When I Think of Child Development …

Nature, we are starting to realize, is every bit as important as nurture. Genetic influences, brain chemistry, and neurological development contribute strongly to who we are as children and what we become as adults. For example, tendencies to excessive worrying or timidity, leadership qualities, risk taking, obedience to authority, all appear to have a constitutional aspect.

Stanley Turecki

Normally an infant learns to use his mother as a 'beacon of orientation' during the first five months of life. The mother's presence is like a fixed light that gives the child the security to move out safely to explore the world and then return safely to harbor.

Louise J Kaplan

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for all their support, ideas, thoughts, and opinions. I have gained much insight from you all. I am thankful that we had the opportunity to work together. I enjoyed getting to know you all and I look forward to working with you all again in future courses. I wish you the best of luck throughout your journey.

Assessing Children

When assessing children many things need to be taken into consideration. Family structure, poverty, homelessness, and nutrition can all affect how a child performs on an assessment. When using formal or informal assessments, assessment results should be shared with families, used to individualize and differentiate instruction, identify areas of concerns, and provide intervention opportunities (Guddemi & Case, 2004). 

It is important to assess young children to provide instruction which is meaningful, effective, and efficient. Academics, behavior, social-emotional development, and physical development: gross and fine motor skills need to be assessed. Assessing children can be done in done by collecting work samples, observation, using a checklist, anecdotal notes, assessing completed work / projects / assignments for skills taught. These types of assessments are informal. Assessments like running records, benchmarks, and unit assessments are formal ways to assess children. Formal assessments are the same assessment without any variations completed by all students. I prefer to use informal assessment methods to assess children’s progress. This allows me to get a complete understanding of what each child is capable of in a variety of learning experiences. Using different strategies to assess children allows me to check for comprehension of a specific skill of a period of time. Formal assessments are also beneficial for collecting data, providing individualized information which should be used “to provide better teaching, and accountability” (Jones, 1996). 

In Taiwan, high-stake standardized testing is extremely important to the advancement of students next level of schooling. Taiwan students standardized test scores determine if they are able to attend a high-status high school. To apply to a four-year college in Taiwan, students need to complete and pass a standardized test. Preparing for standardized test, Taiwan students spend many late nights at school studying. Taiwan teachers are less unsure on how to use the results of standardized tests to meet the needs of their students compared to teachers in the United States. Taiwan has an extremely high focus on standardized testing (Huang, 2012). 

It is important and crucial to remember when assessing children to use a variety of strategies to fully comprehend what your students are learning. Assessments should be used to celebrate student accomplishments (with parents) and to address areas of strength and needs. Assessments are a beneficial tool to improve and advance children’s growth and development (Grace, 2001).

Grace, C. (2001).Assessing young children.  Retrieved on April 6, 2012, from: http://www.pbs.org/teachers/earlychildhood/articles/assessing.html

Guddemi, M. & Case, B.J. (2004). Assessing young children.  Retrieved on April 6, 2012, from: http://www.pearsonassessments.com/NR/rdonlyres/FD21F054-A5AD-42AE-9A00-43878827FD76/0/AssessingYoungChildren_Final.pdf

Huang, K. (2012). Taiwan and U.S. education comparisons. Retrieved on April 6, 2012, from: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/huangk.356/standardized_testing

Jones, S. (1996).  The neutralization of benefits in standardized testing. Retrieved on April 6, 2012, from: http://eserver.org/courses/fall96/76-100g/jones/