Journal

Careers in Early Childhood Education Reflection

In our course so far you have been informed about potential careers and considered your personal career aspirations. Knowing which area in the field or career you want to pursue is an important first step to tackling your job search and career goals. However, simply identifying an ideal position will not propel you to achieve these goals. To successfully attain your goals, there are action steps for you to take and Ashford University has a Career Services program to support you in this exploration! For this reflective assignment, you will explore the requirements for your potential career path, assess your current skill set in regard to curriculum planning, and identify what action steps you can take to make your career goals more attainable. Take these steps to prepare your journal response:
Read the Ashford University Career Planning Step-by-Step resource to better understand the importance of developing a clear career plan.Watch the Resources for Developing an Effective Career Plan Webinar.Use the Roadmap to Success: An Interactive Tool to help you gather information, which you may wish to include in your career plan.Next, create your journal using the instructions below. 
Career Goals: State your long-term career goals, noting what position you would like to be in in one to five years from now and the specific role you would like to pursue for your career.Qualifications: Explore the skills and qualifications related to the type of role you’re aspiring to and describe the qualifications you have already achieved and what new skills, knowledge, certifications, or trainings you might need to gain employment in your desired role.Action Plan: Describe how this course has assisted you already with regards to curriculum planning and reaching your career goals. In this section, also state the additional action steps you will need to take to be fully qualified for the position you would like to pursue and state reasonable timelines for each action step.Resources: Reflect on what resources that you have currently to support you. Describe any barriers you may need to overcome to be successful and identify individuals who can assist you within your personal support system (e.g., family, friends) and professional network (e.g., classmates, colleagues, other professionals you know from LinkedIn or general life).Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your journal entries. 

Assignment

Assessment Data to Guide Practice

As you learned from our discussion this week about informal assessments and from the required readings in the text, using informal assessments to guide curriculum planning and instructional decisions allows educators to best support children’s specific strengths and needs, as explained in the Jaruszewicz (2012) text, developmentally appropriate approaches to assessment include a comprehensive, systematic, and focused look at each and every child’s specific learning and development. In this assignment you have an opportunity to explore informal assessments further in relation to the use of data to drive the creation and delivery of those assessments.

Consider the following data for “Anna Smith” as a frame of reference for this assignment: You are an educator that has collected assessment data on a child, Anna Smith, in your program or classroom and now must create a curriculum plan based on the assessment data. Next, review the Week Three Instructor Guidance for additional help with this assignment and review the multimedia resources for Anecdotal Records, the Rating Scale, and the Checklist. Finally, use the instructions below to guide your creation of your curriculum plan for Anna Smith based on the assessment data in the resources. Remember to review the Grading Rubric associated with this assignment to understand how you will be evaluated. It is recommended you use the labels below as headings throughout your writing to organize sections (Tip: These would all be APA level-one headings.)

Instructions
Introduction (0.5 Points): Write a succinct introduction that informs the reader of the topic of the assignment and its organization. Remember, an effective essay introduction tells the reader what you will say.

Assessment Observations (3 Points): In one to two paragraphs, describe the observations that you made from the data on Anna Smith using several examples from the assessments. 

Child Observations (3 Points): In three to four paragraphs, describe the strengths and areas of opportunity (i.e., weaknesses) for Anna Smith based on the assessment data. 

Short-Term Goal (3 Points): In three to four paragraphs, explain three specific instructional decisions for a short-term goal for Anna Smith based on the data analysis.

Long-Term Goal (3 Points): In one to two paragraphs, explain one specific long-term goal for Anna Smith based on the data analysis.

Conclusion (0.5 Points): Write a succinct conclusion that informs the reader of the main points from the assignment. Remember, an effective essay conclusion tells the reader what you have said in a summary.

Length Requirement (0.25 Points): Two to three pages, not including the title and references pages.

APA Formatting (0.25 Points): Use APA formatting, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center, consistently throughout the assignment, which includes citations in the body of the assignment, the title page, and references list.

Source Requirement (0.25 Points): Reference three scholarly sources in addition to the text.

Syntax and Mechanics (0.25 Points): Display meticulous comprehension and organization of syntax and mechanics, such as spelling and grammar.Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.