Early Childhood Generalist

Many early childhood teachers have students who write on large paper in very large handwriting. You may reduce two pages of extra large handwriting to fit onto one letter-size page. Make certain that the writing is still legible.

The one page description does not count toward the page limit and should not be numbered. Please include these pages with the submission of the student writing samples behind the appropriate cover sheet.

No. Laminating artifacts or placing work samples in plastic sleeves hinders the work of the assessors. Please refer to the instructions for submitting artifacts in the section of your instructions entitled "Format Specifications."

No. The entry instructions state that you may submit student work in three forms: dictation and drawing, dictation and writing, or as writing alone.

You may wish to correct your students' spelling if you feel that assessors will have difficulty deciphering the work sample. However, do not change the child's words or punctuation; simply provide assessors with a legible version that is spelled using conventional spelling.

It is up to you to decide. There are no limitations on the maximum period of time artifacts may span. The 8 weeks mentioned is a minimum period of time that student work samples must cover.

Using the title of the work would be most conducive to helping assessors readily identify the components of your entry; on the cover sheets you will identify the student whose work samples are submitted. For example, if the focus of the lesson is on "sentence structure," that could be your title.

The page lengths that follow each section of the Written Commentary component of Entry 1 are merely suggested page lengths and are provided as a guide for you to use as you prepare your Written Commentary. The entire Written Commentary has a 13-page limit that may be divided among the four sections as you deem necessary. If you find that you require more than 5 pages to complete the "Supporting Literacy Development" section, you may need to reduce the length of another section to fall within the total page limit for this component.

Your instructional materials should provide important background context for interpreting the discussion or work produced by students that was examined in or grew out of a class activity. Two of your instructional materials will support your discussion of what came before, during or after the video recorded lesson. Two of your instructional materials will support your discussion of the integration of social studies and the arts. What is important is to select materials that clearly explain the role the arts played in promoting student learning of a social studies topic, concept, or theme.

If you have an artifact that is very lengthy, you may wish to submit a copy of one or two representative pages as your artifact. Another option would be to scan a lengthy document and make computer slides. Six slides will fit onto a single sheet of paper.

Entry 3 is a whole class learning experience. Teachers can arrange the class as they wish, but the learning sequence MUST involve each student, either in a group or individually. Also, there is to be evidence of inquiry, intellectual engagement, discussion, and content in the video and the use of appropriate science and mathematical instructional materials. If your focus is on a particular group of students and the rest of your students are in the periphery, you MUST explain how each student received this same instruction in your Written Commentary.

If you are consulting with an NBCT or previous candidate in this certificate, please note that in the past Entry 3 required a "whole class discussion" as opposed to a "whole class learning sequence," which is now required.

All evidence of your work with students must be gathered during the 12-month period immediately preceding the portfolio deadline.