After reading two of my colleagues' blogs, reflecting on my own childhood, and considering the school aged children of today, I believe that each school aged child should be assessed differently. Along with that however, I believe that ALL children should have their emotional intelligence assessed as well. I believe that part in older children (7-11yrs old) is ofter overlooked, or doesn't get the attention it should. Looking back on my childhood, I excelled in school but I was an emotional child. I guess because I was smart, the teachers thought that I was ok, and overall I was, but now I am an emotional adult. And honestly, I do not like it! LOL I wonder if my emotional intelligence had been assessed, how would I be now? So as someone who is planning to be an educator in the early childhood field, I will make sure I pay attention to the children's emotional regulation, as well as every other part of the them. And I will make it known to the parents and other educators to do the same. As I said before, everyone and everything plays an important part in child development.
Sydney, Austrailia uses IQ tests to assess their children. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Forth Edition - Australian Standardisation (WISC-IV), is an individually administered instrument for assessing the cognitive ability of children aged 6 years to 16 years. The WISC-IV is one of the most reliable and valid IQ testing instruments available. It is the most widely used measure of IQ for school placement.
I want to share something else I read about the IQ tests in Sydney and why children should be assessed:
"Uncharacteristic behavioural/emotional issues - If a child is bored and under challenged in the classroom there may be a significant discrepancy between their ability level and the ability level of their class-room peers. A bored, gifted child may be showing their frustration by being disruptive in school, refusing to do homework, or displaying uncharacteristic behaviour or emotions. Often very bright children underachieve in order to fit in with their peers. It is helpful to identify giftedness as soon as possible so that a child's environment can be adapted successfully to best fit their ability."
I saw this happen too many times while I was in school. The most gifted children were the ones who always got in trouble. And I was the child that was considered to be "disruptive". But I was only trying to help my peers. lol I used to be the one to finish my work before everyone else. Then I would be bored because everyone was still working. So I would try to help them in order to speed up the process so that I would have someone to talk to ...not a good idea lol. Now looking back on it, if I would have been properly assessed, maybe I would have been promoted or something...It truly makes me think...
http://www.sydneychildtesting.com.au/iq_testing.html
Hi Brandi,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, you make a great point that children's emotional intelligence should be assessed. The article that you shared is so true, I have seen so many gifted students acting out in class because they are bored;sometimes teachers send these students to a higher grade level to give themselves a challange. I have learned so much from your blog, sometimes I become emotional, it is worse when sad things happen in my life, for example, losing my father, when I think about it I become emotional inside; and noone really knows it.
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ReplyDeleteHi Brandee; you are right, I know children who will act out in a disruptive way in there classroom setting, due to the fact that the work that has been given to the child, he or she may not understand how to do the assignment. In addition, this is when the child will act out in a disruptive way. I believe that as an educator in the field of Early Childhood Development, educators should pay more attention, to children then what they do. And this will help are children to become more successful in life, and more interested in school then what they are. Thank your for sharing you words of wisdom God Bless your colleague Ms. Perry!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cassandra-cassandra.blogspot.com/
Hi Brandee that's something to maybe consider that should be apart of assessing because you just never know what those children could be going through at home that could be hindering them from learning or it could be either way. Good post!!
ReplyDeleteNice job Brandee. I think that you would be more stable emotionally if someone had assessed it and did something to correct it. However I do think that being emotional is good because it makes you passionate. I also believe that some gifted students act out because they aren't challenged enough and just become bored.
ReplyDeleteI not only agree with your post and the passage that you included, I am seeing it first-hand with my own son currently. He is in Kindergarten and has been doing many of the skills that his teacher is covering for the past year. He enjoys learning and his disruption all stems around trying to be noticed. His teacher has commented that he is generally the first one with his hand up but she can not call on him every time. He gets frustrated and then starts singing or fidgeting to get attention. It is difficult to explain to a child. We have tried to teach him things to do like checking his work to keep him occupied a few more seconds. I empathize with his teacher when you are one person with 25 Kindergarteners who range in abilities across the board. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHey Brandee I just want to say that I have once again enjoyed sharing a course with you. You are an incredible person and student and I am honored to have worked with you. I hope we will soon share other courses as well. Keep up the good work and continue to share your knowledge and passion.
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