Wednesday, December 21, 2011

• A note of professional thanks and support to the Blogs of at least two colleagues

To all my colleagues,
I have tried to visit your blog’s and sometimes I’m not successful. I read your post although I don’t always comment. I take everything I’ve learned from all of you, and file it “things to review”. If I never get to meet you in person, it’s been a pleasure being in class and studying with you.
Thanks for all your encouragement, feedback, and those awesome comments. I will use this information throughout my teaching and learning experiences.

Qoutes

  • At least one quote about children, or a visual/media piece with written commentary.
“When my children act out, I always threatened to find their parents.”
“When mom and dad don’t give you your way, call 1-800-Grandma.”
From me!
Childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons.  ~Author Unknown
We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today.  ~Stacia Tauscher
We've had bad luck with our kids - they've all grown up.  ~Christopher Morley

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Testing for Intelligence US and China

Considering a commitment to viewing young children holistically (i.e., a commitment to “the whole child”) what, if anything, do you believe should be measured or assessed? Explain your reasoning.

Cognitive or brain development or we could call it measuring of the mind. Brain development “Recall that emotional regulation, theory of mind, and left-right coordination emerge in early childhood.’ The brain regulates the whole body. “The maturing corpus callosum connects the two hemispheres of the brain. The prefrontal cortex-the executive part of the brain-plans, monitors, and evaluates. These developments continue in middle childhood. We look now at advances in reaction time, attention, and automatization and at the ways to measure brain activity. These measurements include test of ability and achievement that indicate whether a child is developing as expected.” (Berger, 2009)

Children do things in early child hood, like wetting the bed, hiding stuff, and wanting to sleep with their parents. As they grow into middle childhood they revert back to these behaviors temporarily and parents don’t often look at it as anything other growing-up. This type of behavior could be a problem cause by some traumatic experience that the child is too afraid to talk about. Even though, it may be something as small as a bad dream or another child bulling them at school. “By the time they reach 5th grade they have a better understanding of life. They develop what is called “selective attention, the ability to screen out distractions and focus on a given task.” They develop what is called metacognition, their own through processes which allow them to process information much faster. (DVD, 2). This is a cognitive development. Brain development is important from the first day of life until we die. I feel this is an important and should be measured in all stages of life.

In what ways are school-age children assessed in other parts of the world? (Choose a country or region of the world for which you have a personal affinity.)

China

“One of the problems existing in China’s ongoing educational system is its divorce

from the labor markets, and it is closely associated with the way to assess educational

outcomes in China. China probably has the longest history of tests and examination in

the world. Today, tests and examination are still the tools to assess educational

outcome in China, and the scores of various tests are still used in many places as the

sole determinant factors for promoting students into higher level of education or even

grades. Based on such a way in educational assessment, it is not surprised at what the

educational system supplies would not necessarily meet the demand of the labor

markets. Lack of a market-oriented system for educational outcomes seems a key for

the problem.”

“China’s skill assessment system is more characterized with the planned economy, and

remains little reformed during past over two decades. The ministry of education is the

main body responsible for assessment of formal educational outcomes and literacy.” (Zhang, 2004, revised)



What additional ideas, comments, suggestions, examples, and/or concerns related to assessing young children would you like to share with your colleagues?

Children should be assessed in all developmental and developing areas and stages of life. From infants to adults we develop and change, mentally, physically, and emotionally. As a child your life is controlled by your parents and guardians, the amount of care you receive both physically and mentally. If a child develops emotional problems as a child he/she is more likely to carry that problem with them through middle childhood, adolescence and adult hood, if not cared for properly.

References

Berger, K.S. (2009) The developing person-through childhood. (5th ed) Worth Publisher. Bronx Community College. http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=6060781&Survey=1&47=10671176&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=1&bhcp=1

The journey through lifespan. (2002). Middle childhood through early adulthood. (DVD 2) Worth Publisher, Copyright 2002.  

Zhang, J. (2004) Institute of population and Labor economics-Chinese academy of social services, Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/278200-1126210664195/1636971-1126210694253/China_Skills_Assessment.pdf December12, 2011