EDUC 6106 Shutouts / Thank you notes

LaJasha,

Thank you for your constant insightful discussion boards and blog posts. Thank you for being organized and always being clear and concise in your shared thoughts. I wish you the best of luck throughout the remainder of your program. As long as the children are your motivation you will never fail. 

Marlisa,

Thank you for your openness and honesty throughout the course, as expressed in your blogs. I hope that you continue to succeed in whatever you do and wherever life takes you. Best of luck throughout the remainder of your program.

Child Development in a Nutshell

This visual tells you everything you should know about child development in under two minutes. Watch and enjoy.

Testing for Intelligence

If we, in fact, are committed to the whole child we are committed to each aspect of that child. The trick here is that each child is unique and special in their own way. Assessing/ analyzing a child's intelligence based on a standardized test should not and cannot be a valid resource of intelligence information. Why? Because, again each and every child is unique. When assessing a child and taking a holistic approach we should assess each part of the child. We should consider their ability to read, comprehend, compute, and recall facts. However, we should also look at their creative abilities, hidden talents and skills that cannot be assessed on a standardized test. A child can be a struggling math student but a musical genius. Does that mean the student lacks in intelligence, absolutely not! In addition, intelligence can be demonstrated in a variety of ways. 

In Africa, a new tool is being tested to assess primary students. This tool will be used to answer the following questions:

• What do children in the Western Cape know and what can they do when they start school?
• How does this vary by gender, language and affluence?
• How do children’s abilities and progress during the first year of primary school compare with similar children in other regions and countries?
• What implications do these analyses have for policies in the Western Cape?
• How much can differences in later international surveys be explained by differences in the early years?

So here the focus is on the progress of the child in comparison to self and others. I think the most important piece is the child's progress is monitored and compared to the previous performance. I think this a true indicator of intelligence--- PROGRESS MADE! That is the key.

http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/assessing-and-monitoring-primary-school-children-south-africa

I think there are advantages and disadvantages to all types of assessment, but I think the best assessment is one that allows for children to show ALL of what they know, not just the ability to answer a question correctly.