Professional Portfolio Artifact(s) Reflections Cover Sheet PLO: Demonstrates the ability to integrate knowledge of the needs, the

characteristics, and multiple influences on development of children (birth to age eight) as related to high quality of care and education of young children. The Artifacts I have included to demonstrate my competence in PLO 1 include: Observation on Domains of Development (CHDV 100, revised or enhanced in CHDV 210) Select portions of the DRDP (CHDV 160, revised or enhanced in CHDV 210) Essay on Importance of Play (CHDV 110, revised CHDV 210) Title 22 Health and Safety Regulation Observation Project (CHDV 142, revised or enhanced, CHDV 210) I. Explanation: How is the content of these artifacts used to demonstrate my competence in this PLO and what specific knowledge, skills, or belief systems are demonstrated? DRDP: Knowledge: Doing the DRDPs gave me the knowledge to become familiar with the 43 different measures. I became familiar with the different domains, physical, social, and emotional. I became familiar with assessing the level each child is in, exploring, developing, building, or integrating. I learned that there are many ways to fill out the DRDPs, anecdotal records, photos, running records, checklists, and childrens work samples. Skills: I acquired many skills from doing the DRDPs like filling out the DRDPs. I now have the skills to fill out all 43 different measures for each child. Another skill I have

acquired from doing the DRDPs is writing objective notes for each child and using all of the different tools I have available to properly measure each childs development. Beliefs: I believe that the DRDPs are important to have as a teacher because it helps the teacher properly asses each child. With the DRDPs the teacher can write effective lesson plans for the children, and the teacher will know which child needs help being scaffolded to the next level. Essay on Importance of Play Knowledge: The Essay on Importance of Play gave me the knowledge that children use play as their basis of learning. I learned why and how children learn best during play. It also gave me the knowledge that it is important to have a rich play based environment. I learned how quality time with the children is important during play because they learn through play and trough the teacher scaffolding the child. I also learned that activities can be centered around play and children can learn a lot of different skills, math, letters, numbers, and so much more through play. Skills: I gained many skills because of this assignment. The skill I have gained from doing this assignment is I am now able to add items to my environment to enrich a childs learning. I have the skill to create play based activities that can enhance a childs social, emotional, or physical development. Beliefs: I believe play is important because children need to play to stimulate their mind. I believe children need play to develop physically, socially, and emotionally. Title 22 Health and Safety Regulation Observation Project Knowledge: The knowledge I gained with the Title 22 health and safety observation was how to create a rich safe environment for children. I learned how many things teachers

have to remember when they are in the classroom with the children. My knowledge expanded in regards to proper child to teacher ratio, proper activity space per child is 35 square feet per child, and that there must always be a teacher supervising any water activities. Skills: I gained many skills with Title 22 health and safety observation. For example, I am now able to recognize any health or safety violations in classrooms, and am able to fix any type of problem I see. Another skill I have developed is how to do daily health checks and when it is necessary to call the child caregiver if s/he is ill or hurt. Beliefs: I believe it is important for children to be in a safe and healthy environment. I believe all children should be in a center that has proper teacher to child ratio and will be supervised at all times.

II. Growth: How do these artifacts demonstrate my growth in knowledge and skill?
DRDP: Knowledge: I have grown in my knowledge by working in the field by assisting my mentor teacher write notes, taking pictures and video, of the children, for the DRPs. I have also grown in my knowledge because I now know that having times and dates on the notes I take is important because the teacher can compare the notes from the past to present notes and see the growth the child has made. I also know it is important to be organized when doing DRDPs because when showing the DRDPs to a parent or other faculty the information will be easy to find and compare. Skills: I have grown in my skills of writing DRDPs because I am now able to recognize many of the DRDP measures without looking at the list of DRDPs. I am able to more

accurately assess each child in the domain and the level they are in. Now I am able to write objective notes for each child to get an accurate assessment of him/her. I am now able to do a DRDP for more than one child at a time, and I am now able to write notes for more than one child at a time. Beliefs: I used to believe that DRDPs were not very important in assessing each child. I used to think it was just taking notes and writing down everything the child did during the day. Now I know that DRDPs are crucial to the development of each child because it is how accurate lesson plans will be written, how a child will be properly assessed, and how a teacher will be able to scaffold each child individually and as a whole. Essay on Importance of Play Knowledge: I have improved in my knowledge of play because I have been able to see firsthand the effect that play has on a childs development. During my teacher in charge week at my mentor site, I was able to see the growth in the childrens knowledge about dinosaurs, and it happened through play. Skills: My skills have improved because I now get down to eye level with the children and engage in the activity they are working on. I now participate in their play with them. I now have the skills to write lesson plans and outdoor activities that are based on play that offer many learning opportunities for the children. Another skill I have developed is that I am now able to set a fun play environment. I can now set out materials for children to learn and to develop while having fun. Beliefs: I used to think play was a free choice activity where children played dress up and engaged in dramatic play. Now I believe that play is the most important part of a childs development. I now see that children learn more things trough play than they

do through academic worksheets. Title 22 Health and Safety Regulation Observation Project Knowledge: I have improved my knowledge in the Title 22 health and safety regulations because I have been able to recognize safety violations and I have been able to approach proper staff about my concern. I am now able to properly assess situations, for example if a child has fallen, I know when a guardian or other medical attention should be contacted and when the child is safe to keep playing. Skills: My skills have improved because I am now comfortable recognizing problem areas in a classroom and I am now able to take initiative to fix the area I know needs to be fixed. Another skill I now have is that I can now answer questions other staff or parents may have about certain health and safety situations. Now I can also do a health check on a child to check for an abnormality and bring it to the attention of my mentor or other qualified staff. I am now able to properly sanitize the classroom before and after each activity and before the next class comes into the classroom. Also, I am now able to supervise a water table or ask another staff member to supervise the water area. Beliefs: I believe that each child needs to be safe in school. I believe the environment needs to be free of any air borne diseases, free of any physical hazards, and with proper child to teacher ratio.

III. Application: How am I going to build on the knowledge and skills that are demonstrated (In other words, what are your next steps?) and how will the knowledge, skills, or belief systems be integrated into my future teaching practice.
DRDP- I am going to continue helping my mentor at the site with the DRDPs. I will continue to take objective notes on the children. I will continue to help put the DRDPs

together for the children. I will continue to keep observing and keep reviewing the different measures to make sure I do not forget them. I will write lesson plans using the DRDPs to help scaffold every child in every activity. Essay on Importance of Play- I will continue to base my curriculum around play. I will continue to look up different tools available to provide for the children to give them more of an opportunity at learning trough play. I will continue to find sensory materials for children use their five senses for optimal learning. Title 22 Health and Safety Regulation Observation Project- In the future I will continue to keep reading the title 22 regulations to fully understand them. I will also make sure I keep myself aware of any changes that are made to the handbook in order to stay up to date with the codes. While working or volunteering in centers I will observe the environment and if I find a violation I will talk to the rest of the staff in order to get the violation corrected.