Prior to beginning this journal, review the following articles: Head Start Teacher – Education, Job and Salary Information (Links to an external site.) and What Can I Do With an Early Childhood Education Degree? (Links to an external site.)Additionally, explore the programs available through Ashford University’s Online Education Degrees (Links to an external site.).

After reviewing the two articles and the Ashford Education Degree web page, spend some time reflecting on where you see yourself after you complete your AA degree. Would you like to go on for your BA? Regardless if you would like to go on, review the Early Childhood BA options and share which would be best for you: BA Child Development (Links to an external site.), BA Early Childhood Development with Differentiated Instruction, (Links to an external site.)BA Early Childhood Education (Links to an external site.), BA Early Childhood Administration (Links to an external site.), or BA Education Studies (Links to an external site.).

In your journal, address the following items:

• Which of these BAs would be best for you? Name it and explain why.
• Which of these BAs sounds most interesting to you? Why?
• Describe your ideal employment option with details surrounding the working conditions, your responsibilities, and the environment.
• Why do you think this job is a good fit for you?
• Share one specific skill you have and explain why this will help you land your dream job.
• Determine the BA that would be best for you based on your ideal employment environment.

The Early Childhood as a Profession Journal

• Must be one to two double-spaced page in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.)’s APA Style (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted

For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).

• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
• Must use at least one credible source in addition to the course text.
  • The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
• Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.