Caitlin Maag

A45980412

Essay 1: How I See Children

For a huge portion of my life, my mother ran an in-home daycare. Coming home to a
house full of young children helped me in deciding what to do with my life. I would play with
the children and help make up activities that I thought the children would find fun. Plus, if my
mother had to run an errand, Id take care of the children while she was away for her short period
of time. Being raised in this kind of setting helped to form my philosophy on how I see children?
Well, in order to answer this very important question, I first need to answer two other questions.
What are my views on child development and learning? Who am I as an early childhood
professional? With these two questions we should be better able to understand how I see
children. Let us start with answering the first question that I have mentioned earlier.
My views on child development and learning range from the aspects that I am interested
in, to my belief of the nature of this subject, to even things that I look for in order to know
whether and how children are developing. First off, the aspects of child development and
learning that interest me most would be actually witnessing how children develop over time. I
also find what infants and toddlers can achieve in such a short amount of time just as fascinating.
Now, my biggest belief about the nature of development and learning would be that, as stated in
Alternative Approaches to Assessing Young Children , the interactions between environmental
and biological factors that influence child development (Losardo, Syverson, 2011). Plus, things
that I can look for to know if and how children are developing and learning would be the
products of which an activity that children participate in can produce at the end. Another way I

can look for this would be through anecdotal notes that were recorded over the time period the
child was in my care. Now that this question has been answered, we can now move onto the next
question in our quest.
Well that varies from seeing if my teaching is effective, to my goals as a professional, to
supporting childrens development and learning. First, what I look for to know whether my
teaching is effective is the number of children who are interested and participate in an activity
that I have set up to help further their development. Another way that I can find out whether my
teaching is effective is through, like Alternative Approaches to Assessing Young Children says
narrative tools which are basically running records, journals or anecdotal records of
observations of incidents that are recorded throughout an observation (Losardo, Syverson,
2011). Seeing whether the children have actually written words down or just scribbled across
paper can tell me whether my teaching was effective. Second, my most important goal as an
early childhood professional is to help children reach their highest potential developmentally.
Lastly, I can support childrens development and learning by providing activities where all
children are able to participate and is anti-bias, therefore accessible to all children in the
classroom.
In conclusion, the answer to the question at the top of this essay is by answering what my
views in child development and learning are and who I am as an early childhood professional.
My views involve being able to stay interested in the progression of infant and toddler
development, that development and learning can be influenced by both biological and
environmental factors, as well as taking anecdotal records over a period of time to show whether
and how children are developing and learning. I am an early childhood professional by taking
anecdotal records to see if my teaching is effective in any shape or form. My goal as an early

childhood professional is to help children reach their full potential developmentally. I support
childrens development and learning by providing children activities that are available for all
children. This paper explains how I see children in the best possible way.

References
Losardo, A., & Syverson, A. N. (2011). Alternative Approaches to Assessing Young Children
(2nd ed., p. 2-18). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc.