Anna Gentile

NAEYC Personal conceptual framework

❖ How have you identified with and involved yourself with the early childhood field in the past,
and how do you plan to identify with and involve yourself with the early childhood field in the
future? (NAEYC 6a)
During my high school years, beginning in 2016, I identified and began to immerse myself in the
early childhood field through volunteer work and neighborhood involvement. I continually volunteered to
be a teaching assistant in a 2- to 3-year-old Sunday school classroom at my local church for four years. I
also worked throughout my neighborhood, babysitting children of all ages ranging between 4-12. This
early, hands-on experience brought joy and many learning lessons as I worked with typical sibling rivalry
and conflicts. The summer of 2018 brought the volunteer experience at the extended school year program
at the Variety Camp Club, an organization to help children and young adults with disabilities. During my
seven weeks there, I was placed in different elementary-aged classrooms almost every week, first starting
out with a group of 4th – 5th graders for two weeks, then 2nd and 3rd graders for two weeks. My final three
weeks took place in a classroom of kindergarten students where I was given one-to-one responsibilities of
going over and completing assigned schoolwork, working through IEP goals, and assisting in vocational
tasks. After that summer, I worked part-time at The Variety Club during their Saturday Program with
students ranging from 8 to 22 years old. During that same year, I was placed in a 4th-grade math class
during my high school senior privilege time because of my good repour and work ethic with the students.
The experience I had in that classroom was what I looked forward to every day of my senior year in high
school. Currently, I am a full-time student at the Montgomery County Community College. I am a
sophomore and have begun student teaching in January of this year (2021) in a pre-kindergarten
classroom of 20 children. I am still actively involved in my part-time job at The Variety Club as the
coordinator for the After School program. Along with school and work, I babysit for two different
families consistently, getting two elementary school children on the bus in the morning and prepping
them for school. I also help a family with their 4-year-old son who has been diagnosed with Autism. In
the near future, I plan to graduate from Montgomery County Community College with my associate
degree in early education and transfer to Gwynedd Mercy as a full-time student studying early education
and special education. I hope to graduate from Gwynedd Mercy after two years with my bachelor’s
degree in early education and special education, preparing me for my overall goal of getting a teaching
job and making a positive educational impact within my community and the children students I work
with.

❖ How have you engaged in continuous, collaborative learning to inform practice; used technology
effectively with young children, with peers, and as a professional resource and how to do you plan
to do those things in the future? (NAEYC 6c)
I’ve engaged in continuous, collaborative learning practices in a growing number of ways. These
have provided hands-on experience regarding using this technology practice with children and peers,
which also helps me consider the use in the future. In the past, I have efficiently used technology with
peers and as a professional resource as I worked with teachers and fellow students while working on
finishing my degree. I also recall that during my EDU 100 Introduction to Education at Montgomery
County Community College, I completed a project to find useful early education websites available in the
classroom. I use technology with children and peers through my work at the Variety Camp Club. As
coordinator of one of Variety’s programs, I am often using technology to communicate with children, to
pull up yoga, meditation, or exercise videos for students and me to follow, and I show PowerPoints of
grade level curriculum to work on or to help students learn about pre-vocational skills. Today, I have also
used technology with peers and children as I finish my student teaching. I have emailed resources and
worksheets to my cooperating teacher and have often used technology to complete yoga activities or
access an audiobook. In the future, I plan to use technology a lot more often with students and in the
classroom when it comes to keeping in touch with families, finding engaging early education websites for
 Anna Gentile

students to use, and accommodating the needs of children who may not work as well in a classic
classroom approach with a pencil and paper. Now more than ever, technology is becoming a bigger part
of society, so it only seems fit for me to adapt with the new generation of students I will be working with
and adjust myself to their high level of gadgets and technology instead of having students adjust to
something they are unfamiliar with.

