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Self-Assessment: Guidance
The NAEYC criteria for National Accreditation is the basis of the self-assessment criteria to demonstrate alignment with the Standards and to
familiarize students with this national accreditation process.

Give examples of situations where you supported social emotional development.

 Were attentive and responsive to an infant and toddler
I am very attentive to my kiddos when they are being dropped off in the morning by
their parents. I greet them as they walk in by name and say “good morning how are
you” and help all the other children to give the child “space” and to greet them with a
“hi” or a wave and then step back to the carpet play area so the child can enter the
room and put things in cubby, wash hands, and say “goodbye” to parent. It is being in
tune with the needs of the child at a time of separation. We take them to the window to
wave goodbye or let them bring in a toy or blanket to self soothe.

 Facilitated a child’s social competence

I facilitate social competence by modeling behaviors in my daily activities and routines
with my children and team. I respond to the child’s needs in a timely manner and set up
my environments for age appropriate activities and limitations. I have well defined
interest areas that help smaller groups with interpersonal skills and knowledge. I teach
the children about emotions and what they may look like. I show them what a good
friend or classmate looks like in books and felt board stories.

 Facilitated a child’s ability to learn through interacting with others

I try to stay close to areas of play in my caregiving and help problem solve any
interactions that may occur. We tag team with each other as teachers to stay on the
ground near the children as they play or in area if outside or in gym. We teach the
social skills of gentle touches, waiting your turn, whose turn is it, asking for a turn
when done, “waiting” in sign or verbal, and by interpreting the words or actions needed
for the specific situation.

 Helped a child recognize and name their own feelings and others’ feelings
We give the children the tools they need to verbalize the feelings they may have or
another friend may have daily. Lots of stories and felt board time is spent on emotions
and feelings. We use “stop” and “wait” in sign language to help the nonverbal child
state their feelings to the children that enter their play. A “wave” is also taught to enter
play instead of coming in and not respecting the play the child has created or the space
the child is using.

 Helped a child learn the skills needed to regulate their emotions, behavior, and attention
I had a child who hit or kicked when she entered play. The child was not very verbal
and watched the play from afar before entering with a hit on the head or a kick if the
play got near them. I taught the child to “wave” hi to the child or sign “stop” if they
play was getting too close. The child eventually used both signs and entered the play
with a child or let them get close to her space.

 Helped a child develop a sense of competence and positive attitudes toward learning, such as
persistence, engagement, curiosity, and mastery
The use of routines in our environment fosters self-help skills and a mastery of learning
in our day to day activities. The children know what is coming next and what they have
to do to get to the next step. We are child led in our curriculum and engage with the
children daily to discuss what we want to “learn” and do in our day. The children help
 build the curriculum with their interests and curiosity about the world. We are in a
positive mood and create the excitement for the child about the world.

How do you create a climate of respect for infants? Give examples of situations where you were
actively seeking to understand an infant or toddler’s needs and desires by recognizing and responding
to their nonverbal cues and using simple language.
The climate of respect is fostered in our room by listening and responding to the needs and
wants of our children in a timely manner. We get down to their level and observe what they
are interested in and doing and engage in this with them showing them they are valued and
heard. I look at them and ask questions to understand their needs and create conversations to
facilitate their language and let them know they are valued.

Give examples of how you can promote each child’s positive identity and sense of self—situations
where you offer activities and talk to children to build positive self-identity and valuing of differences
in infants or toddlers, posting family pictures, providing play props that reflect cultural backgrounds
of children, displays or posters celebrating differences, mirrors and opportunities for self-exploration,
etc.
We have the children’s family and pets in their cubbies and on our Family Wall to show their
lives at home and to foster conversations with them and their classmates. A lot of times it’s
during meal times as the board is near the table. We discuss names and events associated with
the pictures and mealtimes at home with their family. We have diverse books and toys in our
room to reflect all cultures and families all the time. All the play areas are full of diverse
people in all types of jobs, lifestyles, and races. We have mirrors in our dramatic play area and
offer costumes and hats to dress up and pretend play. A book of our families is in the book
area and we look through the book and identify and talk about each child’s families.

Self-Assessment: Guidance (Page 2 of 4)

Give examples of situations where you are aware of and avoid using stereotypes in language
references—firefighter instead of fireman, etc. Give some examples of what you would consider to be
stereotypical language or bias toward or against a child or group, and how you might respond if you
saw or heard these from adults or children in your classroom.
We use the references of firefighter, police officer, worker vs workman ect.in our description
of people around us and in books. One thing I noticed is teacher’s using phrases like” in their
culture” when we don’t know “their” culture and what it is. Just because they may have certain
features that represent a culture how are we to know what their family culture is at home. I ask
the teacher to read the intake forms of the children before generalizing about how the family
responds to caregiving at home or their food preference or eating style.
Give an example of situations where you encouraged, acknowledged and named a child’s
appropriate expression of emotions, both positive (joy, pleasure, excitement) and negative (anger,
frustration, sadness, etc.). Give an example of a situation where you helped a child recognize and name
feelings of other children.
I have encouraged and acknowledged a child’s behavior when they were angry at a friend for
taking their toy and the child hit the child taking the toy from them. I asked the child” how are
you feeling right now, angry or sad?” at the friend. The child said “sad” and we discussed how
when a child takes your toy you say “mine” and” I’m sad you took my toy”.
I have encouraged and acknowledged a child’s joy when they squealed at a song and jumped
up and down I said “does this song make you happy?” and the child nodded their head up and
down “yes”. I said” it makes me happy and silly too!”
I have helped my kiddos feel empathy when a child is hurt by another child and crying. We
check in with the child and ask if they need a back rub or a hug. If the child says “no” we
“give them some space” and walk away for the child to self soothe. I then talk to the child that
hit and ask them if they could say “ my turn” or “ I’m next”.

