Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.
Plato, Greek philosopher.
Teresa Goodman
Friday, June 28, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Testing for Intelligence
Viewing children holistically will
require you to be totally committed to measuring and testing every aspect of
development related to their growth. In order to do this and obtain the most accurate
results you have to take in consideration every aspect of the child. There are
so many things that will need to be considered when viewing children holistically.
When creating standards for children they should not be based on what we think
is best for everyone, but based on the individual. The state requires that all
children take the same standardized test not taking into consideration their
individual needs. One test should not be the determining factor of a child’s
future academic success. No child learns or develop the exact same as another. There
are also other factors related to development that needs to be considered. A
child cannot be accurately assessed if you do not take assess every aspect of
development and take in consideration how they are developing.
While
student assessment does not seem to be going away anytime soon, we must be cautious
of how these instruments can be used. If used correctly, research suggests that
they can point educators in the right direction with respect to student needs.
However, if used as a weapon in international and national educational warfare,
researchers also warn that such instruments might yield mass destruction.
US researchers have revealed that
student assessment do not match in any two countries. In England, schools
provide multiple measures of performance that serve multiple purposes. Schools
assess student progress through both a national examination and teacher-made
tests when students reach the ages of seven, eleven, fourteen, and sixteen. These
exams are primarily used to measure the effectiveness of the schools in delivering
the national curriculum. All schools must follow nationally prescribed content
and pedagogic methods and set targets for individual pupil learning. Gipps,
Clarke, and McCallum (1998) assert that this system places too little emphasis
on assessment of learning and too much on assessment for learning.
Gipps, C., Clarke, S., & McCallum,
B. 1998, April. The role of teachers in national assessment in
England. Paper presented at the Annual
Meeting of the American Educational Research
Association, San Diego, California (ERIC
Document Reproduction Service No. ED 419
836).
Monday, June 3, 2013
Consequences of Stress on Children's Development
Many years ago in my home town we had a chemical
plant Woolfolk that was started operation in 1920 during WWII that manufactured
different pesticides. Fort Valley is a
small community in Ga. And we had to travel in the area of this plant to get to
places we needed to go. This plant was in operation for many years. My
grandfather, father and several other family members worked in this plant. It
was also located on the same street where my family went to church.
In the early 1980’s after people in the community that died had
arsenic in their system an inspection was done on the plant and revealed that arsenic
and other chemicals had seeped into the ground and ground water. Several people
in the community became ill and homes and surrounding businesses destroyed due
to the EPA’s findings. People in the community became concern about their
safety and any health issues that may occur from the contamination. The entire
community was under stress wondering what and how much damage the plant had
caused and if our community was even safe.
Africa is a country that I would definitely like to
learn more about, because of the number of plants they have. Because of the
number of plants in Africa could this be part of why so much sickness and disease
occurs in this country. Chemical companies are making efforts to reduce the effects
of chemical plants globally.
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