Early Childhood Professional Portfolio :

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Personal Statement
• Philosophy Statement
• Skills
• Communication
• Creativity Picture
• Listenning Picture
• Professional Confrences
• Certificates
• Code of Ethics

CERTIFICATE

LISTENING

PROFESSIONALISM

Standard VI: Confidentiality and Consent to the Release of Information Regarding Children and their Families

Standard V: Professional Boundaries, Dual Relationships and Conflict of Interest

Standard IV: Professional Knowledge and Competence

All information is confidential. While on placement I demonstrated this standard by not discussing the children in my classroom with other educators in the school or with students in my program. When taking pictures of the children working I did not include their faces.

Standard III: Safe Healthy and Supportive Learning Environments:

While on placement I demonstrated this standard by not discussing my personal life with the children or parents. None of the parents of the children are on my Facebook and I did not socialize with them outside of the daycare or the classroom.

Standard II: Developmentally Appropriate Care and Education

The Early Childhood Field is always changing. It is very important to stay current. Through my journey in becoming an ECE I have subscribed to various online forums and educational websites.

While on placement I got to observe how the school keeps the children safe. All visitors must wait for the doors to the school to be unlocked, upon entry to the school visitors must sign in. There is a fenced in yard for the students who at risk of running away. There are child size furnishings in the classroom and outside. There are rules about running in the classroom and outside. There is a PA system that announces any threats to the student and advised of a lock down.

Standard 1: Caring and Nurturing Relationships that Support Learning

Responsibilities to Colleagues and to the Profession

Responsibilities to Community and to Society

Responsibilities to Families

Responsibilities to Children

While on placement I would plan activities and bring in developmentally appropriate resources in weekly. Through observations I could see that the activities that I planned where developmentally appropriate. The children where in their zone of learning. The children where able to complete the activities. Some children would help the other children by scaffolding. Some children would take longer to complete a activity if the fine motor skills where not fully developed, another child would go over and help with the cutting or cluing. A resource I brought in was gak. The children played with the gak for three weeks. The question I asked was how long do you think the gak can stretch? As the gak gets longer it needs to be supported so it does not break. A child named C quickly realized this and started to get objects in the classroom to support the gak.

While on placement in the kindergarten room there where no children with severe allergies that required an Epi Pen or that had a allergy sheet. There where two children that had a gluten intolerance and their lunches where packed at home. When planning activities I would not bring any food materials that contained gluten. I planned an activity where the children made shakers. The material that was brought in was chickpeas

The Early Childhood Field is always changing. It is very important to stay current. Through my journey in becoming an ECE I have attended various workshops, the most recent one was on April 23, 2016 there was a workshop at Algonquin College on Pedagogical Documentation, this workshop was very interesting as it discussed and taught various ways to document children work. ECE’s from all over Lanark County where there, it was a great learning and networking opportunity

Code of Ethics

I believe all children need to know that they are valued and that there is a adult in the classroom that is empathetic to their needs. While on placement a little girl fell and scraped her knee. I gave her a hug and put a band-aid on her knee. The school communicates with parents in several ways; the most used method is the agenda. Parents and teachers can write daily notes to each other this way. While on placement I would see several parents dropping off their children at the local daycare where my children go. I would introduce my self to them and say hello to the children.

While on placement I got to take part in an Earth Day celebration. The children and staff went to a local forest and collected garbage. The kindergarten class was learning about spring, a student brought in two baby chicks from her farm. On my last day of placement there was a assembly for the whole school. The theme was caring and respect. The Grade two class sang a song

While on placement the kindergarten children where learning about Earth Day and how to be kind to the earth. I read a book called The Family of Earth by Schim Schimmel. The book talks about different animals in different parts of the world and how we all have a different perspective of the world we all share the air, water, mountains and sky. This book was a great anti-bias and diverse book that included all the children.

COMMUNICATION

CREATIVITY

Early Childhood Professional Portfolio :

Julie Sculland

JULIE SCULLAND

SKILLS

PERSONAL STATEMENT

PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT

Communication: I have had the opportunity thought the years to do several oral presentations. The most recent opportunity was in November 2015 in a communications class. The presentation was to teach a topic to the class in less than ten steps. The topic I chose was how to make a strawberry trifle. The presentation went very well, comments that were made was that it was very clear and there was great movement and interaction with the audience. I believe that good oral communication is essential in the field of Early Childhood Education.

Creativity: As a student at Algonquin College I have had the opportunity to participate in numerous creative activities. This has provided me with the opportunity to develop my creative skills through anti-bias workshops, cognitive stages of play workshops, and teaching a craft to the class which will later be used while on placement.

Listening: My listening skills have been developed through many years of experience in the customer service industry. The experience that stands out is, when I was working in a call centre. A customer called in feeling very frustrated, she had called in several times before and her issue was never resolved. This particular call took several days to resolve. Many follow up calls were made to ensure the customer was completely satisfied. This customer was ready to leave AT&T and look elsewhere for service. In the weeks that followed the customer wrote a letter thanking me and another employee for their time in listening to her issues and completely resolving them.

Professionalism: I have had the opportunity to attend a couple of workshops related to the field of Early Childhood Education, through Algonquin College. Maintaining professional contacts in the community and keeping current on my skills is a priority for me.

• I became interested in Early Childhood Education because of my two children, who have exceptionalities. Throughout the years I have been involved with Language Express, various agencies and The Ontario Early Years Centres.

• I have had the opportunity to observe my children and their caregivers at nursery school and at various playgroups. The positive interaction between my children and their teachers was what sparked my curiosity into the field of Early Childhood Education. Wanting to understand more about my children and how they learn is what brought me to Algonquin College to study the Early Childhood Program.

• Being able to be creative and educate is very exciting. Throughout my career and as a student, I plan to attend conferences and workshops to keep my knowledge and skills current. I believe all children are capable of great things.

• I believe that every child has a unique skill, ability to learn and to be creative. It is my goal as an educator to help every child achieve this. I believe to help children achieve this, there must be play, anti-bias activities, problem solving skills and communication. Fostering creativity through everyday life experiences, will help every child to realize their potential.

• My philosophy is based on the Regio and Highscope approach to education. I believe that children learn from their environment. Providing a classroom with a “home like atmosphere” and incorporating children’s families, culture and community into their everyday learning will help them excel.

• I believe in letting the child take the lead in the activities or interest that they may have. I support emergent curriculum as it lets the child deicide what is relevant to their learning. Having open ended activities in my classroom and adding the children’s culture will help them feel capable and competent.

• Building secure attachments and having a trusting relationships with the children is very important to me both personally and as an educator. Being responsive and attentive to the children’s needs are essential to a healthy development. Being reliable, listening and getting involved in the children’s play are ways I demonstrate this belief.