Give an example of a situation where you facilitated a child’s social interactions with other children
—looking at, touching, vocalizing, entering play, etc. Give an example of a situation where you did or
would intervene when children might tease or reject others.
I have a child who is not very verbal and would hit a child on the head to engage in play or
enter play. I showed the child if she waved “hi” or said “hi” she could get the child’s attention
and enter the play.
It rarely happens in the toddler room as they all love to gather and be in a group together.
Usually the moments of rejection come when they want to play alone or with one other child. I
teach them “my space” and “my turn” or “wait” to facilitate the action needed from the child
that wants to join in. We ask them to say they want to be alone or space and to talk nicely to
them for their wants.

Give an example of a situation where you helped a child learn socially appropriate behavior by
providing guidance that was consistent with the child’s level of development—for infants, narrates
events and feelings for child; for toddlers, helps child understand how other children are feeling,
models and encourages using “please”, “thank you”, “excuse me”, turn taking, etc.
Our children are served family style at meal times and we sit 4 children and 1 teacher to a
table. We help the children with passing the bowls and saying “please” and “thank you” for
receiving the food. If the child wants for something at the table they are asked to say “please”
for a want and “thank you” for receiving it. We ask children to say “beep-beep” or “excuse
me” for passing by someone or wanting someone to move out of their way. If the children
want to take a turn they use “wait” or “ my turn next” and the person whose turn it is says “my
turn”

Self-Assessment: Guidance (Page 3 of 4)

Give an example of a situation where you implemented appropriate classroom rules and
expectations and helped children understand them in a way that is consistent and predictable.
We have very consistent routines in the toddler room as we are keeping the expectations and
building the trust of the child with the expectations there. I ask the children not to yell like
“lions” in the classroom and instead talk like “cats” and we can yell like “lions” in the gym
and outside. The minute we get outside they all roar!!! It works and they get the classroom is
for quiet cats. I model a lot of appropriate class rules and the children see this and follow along
to do what I am doing or to get to the next activity.

Give an example of a situation where you worked to prevent challenging or disruptive behaviors
through environment design—by changing the environment to prevent behaviors; “defensible
spaces” provided, equipment available to children to meet needs for gross motor exploration, adjust
levels of light and sound to child responses, etc.
We had a lot of climbing on chairs and tables so we ordered a loft climber with a slide for the
room and it is hit!
We added bean bag chairs to our room so if a child needs to hit or swat at something we have
them give the bean bag chair a punch or they can throw balls in to the bean bag chair to get rid
of the “grumbly mumblys”.

Give an example of a situation where you worked to prevent challenging or disruptive behaviors by
adjusting schedules to meet the needs and abilities of children and to provide more effective
transitions—warning of transition times, gathering times are informal rather than structured group
times, no (or limited) waiting times, etc.
I let the children know we are cleaning up for a transition in 5 (we all raise our hands) minutes.
We put on the “clean-up” song and they begin to clean up. When we are done we have 2
colored carpets to go to. The brown carpet for going out the front door and the black carpet for
going outside. While we wait, we have cue cards that are clipped to our keys that give us
transition songs and we also have a song list on the doors for us to reference. We ask the kids
to choose between 2 songs on the cards and then we sing the songs as we wait to go to the next
transition.
Give an example of a situation where you worked to prevent challenging or disruptive behaviors by
offering engaging activities—activities are introduced or ended in response to children’s reactions.
We have group times where we read, flannel boards, puppets, sing, or do activity cards. If a
child is disruptive or does not want to participate in a group tike or gets bored, we ask them to
go to the tables where there is puzzles or an activity box. If there are too many choices or not
enough we add more to keep the peace or take away too much distraction to calm a situation
down. We love music so anytime we need a redirect we sing songs or turn on some tunes and
the children get instruments and the focus is changed.

Self-Assessment: Guidance (Page 4 of 4)

Give an example of a situation where you responded to a child’s challenging behavior in a way that
recognized the child’s temperament, abilities, home life and progress.
I have a child that doesn’t eat with utensils and dislikes the food choices offered at meal times.
We spoke to her parents and they eat with their hands or spoon feed the child at home. They
let her walk around and give her food as she wants it when she passes by the table. We
understood their home life and let Maya use both her hands and her spoon. We spoon fed her
for the beginning, but her peers actually taught her to use utensils through her observing them
in the meal time setting. Maya wanted to use her spoon and started to get the understanding
that some foods were easier to get to and less messy with a spoon. We let the meal time
become a welcomed time and not a stressful time for the child.

Describe how you use positive guidance strategies. Describe what you consider to be inappropriate
physical punishment. Describe what you would consider to be inappropriate use of threats or
derogatory remarks or withholding or threatening to withhold food as a form of discipline.
I feel anything that touches the child in a rough or angry manner is physical punishment. I
think that inappropriate remarks or looks by a caregiver that shame or belittle the child in any
way are also a form of punishment that hurts the heart and the body. Using anger to control the
child’s behavior is not the proper way to teach. I feel telling the child you are making me feel
some way, you will take something from them or making them go somewhere to sit alone is
using a threatening manner and language. We redirect and get down to their level and talk
about what they can do not what they can’t. I help the child control their behavior themselves
and feel good about staying in the limits and showing prosocial behavior.