This weeks blog focused on the testing children and the assessments that are being used to show a child's intelligence. Teachers today in the United States have more focus today on assessing children's intelligence more than ever. The assessments that children need to get tested on, I believe is too much and takes up too much wasted time. Personally, I have never been a great test taker, but I know that my abilities and intelligence for most subject areas are just as good as someone who would ace a test. I believe schools focus more on assessment of testing than letting the children interact and learn what they really need to learn for life. How are children supposed to be creative and work together when all they do is sit in a chair and a desk and do multiple choice questions and essays the whole time? I do think testing should be done, especially to show their growth on a topic, but to focus all their attention to test they have to take is not right. Also, I believe repetition of information is useful for children especially if its information that they need to use in the future. There is so much for a teacher to teach and a child to learn, that it is hard for the information to sink in because before they know it they are being assessed in another subject.
The country I chose to focus on with the educational system is Asia. The thought of assessment is new to Asia. Course requirements in Asia is based on their ability and what and how they have learned. In Asia, teachers use assessments of performance based assessments, self and peer assessments, teacher observations, portfolios, quizzes, and tests. Asia out of most countries is similar to the United States. Asia has many standardized assessments that they use to measure a students ability and intelligence. Some include SAT II, Early Language Learning Oral Performance Assessment and Lingua Folio. The resource at the end of the blog describes in detail what all the assessments test.
When I think of intelligence, I don't think of it as a whole. I believe everyone has their own abilities of what they are good at and what they are bad at. I am particularly intelligent in sports and cooking. If you asked me how to build a shed, or house or anything, I would have no clue. If you asked me how to hit a softball or how to cook an omelet, I would know the answer right on the spot. Or if a child for example is really good at painting and drawing, but fail every math test he or she takes, this shows by assessment of what they know and what they are good at. Even thought testing shows these things, I don't believe they should measure their whole ability and intelligence on the subject. Children need to know and learn more information about real life situations and focus less on the things they will never use. For example, I took French in middle school and high school. I have to say I did good and got good grades. But I've been out of school for 8 years now and I haven't used French not once. Why do we have to take things and learn things that are never going to be used in our life in the future?
Resources:
Asia Society. "Assessment. http://asiasociety.org/education/chinese-language-initiatives/assessment 2013.
Brittany,
ReplyDeleteI like how you brought up the area of multiple intelligences. I think this something schools should focus on because it will help children to learn what ways the learn best, and in what areas they excel. I know our culture has been all about education leading to well rounded indivduals, but I think sometimes this has led extremely smart people to forego college because they don't want to waste their time taking a bunch of classes the don't care about. I know this is where tech colleges have come into play. I also have seen an increase in colleges that are subject specific. So maybe this is where the future is leading us.
Brittany, I liked the idea that you expressed you personal beliefs about assessments. I was too afraid to share my personal beliefs!! I too feel like assessments take up so much of the teachers time and the children do not have the opportunity to socialize and learn through their interactions with their peers. It appears that school are all about making the high scores on assessments. During assessment periods, children and families stree levels are increased which causes children to perfor or assess poorly. On the other side, I know that it is important for children to be assessed. How ever will an educator know where a child is struggling. I just believe that assessment should not be so stressful as they are. I am like you! I am not a great test taker but I do know my stuff. When it comes to testing, my mind goes into left field. I believe it's anxiety. Thanks for sharing your post and being honest about your feelings about asssessments.
ReplyDeleteCotati Thomas-Crompton