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 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 know the essential concepts, inquiry tools, and structure of content areas, including academic subjects, and can identify resources to deepen their understanding. Candidates use their own knowledge and other resources to design, implement, and evaluate meaningful, challenging curriculum that promotes comprehensive developmental and learning outcomes for every young child (NAEYC, 2011). Brief Description of Evidence: As a part of my ECED 103 course during the fall of 2012, I had to complete a unit plan which consisted of making activities and projects for a whole unit. This unit plan also had books tied into science, math, literacy, and other areas of learning. Each activity that was tied to an area of learning had an objective and Indiana Academic Standards. Analysis of What I Learned: After completing the unit plan assignment, I learned how to design challenging curriculum for young children more than before. I learned how to use cross curriculum throughout my lessons. I also learned how to use the right educational tools to promote positive development for each young child that I teach. How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the NAEYC Standard: This artifact demonstrates my competence in standard 5, Using Content Knowledge to Build Meaning Curriculum by showing that I am able to use the right tools and knowledge to build curriculum that each and every child can learn from. I was also able to use the appropriate standards to base my lessons off.