Core Ability Summary

As I reflect about my two years in the Early Childhood Education program, I realize I have
accomplished quite a bit. I believe during this time, I have met NWTC's seven core abilities and
feel confident about them.
The first ability is to communicate effectively. I feel I am a great communicator. I can easily
express myself with children and adults. Some of the ways I have met this ability is through
teaching a group of children. I know that when I have taught a lesson plan, and the children can
tell me or show me what they have learned, I have done my job effectively. I have also been
able to do this through the many discussions that took place during my practicums. For example,
I was able to speak professionally with families and with my cooperating teachers. I was able to
ask questions and receive suggestions. My introduction letters in the beginning of my practicums
show my capability of effective written communication.
The second ability that I believe I have met effectively is to think critically and creatively. A
great example of thinking critically is when I was doing my many observations. My ability to
watch a child and carefully take notice of why they might be doing something a certain way or
what they might be learning from doing something is a way of critical thinking. Being able to
analyze the behavior or skill shows I am capable of observing without bias. There are many
ways I have been a creative thinker. For example, creating fun and exciting lesson plans that
meet the needs of all children, to analyze observations to determine why a child might be
behaving the way they are, while working directly with individual students to help them
understand something when they don't understand the original idea.
The third core ability is to work professionally and cooperatively. I have done this effectively
throughout all of my practicums. I dressed professionally, I was on time, I followed all policies
of the facility and I was a helpful student-teacher at the practicum site. I often did more than my
required job expectations. In addition, I kept my confidentiality.
Solving problems effectively is something that I did often while at my practicum. I was involved
in working with children with some behavioral issues. I tried many ways to not only stop the
behavior, but to find out what might have been causing it so I could prevent it from reoccurring.
When I had issues or misunderstandings about something at my practicum site, I was able to
discuss them in a professional manner with the cooperating teacher.
The fifth core ability is to value individual differences and abilities. This I believe is one of my
strengths. I did this quite a bit in my third practicum when working with some children with
differing abilities. I often tried to determine what abilities a child did have so that I could create
lessons that would allow them to be successful. I also used what I learned about the child's
differences to be proactive in their learning style and behaviors. In addition, I created some very
diverse projects for some of my classes that included different types of families, skin colors and
celebrations.

The sixth core ability is to demonstrate personal accountability. I feel that I took a lot of
responsibility during my practicums and during the last two years of classes. I completed my
assignments, showed up and worked hard at the practicum sites and took my learning seriously. I
also admitted when I made mistakes and made a point of not repeating them.
Lastly, I effectively demonstrated accountability globally and for the community through my
development of resources for families, my research on various community issues and by
becoming an advocate for the professional of early childhood. My memberships to organizations
also show this effectiveness.
Consequently, through all of my experience, my assignments and my collaboration with others I
believe I have successfully demonstrated my ability to meet NWTC's seven core abilities.