Week 8 When I Think of Child Development

I have enjoyed working with everyone and learning together about early childhood development and how as early childhood professionals we can make the experience so much better. Each member of our group has shown great love and affection for children in each post and the knowledge everyone has shared is without bounds.

As Herbert Hoover, 31^st U.S. president once quoted, “Children are our most valuable resource” (Compassion, n.d.). Since they are the most valuable resource, shouldn't we as early childhood professionals be that much more curious to always learn in an effort to help future generations develop skills needed to succeed in life?

I love the poem by Dorothy Law Nolte:

Children Learn What They Live

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn. 
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight. 
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy. 
If a child learns to feel shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement he learns confidence
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate. 
He a child lives with fairness, he learns justice. 
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith. 
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself. 
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.

“Ms. Nolte was a parent educator, family counselor, and writer who first published the poem in 1954 (Price-Mitchell, 2013).”

Compassion. (n.d.). Famous Quotes About Children. Retrieved from

http://www.compassion.com/child-advocacy/find-your-voice/famous-quotes/

Price-Mitchell, M. (2013). Children Learn What They Live: Lessons from Dorothy Law Nolte.

Retrieved from http://www.rootsofaction.com/children-learn-what-they-live-lessons-from-dorothy-law-nolte/

Week 6 Testing for Intelligence Walden University

Assessments can be short-sighted. Yes, an assessment in school tests the child’s level of intelligence, but does it? For example, one assessment used is the IQ test. This test will determine a child’s aptitude intelligence. Longitudinal data has proven otherwise. Children change continuously so low aptitude intelligence may increase because of the child’s environment or inherited set of skills. Another assessment tool used is the achievement tests in school. The one major flaw is that the tests do not reflect the age of the child. Many tools are used to assess a child, but some of the problems are children learn differently, different personalities, the environment may not suit some children, and the stressors of taking the test, such as timed tests. (Berger, 2013)

Everyone has their own learning method. Some people learn visually – they must see it to comprehend it; auditory – must hear it to understand it or a combination. Some people need examples while others can read on their own and comprehend. Taking tests can have negative results because some people are great at tests, but others do not do well. For example, math definitely was not my strong learning subject until algebra was introduced, I struggled and did horrible at tests, but in this subject and statistics, I struggled but did better at comprehending. I like doing at your own pace classes because each individual can work at their own pace but not everyone does well with these classes.

I think personality has a lot to do with it also. Just as intelligence needs to be observed, so should the emotional aspect. For example, I am a perfectionist who strives to do well all the time. My organization skills are okay but multi-tasking seems to be a trait I have. The environment also needs to be assessed. A simple example is the environment of a testing area. Some people need it absolutely quiet with no distractions while others can cope or excel at nosy or distracting environments. Personally, I hate quiet and timed tests; they really stress me out because I am always assessing the time. Personally, most of the time, I do my work with children, music, and/or TV going. It is the best time for me in my schedule so I try to adapt. Some people with emotional problems cannot adapt. Being a perfectionist also has its upsides and downsides. Testing young children with a stranger also has negative consequences. I have seen a countless amount of Pre-K students do bad on their Kindergarten testing because it was someone they did not know. Budgets are very constricting but also very important for the school district.

The country I chose to research about child assessment was New Zealand. New Zealand does not have a requirement for assessment nor keeping assessments on file.  According to the Ministry of education, “informed by assessment, planning, and evaluation (documented and undocumented) that demonstrates an understanding of children’s learning, their interests, whanau [family] and life contexts (Blaiklock, 2013, par 10).” The curriculum, Te Wha-riki, for New Zealand was implemented in 1996. Since its inception, the curriculum has been highly praised due to the positive impact it has had on the early childhood program. The assessment currently in use is Learning Stories. Learning Stories are “narrative descriptions that teachers write to describe and interpret the learning that occurs in particular situations (Blaiklock, 2013, par 11).” The main problem with Learning Stories is that the assessment descriptions have not been defined correctly.  So, even though, the assessment is being used, not all the narratives are accurately defined for proper observations.

References

Berger, K.S. (2013). The Developing Person Through Childhood (6^th ed). Worth Publishing; New York, NY

Blaiklock, K. What are children learning in early childhood education in New Zealand? Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/australian_journal_of_early_childhood/ajec_index_abstracts/what-are-children-learning-in-early-childhood-education-in-new-zealand.html