Reflective Analysis of Portfolio Artifact

Rationale/Reflection
NAEYC Standard:
NAEYC 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 and learning, to create environments that are healthy,
respectful, supportive, and challenging for each child.

Brief Description of Evidence:

As part of my ECED 100 Intro to Early Childhood Education course during the Fall semester of
2016, I completed an inquiry project in which I chose a topic of interest in education, How to keep
children engaged in the classroom, and thoroughly examined the topic.

Analysis of What I Learned:

I learned that there are a variety of ways to ensure a student remains engaged in daily class work
and activities. Some examples of how to keep students engaged include story-telling, trying new
classroom activities, ensuring that you are asking age appropriate questions during lessons, and being sure
to set age appropriate goals for your students. In the process of learning how to keep children engaged, I
also learned about what stunts a students learning growth. Some students tend to fall behind in the
classroom because they cannot not focus. Lack of focus can come from many places such as, a stressful
home life, poor nutrition, and a poor student-teacher relationship.

How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the

NAEYC Standard:
My competence of NAEYC Standard 1: Promoting Child Development and Learning, is proven by the
creation of my inquiry project. I better understand the importance of student engagement because I took
the time to research and understand the many ways to help students stay engaged in class work and
activities. Researching this topic taught me that there are a variety of ways to keep students engaged in
daily classwork. I better understand the necessary approaches and tools needed to positively influence
children. If teachers can find enjoyable ways to ensure that their classwork and activates implement the
correct curriculum it increases that retention rate of their students as well as helps them feel comfortable
with what they are learning. If teachers use the appropriate approaches it benefits their students greatly.