my professional competence as an early
childhood teacher educator and with regards to NAEYC standard 6 is one that I have completed
for SEEC 500 Analysis of Instruction in Early Childhood Education one of the compulsory
course offered in Master of Science in Early Childhood Special Education at Northern Illinois
University. This was a reflection paper and we had two choices. The first one was to select
controversial topic related to early childhood education (e.g., How do the Common Core State
Standards impact young children and their teachers?). Then read at least three journal articles
from peer-reviewed journals and write a reflection paper (about 4- to 5-page long). The second
option was to attend any professional development training/ conference and then submit a
reflection paper about 4- page long regarding my learning experiences. I chose the second option
Fortunately, I got an opportunity to attend attending a national professional development
conference organized by The National Association for the Education of Young Children
(NAEYC), held on June 05, 2016 to June 08, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. It was a great chance
not only to build my professional competence as an early childhood education but also to
observe professional development conference sessions in the United States. Before going to
attend this conference, I had some objectives in my mind. These objectives helped me focused
what I needed to obtain through this professional exposure. I have selected this exhibit to
demonstrate my professional competence with regards to NAEYC standard 6 because, this
exhibit is the reflection of my professional competence which standard 6 demands from an early
childhood teacher and teacher educators. NAYEC standard 6 demands early childhood

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professional to consider themselves as a reflective professional that knows how to follow proper
guidelines to meet the professional needs of the standard and to demonstrate their professional
expertise in making informed decisions based on their knowledge gained from variety of sources.
Keeping in view the NAEYC standard 6s demands, this exhibit demonstrates actually
what I learned and acted as an early childhood teacher educator with regards to the said standard.
The topics of this conference was mostly aligned with my course content and it really helped me
a lot in understanding of my content topics. For instance, I had two courses in summer semester.
The first one was Analysis of instruction in Early Childhood Education, and the second one was
Family and School Partnership for Academic Success, and the topics of the conference, for
example promoting school readiness, the NAEYC code of ethical conduct, using powerful
interactions to strengthen systems, the play experiences, advancing early childhood education as
a professional field of practice, opening the culture door, helping preschool parents understand
the connections among play, learning and development, and community partners as co-teacher
educators. Fortunately, these all topics cover NAEYC standard 6 requirements. The important
aspect of this conference was having the opportunity to meet other early childhood professionals
from different parts of the United States. This opportunity not only helped to interact with these
professionals, but also provided me chances to reflect on my own professional experiences.
I believe the process of sharing and reflecting on my own experiences during the
conference sessions and with other early childhood professionals was another way of
demonstrating my professional expertise and enhancing my knowledge related to early childhood
education practices, programs, and state policies that ruled these practices and programs. I think
this four-day early childhood conference made me able to reflect on my learning experiences as a
new member of community of learners of early childhood education domain.

FATIMA, STANDARD 6

Reflection on NAEYC standard 6

The exhibit which I have selected to demonstrate my professional learning experiences as
an early childhood teacher educator, is one that added in my professional expertise through an
interactive course of learning. NAEYC standard 6 expects early childhood professionals to be
cognizant of standard requirements and well-equipped with the knowledge and professional
expertise related to early childhood education and are willing to get engaged in knowledgeable
advocacy for young children and their education. The part of the standard which expects early
childhood practitioners engaged in building their capacities continuously through engaging
themselves in different ongoing professional development activities in order to be well-informed
advocate of their profession. Therefore, keeping in view this component of NAEYC standard 6,
this national conference was also an opportunity for me to build up new connections with other
early childhood professionals, enhance my professional knowledge and skills regarding my field.
I was well aware of the fact that after attending this conference, I have to write a
reflection paper regarding my professional experiences I gained through this exposure. Attending
NAEYC national conference was itself a great opportunity for all early childhood professionals
to build new connections and keep their knowledge and information up to date. While I was
bringing my learning experiences on the paper, I was continuously in the process of analyzing
those sessions and recalling what I learned and experienced through that particular session. The
process of reflecting on my own learning experiences was itself a learning process. I tried to
express my experiences that I was thinking important to me as an early childhood teacher
educator. Before going to attend this conference, I had some objectives in my mind. These
objectives were to experience NAEYC professional development activities, especially to observe
and participate in those professional development sessions that are most emerging and aligned

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with my course content, and to experience American professional development conferences.

Having these objectives in my mind, I attended professional development sessions and when I
was in process of writing this exhibit, I was also analyzing to what extent I have been successful
in achieving my objectives.
Through this assignment, I recalled my learning experiences and I was enthusiastic to
share even minor details of the conference. Finally, I decided to describe my learning
experiences based on the attended sessions. I believe this exhibit demonstrate my professional
learning experiences and expertise with regards to NAEYC standard 6. Through this exhibit, I
learned how to reflect on my own learning experiences keeping in view the chronology of the
events. This helped me a lot to keep sequence of my experiences as they occurred. I also realized
that how important is to reflect on our own learning. I learned that reflecting on our own
experiences not only help us to share what we have achieved but also points us towards what we
couldnt achieve or couldnt do as part of our learning. This exhibit enhanced my understanding
of NAEYC code of ethical conduct, one of important component of NAEYC standard 6 because,
when we are in the listening position, most of the time we forget what we listened. But when it
comes to reflect on what we listened, it enhanced our critical thinking skills. We become more
attentive in reflecting critically. Then we come to know what areas still needs to be addressed.
Likewise, my professional knowledge as an early childhood teacher educator enhanced when I
was reflecting on the session of advancing early childhood education as a professional field of
practice, again an important element of NAEYC standard 6. It supplemented me preliminary
knowledge regarding the concept of early childhood education as a professional field. I started to
thinking on the ways through which I as a member of community of early childhood education
collaborate and share my expertise and learning experiences for a more universal- oriented early

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childhood education system. While reflecting on my strengths I would say, one of my weakness
in terms of not being able to attend some of the sessions I wanted to attend, because of same
timing of those sessions and the other challenging situation of some of the sessions needed to be
registered separately before attending them. Those sessions were more expensive and were not
included in our registration fee for the conference. I didnt have the idea about this type of
situation I experienced during this conference.
It is said that we not only learn from our experiences but also when we reflect on our
experiences. Thus, reflecting on our learning help us build our understanding of the topic and the
ways of expressing them. This exhibit also helped me a lot in the sense that it supplemented my
understanding regarding the attended sessions and the mechanism of the professional
development conferences here in the United States. At this moment, this exhibit facilitated in
understanding the actual philosophy of NAEYC standard 6, that demands early childhood
professional to keep them updated with the knowledge and skills of early childhood education
and incorporate their learning experiences for informed decision making, and follow ethical
guidelines formulated for them in order to fulfil professional standards needs.
Based on my reflection on this exhibit, I feel that I should build my capacity in how to
reflect on my learning experiences and presentation skills. There is always room for
improvement, so I believe seeking opportunities to improve my presentation skills and reflecting
on my learning will lead me towards a better understanding of how to build my professional
knowledge and skills in this domain.