Considering
the whole child, I believe that physical assessments should be done to make
sure that they are growing properly. In terms of academics I found an
article, Powerful Interactions: A
Bridge between Teaching and Assessment, that I thought would be helpful in
assessing children. I know from experience how hard it is to teach
children in a meaningful way and at the same time keep records for
administration. No matter what part of the world we teach in there will
be always the drive for EVIDENCE.This article stresses the need to make a
meaningful connection with each child while writing small notes about the
child's development as they go about their activities during the day. I
personally struggle with this since my administration insists that we make
daily notes on each child. This is seemingly impossible since I am
required to teach two classes of 20 6 year old English Language Learners,
English, Math and Science. However, after reading this article
reinforces what I already do.
* Be Present.
Pause to prepare and quiet your mind. Being present lets you make more
intentional decisions about what to say and do, what to record, and how to
extend the child's learning in the moment and/or after the fact.
* Connect. Let
the child know that you see him and are interested in what he is doing. This
reawakens the trusting relationship you've built with the child and makes him
more available to learn from you.
* Extend
Learning. Encourage the child to take one or two baby steps by stretching his
thinking, adding to his vocabulary, expanding his knowledge, or improving a
skill. The article calls this: Using the three Powerful Interaction
steps.
I also found a copy of Developmentally Appropriate Practice
This is a wonderful guide in assessing not only
children but programs that we work in as professionals. When I start my
boarding school I know this will be my guide for a quality program. I
understand that we need to make sure that children in our communities are
growing and learning at a steady rate. We know that children are on
different spectrums of the learning development. I know that they will
not all develop in the same way at the same time. However, there needs to
be some type of record to indicate growth.
As far as education and assessments are
concerned in other parts of the world, I chose to focus on the Arab World since
that is where I am teaching at the moment. I googled info and found
article from: www.jadaliyya.com/
It states,Egypt places at the bottom of
148 countries ranked according to their quality of primary education, while
Yemen places second to last and Algeria and Libya at 131 and 132. According to
the Education for All Global Monitoring Report published by UNESCO, the poor
quality of education in the region ensures that students are barely able to
learn the basics. The article states that one of the problems with the
educational system is that they rely heavily on rote learning. Just
repeating back long passages of information. No critical thinking is
required. I can't speak directly to these Middle Eastern Countries.
However, I do live in the United Arab Emirates and I teach in their
school system. They are going through an educational reform that has it's
ups and downs. In the past I am under the impression that their
educational system was just like the other's mentioned. However,
leadership in this country has foresight in knowing that if they wanted to
compete in the global world they needed to make sure that their citizens were
well educated. They began making changes in 2005. It has been at times frustrating for Westerners
coming to a country that is under 50 years in age. There are certain
educational practices and assessments that keep changing as they try to
implement a new strategy or pedagogy. Some of the assessing is similar to
the United States way and some the British way. There are always changes of how implement curriculum.
One of the most frustrating is the way things are spelled. There is
a British way to spell a word and then the American way. For example, in
America we spell the wheel on a car Tire. The British
way is spelled, Tyre. Both are right. Some
teachers from an American background had to be told to allow for these differences.
It makes me aware how that if we are truly going to be global learners
and teachers we have to differentiate not in the sense of who is High, Medium,
or Low but in making allowances in how learning is assessed. What may be
right in your country may different in others.
One of my concerns is
that will other countries accept the learning from another country as
acceptable. I know of people that would make an excellent teacher but
because they did not go to an American school, their credentials are not
accept. If a child from an Arabic country wants to go to an
American school, will their credits be accepted to go to an American
school/college?
References:
Education in the Arab World, retrieved 2/13/2015
:http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/14975/education-in-the-arab-world
Powerful Interactions: A Bridge between Teaching and Assessment
http://static.squarespace.com/static/5266e711e4b06dd5866d0bfe/t/53f36182e4b0514b8e62c0e1/1408459138973/A+Bridge+Between+Teaching+and+Assess.pdf
