This quote speaks to my first hand knowledge that if a child does not recieve frequent as well as  quality attention before age 5 he/she will seem to alway be trying to play catch up.

I believe that when given the chance children will learn more from play than they will ever learn from a worksheet.

This is my personal cry. I am feeling 

so guilty about taking this class and having to distract my  

little one.  

T

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/

.   There was one article that caught my attention.  It is entitled,State Education: Bias Towards Rote Learning Stifles Critical Thinking by By Heba Saleh,

  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