Assignment

Project: Synthesizing What I Have Learned in This Program
As you begin your journey in this course, consider what you have learned throughout this program and how it can apply to your future work in the early childhood/child development field. Synthesizing and reflecting on this knowledge will help you understand how far you have come, what is important to you, and what you want to do in your career. Keep in mind that although you have come a long way by successfully completing your coursework in this program, this part of your Capstone project will serve as preliminary thinking. You will continue to build on and inform the vision of your career and the professional contribution you would like to make to the field as you proceed through this course.
Part 1: Professional Preparation
You will first need to take time to review the list of course descriptions and texts, revisit the textbooks you have read, and reflect on the coursework you completed. Which courses stand out for you as particularly strong learning experiences? Which readings and videos changed the way you think about children and families, child development, and key issues in the field? Which assignments stretched your thinking, opened up your mind, made you question your own thinking, and helped prepare you as an effective early childhood professional?
To complete Part 1:

Choose a minimum of five courses from the Bachelor of Science program in Child Development, summarize what you learned, and explain how this learning has informed your philosophy of child development.
Next, summarize how your learning will impact your effectiveness as an early childhood/child development professional.
Then, choose a minimum of five books and/or readings from your courses that will definitely be a part of your professional library and explain why.

Part 2: Professional Hopes and Dreams
Based on what you have learned in the program about child development, the field of early childhood, working with young children and their families, and yourself, describe a minimum of three opportunities you are looking for in your next job.
For Part 2, complete the following:
“As my career advances, I will be looking for a job in which I will have the opportunities to….”
1.
2.
3.
Assignment length: 2 – 3 pages

Document: Course Descriptions and Texts

Article: National Professional Development Center on Inclusion. (2008). What do we mean by professional development in the early childhood field? Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina, FPG Child Development Institute.