The following ideals are contained in the NAEYC and DEC codes of ethics. They are meaningful to me because they are directly related to children and families. At this point in my career, children and families are the groups that I have direct contact with on a daily basis. They are the reason I go to work every day. They are the fuel for the passion I have for my profession. I take these ideals very seriously and try to put them into practice each day. Teaching children is what I was born to do. Helping parents to support their children is interrelated to my life’s work and is just as important as teaching is to me.
· To create and maintain safe and healthy settings that foster children’s social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development and that respect their dignity and their contributions. (NAEYC, 2005).
· To use assessment instruments and strategies that are appropriate for the children to be assessed, that are used only for the purposes for which they were designed, and that have the potential to benefit children. (NAEYC, 2005).
· To use assessment information to understand and support children’s development and learning, to support instruction, and to identify children who may need additional services. (NAEYC, 2005).
· To develop relationships of mutual trust and create partnerships with the families we serve. (NAEYC, 2005).
· To welcome all family members and encourage them to participate in the program. (NAEYC, 2005).
· We shall use individually appropriate assessment strategies including multiple sources of information such as observations, interviews with significant caregivers, formal and informal assessments to determine children’s learning styles, strengths, and challenges. (DEC, 2000).
· We shall build relationships with individual children and families while individualizing the curricula and learning environments to facilitate young children’s development and learning. (DEC, 2000).
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