❖ How have you supported and engaged families and communities through respectful, reciprocal
relationships, and how do you plan to support and engage families in the future? (NAEYC 2b)
Regarding supporting and engaging families and communities through respectful and reciprocal
relationships, I have not had much experience to refer back to. During my time spent student teaching, I
did send home three family letters. My first one was introducing myself to the family so they knew my
presence and work beginning within the classroom. The second letter that was sent home was during the
first week of my student teacher's take-over week. The letter was to tell families about what the student
would be learning about that week, how it connects to their student’s curriculum, and how the families
will be participating in the unit. That week, students brought home the letter, materials, and directions to
make coffee filter ocean sun caters during our ocean-themed week.
The next week, a similarly outlined letter was sent home to explain to parents the new theme for the
week, how it’s beneficial to their student’s pre-kindergarten curriculum, and how they are encouraged to
take part in the learning as well with their students. I’ve also taken a class, EDU 245 Connecting
Families, Schools and Communities, that taught me the importance of making meaningful parent-teacher
relationships and the impact a positive relationship can have when there are good communication styles,
understanding family roles and culture, and involving community engagement. Connecting Families,
Schools, and Communities taught me that to support and engage families, you begin by creating a
meaningful relationship through the aspect of communication. This not only enhances the learning
opportunities for students but creates a bond with the overall family. I was taught these skills through
assignments that involved the preparation for a mock parent-teacher conference. I was given an outline of
the family I would speak to and the student in my classroom. To prepare for this assignment, I researched
and thought critically about how I could respect culture, beliefs, and ideals while still sharing the
strengths and weaknesses of their student in the classroom. I also found technology resources to inform
parents about that would benefit them and their students and the resources that may benefit the families
and parents. In the future, I plan to actively support and engage families by opening doors for regular and
easy communication. This would allow parents to talk to me with questions or concerns easily and allow
me to stay in frequent contact with them about students and their progress, daily achievements, and
upcoming events and meetings. I believe easy contact and communication would be a beneficial strategy
so that parents and families feel welcomed and encouraged to speak with me about their child or anything
else.

❖ How have you involved families and communities in young children’s development and learning,
and how do you plan to involve families and communities in the future? (NAEYC 2c)
I do not have much current experience concerning this standard, but I have learned ways to involve
and connect with families as a teacher through classes taken at the Montgomery County Community
College. From the EDU 245 Connecting Families, Schools, and Communities, I learned about impactful
family and community involvement factors. As said before, the class emphasized the importance of
creating meaningful relationships with families because of its positive results on the individual student
and its ability to create enhanced learning opportunities. Because of that class, I was able to understand
and investigate popular community and online organizations that can promote support for families and
schools, all while creating connections and providing helpful information. I also learned about classroom
take-home activities that would engage students and families simply yet effectively. The class EDU225
Guiding Children's Reading taught me about the popular classroom activity called “Book In A Bag”.
 Anna Gentile

While making my own example of a book in a bag, I added a fun book and related activity with the
thought that if this was to be taken home one day by a future student, they would be creating positive and
enjoyable memories with their families. I would also keep an updated list or calendar of community
events to promote local and school-wide connections and important or useful information that may
benefit families. Both of these classes helped me look to my future role in actively promoting valuable
information and support to connect further and involve families with their school, community, and child’s
development.

❖ How have you demonstrated your understanding of the goals, benefits, and uses of assessment –
including its use in developing appropriate goals, curriculum, and teaching strategies for young
children? How do you plan to do so in the future? (NAEYC 3a)
I would use skills taught from my EDU 213 Teaching Students with Special Needs to
demonstrate my understanding of goals, benefits, and uses of assessment. Unfortunately, I do not have
much personal experience in assessing students in the early childhood education system, but I have been
given some experience in creating goals, understanding curriculum, and defining effective teaching
strategies during my time in student teaching. When creating the lesson plans needed for classes and
student teaching, I always used the PA State Standards to ensure my lessons and activities met the
required standards for the given grade. Reading over these standards and seeing examples of what the
student is expected to do and what is expected from the teacher guided me to understanding appropriate
goals as I filled in the information of my lesson plan learning outcome. The PA State Standards have
helped me to understand curriculum requirements and needed outcomes while providing information on
teacher and student roles. This has also helped me understand the teaching strategies that most benefit
students in exceeding their goals. For example, when creating a fine motor activity for a pre-kindergarten
classroom at my student teaching placement, I understood the importance of hand-eye coordination to
perform a task because it is one of the PA State Standards. This influenced me to create a lesson plan
involving manipulating smaller objects such as beads. The given information about the standard also
informed me that extra time is needed so students can work at their own pace while encouraging the
independent use of hand-eye coordination. In EDU 213 Teaching Students with Special Needs class, I
learned about assessment tools in an early special education classroom and how they can even apply to an
early childhood education classroom. There are multiple ways to assess children with the help of goals,
curriculum, and teaching strategies. These multiple ways are welcomed within schools because of the
positive ways to help children succeed in their assessment. Assessment tools can be used to modify,
accommodate, and adapt learning in classrooms and are needed to understand a student’s strengths and
need for instruction from the teacher. In the future, I will demonstrate my understanding of the goals,
benefits, and uses of assessment in the early education classroom by actively observing students in
various academic situations. This will allow me to document progress, setbacks, strengths, and
weaknesses as a teacher. I can reflect on primary goals while analyzing and evaluating the needed
information with assessment tools. As a teacher, I should be required to understand and communicate a
student’s current needs in the classroom and possibly in the future. This all is needed for me to create
individual goals, plan classroom curriculum with effective teaching strategies and provide proper forms
of assessment to see the progress of my successful future early education students and special education
students as well.

