NAEYC Standard:

STANDARD 1. PROMOTING CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING

Candidates prepared in early childhood degree programs are grounded in a
child development knowledge base. They use their understanding of young
childrens characteristics and needs, and of multiple interacting influences
on childrens development. (NAEYC, 2010).

Brief Description of Evidence:

In the Fall Semester of 2014, our ECED 120, Child Growth and Development course,
our class individually studied Erik Eriksons Psychosocial Theory within our own
lives as a developing child and adult. We were instructed to research each stage of
the theory and relate it to not only our lives, but also include a perspective from
our family and friends as well. This included the achievements and failures in each
stage, what a child may or may not be going through in this time frame, and also
developmental features that the child may be facing.

Analysis of What I Learned:

Although some of the stages closer to my age range were easy to write about, the
earlier stages and the later stages of life were much more difficult to think about,
especially trying to figure out what kind of person you would be before death. This
also helped me determine many of my dispositions and characteristics, both
positive and negative, of each stage of development. While being in a childcare
setting, this artifact improved my understanding of the development of many of
the children in my classroom. This artifact also helped me determine how to guide
children to the path of the positive achievements in that area of the stage that the
child may be in.

How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the NAEYC

Standard:
With our Erikson Self Study, we learned through ourselves what characteristics and
needs for a child should be facing during a certain age group, being able to
successfully influence a childs development with interactions between caregiver,
parent or even a childhood friendship. This also builds a childs development and
their learning ability in the classroom. We can also provide a creative environment
as educators, by guiding and encouraging students to challenge themselves in
their learning ability, but also keeping that respectful and supportive environment
for the students and their families by maintaining positive relationships and even
encouraging families to challenge the child outside of the classroom.