Children

Whose Child Is This?

“Whose child is this?” I asked one day
Seeing a little one out at play
“Mine”, said the parent with a tender smile
“Mine to keep a little while
To bathe his hands and comb his hair
To tell him what he is to wear
To prepare him that he may always be good
And each day do the things he should”

“Whose child is this?” I asked again
As the door opened and someone came in
“Mine”, said the teacher with the same tender smile
“Mine, to keep just for a little while
To teach him how to be gentle and kind
To train and direct his dear little mind
To help him live by every rule
And get the best he can from school”

“Whose child is this?” I ask once more
Just as the little one entered the door
“Ours” said the parent and the teacher as they smiled
And each took the hand of the little child
“Ours to love and train together
Ours this blessed task forever.”

~Author Unknown~

I really love this poem. It serves as a testimony to how I feel about the children, families, and the job that I do. Below is a picture of the first class I had as a lead teacher. I think of this as my test  because I had some behaviors in the beginning. It was a great year. I turned the behaviors into victories just by showing LOVE! The children knew how I felt about them everyday because it showed in how I interacted and took care of them. Thanks for sharing this journey with me.

 

Assessing for Children

When you assess children you have to make sure that you use the proper tool. I have found that a lot of the assessment tools used in schools are not fair to all children. I find this to be more noticeable in assessing children that have English as their second language. When choosing an assessment tool it is important to remember that children develop at different rates. Children have different styles of learning. It is not fair to say that two children who are the same age should be able to do the same things. When I assess a child I already know what to expect before I begin. I have observed the child enough to know what they are capable of doing. I have anecdotal notes that help me understand why they obtained a certain score. When I have a child that has English as their second language, I have a form called an ASQ that I give to the parent to fill out. Now I know as a parent myself, I would not want my child to receive a low score so I know that some of the scores that I see on the ASQ have been fudged a little. When that happens and I know that I expect a lower score, I usually do my own ASQ and compare the two. The Dial 3  does not support children with physical disabilities. How can you expect a child to get a fair score on an assessment that has gross motor activities on it?

The CELF Preschool-2 Spanish and PLS-4 Spanish is used to determine Hispanic children language ability. They both are language test which are used to compare the language skills of children that are the same age. The children that are assessed are children who only speak Spanish, but are learning English, children who speak both languages well, and Hispanic children who speak no Spanish at all. Each child is equipped with different skills which are emerging at different stages and rates. The characteristics of the child determines which test the child will be given. The advantage to this is that the language and speech assessment has to be administered in the child’s primary language.

Assessing Spanish_Speaking Preschoolers: CELF Preschool-2 Spanish and PLS-4 Spanish. Retrieved from http://www.txsha.org/_pdf/Convention/New%20Folder/Pearson_Assessing%20Spanish-Speaking%20Preschoolers