❖ How have you practiced responsible assessment to promote positive outcomes for each child,
including the use of assistive technology for children with disabilities and how do you plan to
practice responsible assessment in the future? (NAEYC 3c)
During my four straight years of work at the Variety Camp Club, I have reinforced the material
learned from school to mt time at work with kids with disabilities. I am a usual employee during their
summer extended school year program and have experience lots of work using assistive technology
 Anna Gentile

programs to help children communicate and complete work. There are many exceptionalities that I was
privileged to learn about both at work and in the classroom during my EDU 213 Teaching Students with
Special Needs class, and forms of assessment tools are key areas that can be modified and adapted to fit
the needs of students in the classroom. To create successful students, sometimes accommodations are
needed to help students grow at their full potential. As a student who grew up with constant testing
anxiety, I was able to easily understand the importance of creating options in terms of different forms of
assessment. In the future, I plan promote positive outcomes for students by observing their classroom
work, habits, strengths, and weaknesses. This would help me as a teacher to understand what may needed
to be adapted and modified in the classroom, curriculum and in terms of assessment. I had experience in
creating multiple assessments to help students making their own positive outcome happen in the
classroom. I did this in my EDU 213 Teaching Students with Special Needs class when I made my
Universal Design for Learning project (UDL project). For the class, I created three different forms of
assessment to offer students to close off a science unit on animal life. Because I was able to understand
the need for modified and accommodated options for students, I provided the options of a standardize
test, creating a poster based off a provided book or answering two open ended questions. If this was done
in the classroom, I would respond to each student’s choice of assessment by jotting it down on a piece of
paper so that the next time I have to give another assessment, I can find the popular choices of testing and
create options based off what I know students would respond well too. I think it is very important that I
continue to understand ways assess students in the classroom because of how different each child is from
the one sitting next to them. Not one student thinks, processes information and learns the same, it is up to
me as the teacher to take responsibility in understanding and promoting positive outcomes for each
student by giving them options and adapting to what best suites children in succeeding while at school.

❖ How have you upheld ethical standards and other early childhood professional guidelines and
how do you plan to uphold ethical standards and ECE guidelines in the future? (NAEYC 6b)
I first began to practice upholding my own personal ethical standards in the early childhood
profession during my time student teaching. I was placed in a classroom of pre-kindergarten students and
learned what ethical standards were upheld the most by the students as well as me. I walked into the pre-
kindergarten classroom with the ethical standards of understanding my values and sharing that with the
students when applicable, promoting in open communication and being honest with the students. As
months moved on, I learned the most ethical standard that was seen most in the students was staying true
to my word. This meant, always going through with punishments even if it was a challenge, remembering
to let students share their thoughts with me at the end of a lesson after I told them to wait until the end and
implementing rewards when promised. To create a relationship and connection with the students in the
classroom, I found myself keeping track of the little promises I would make to students because I knew
they would not forget them. The last thing I ever wanted to do was let them down, and I made sure to
show my commitment to them and the classroom by being consistent with discipline actions and allowing
time for open conversation. While I continued to hold up those standards with the classroom, I also began
to learn of new ethical standards that I started to learn were important to me. Of course, honesty was still
one, but I also found myself teaching and upholding the standards of compassion and courage as well. I
believe my ethical standards will grow and change as I do in the process of becoming a teacher, but as of
right now, I plan to consistently uphold the ethics of compassion, honesty, and courage in my future
classrooms. I will do this with the early education guidelines by modeling and teaching lessons of the
importance there is to being fair and treating others with respect. I would want this to be a regular lesson
throughout the school year because compassion and empathy can do a lot for both children and adults in
the world. I will become a teacher to help students grow and develop academically but they should still
understand they importance in trusting an adult through terms of compassion, honesty, and courage.
 Anna Gentile

❖ How have you engaged in informed advocacy for young children and the early childhood
profession and how do you plan to engage in informed advocacy for young children in the future?
(NAEYC 6e)
Advocacy in the early childhood education field is not an aspect to look over or to take upon
lightly. Since working at the Variety Camp Club and beginning classroom observations and student
teaching at the Montgomery County Community College, I have consistently stayed up to date on
required mandated training protocols and testing. As a mandated reporter, the term advocacy is not just a
word but an ethical standard to live by. In the dictionary, advocacy means “public support for or
recommendation of a particular cause or policy.” In my own words, I see this translating to a simpler,
education driven definition, stating that the students have my support and my voice in defending and
favoring what is best for them. It is a part of my job to understand what is best for students and how I can
help them. I do this currently by understanding the signs of neglect and abuse and by offering compassion
towards struggling children and students who are often frowned upon for the noticeable negatives that
appear first. During the summer of 2020, I was given the chance to advocate for a student I was working
with at my job. Signs of abuse and neglect were seen and as a mandated reporter, I confronted my boss
and help was given the child who was suffering for a lot longer than she should have been. I believe that
in the felid work of early education, it is more than important to understand a teacher’s role in advocating
for students. It may be as simple as offering different forms of assessment of reviewing positive places to
touch our peers and where not to touch them, but either way, it is a teacher’s job to provide consistent
support and compassion to students and children despite their attitudes and behavior. I will continue to
advocate in early childhood profession by creating safe spaces for children and allowing students to
understand that my classroom is a welcoming environment to be honest in. I would also make sure to
raise awareness. Students may not understand that they need help or parents may struggle to advocate for
themselves and their children, I would want to help with this by always providing information with
community and school supports and events.

❖ Reflecting on own practice to promote positive outcomes for each child (4d)
When I spend time to personally reflect on my own practices to promote positive outcomes for each
child, I see a teacher in the making with the want to adapt to the needs of students. To create successful
and groundbreaking students, one big thing that is needed in becoming a teacher is compassion and
empathy. My time spent working at the Variety Camp Club has reinforced those two characteristics so
strongly in me that I will often lead a situation with both those qualities. As a child, I have always
struggled in school when it came to personal mental health reasons. When I look back on other children I
went to school with, I see school behavior admitting from family conflict, academic struggles, and a lack
of support. Working with students so often today opens my eyes to seeing how difficult of a world it can
be for students at such an early age in life. I have already made it my goal as a future teacher to work for a
positive outcome for each child in the classroom no matter what. At the time, the work you may be doing
with a student could seem pointless, but you never know about the impact it is having on them personally.
It is so easy to label children as a bad student because of behavior and attention spans but there is no way
to understand the full story of a child’s life based on their work done at school. There is a part of me that
passionately wants to make a difference in the future as a teacher by helping and supporting students in
any way I can. This means advocating and striving for positive outcomes no matter the setback. I reflect
on myself and I see the goal to make school a safe and positive environment for students of all ages.
Creating a positive environment not only promotes a positive attitude from students but it also helps
teachers understand the strengths of the students in the class. One thing that really stuck out to me when I
was student teaching in a pre-kindergarten classroom was how many times, I would hear students say that
they really hated coming to school. A negative outlook towards school at that young age can affect a
student’s attitude for the rest of their educational experience. To promote positive outcomes for students
in the future and right now, I want to learn and understand how to make school enjoyable. I want to learn
 Anna Gentile

about the students I will have, and I want to motivate them and help the find something good about their
time at school so that they have a positive part of their day to look forward to. Creating a positive
outcome for students in school doesn’t only means assessment results, but it also means their mental
health and well-being.

❖ Integrating knowledgeable, reflective, and critical perspectives on early education (6d)

In today’s world, now more than ever, integrating knowledgeable, reflective, and critical perspectives
in early education can help set up the intake and views on physical, cultural, and ethical differences years
to come. As a growing and learning teacher, I see an extreme importance in sharing reflective and critical
perspectives within the classroom. Every student is a different individual when placed next to parents,
siblings, peers and fellow students, and every student should have the opportunity to see that they have
different learning styles, abilities, values, and beliefs but that does not divide us from our school and
communities. While taking the class EDU 240 Teaching English Language Learners, my eyes were
opened to the vulnerability and the different experience students can face in school. I personally believe
that when I was in the early education system myself, not enough was done to show the value in different
cultures, families, traditions, and heritages. At the young early education stage, children are influential
and impressionable. I strongly believe that they should be impressed in what our communities are
beautifully filled with, which is diversity. No one will ever be the same as the person next to them and it
is nonsense to pretend as if they are. In the future, I want to fill my classroom with the knowledge and
awareness of the diversity present in our lives and all the things we have to learn from it. In my future
classroom, I would also want to make sure parents and families are actively involved in their student’s
educational growth and development. It is important to hear the critical perspective from families and
listening to their voices and opinions. Not only would this help me as a teacher to hear the good and the
bad, but it could also help the school as well if I am able to advocate for parents and students and act as
their voice within the school.