This is an essay about assessing children's learning through play, Kei Tua o te Pae/Assessment for learning: Early Childhood Exemplars, learning stories and how beneficial Kei Tua o te Pae and learning stories are to early childhood teachers. Kei Tua o te Pae/Assessment for learning: Early Childhood Exemplars are extremely useful to any early childhood teacher at any level, from the student teacher, to the early childhood teacher with decades of experience as there are many different examples of assessing a child. Kei Tua o te Pae exemplar booklets are useful for a teacher to go back and study often so they can reinforce the different types of ways to assess a child. Kei Tua o te Pae/Assessment for learning: Early Childhood Exemplars take on a sociocultural approach to assessment. The early childhood exmplars are based on the philosophies of Te Whāriki, New Zealand's bicultural early childhood curriculum. The four principals of Te Whāriki, Empowerment/Whakamana, Holistic development/Kotahitanga, Family and community/Whānau tangata, and Relationships/Ngā hononga, are the principles for assessment. Interwoven within the philosophy and the four principals are the five strands of Te Whāriki which are: Wellbeing/Mana Atua, Belonging/Mana Whenua, Contribution/Mana Tangata, Communication/Mana Reo, and Exploration/Mana Aotūroa (Ministry of Education. (2010). The Kei Tua o te Pae resources are extremely valuable, they are a range of different books, 20 in total including different books for different assessments. The titles of assessment books that are included in the series are; Sociocultural Assessment, Bicultural Assessment, Children Contributing to Their Own Assessment, Assessment and Learning: Community, Assessment and Learni... ... middle of paper ... ...earning story with noticing, recognising and responding is crucial, and it is imperative that teachers take the time to learn how to assess a child correctly. Works Cited May. H, Carr. M & Podmore. V. (2010). Learning and teaching stories: Action research on evaluation in early childhood education. Wellington, New Zealand: NZCER. ISBN 1-877140-73-2 Ministry of Education. (2010). Early Childhood Education ECE Educate. Retrieved from http://www.educate.ece.govt.nz Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngāMokopuna o Aotearoa Early Childhood Curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand. Podmore, Valerie N. (2006). Observation: Origins and approaches to early childhood research and practice. Wellington, New Zealand: NZCER. ISBN 1-877398-15-12. (Chapter 3. Processes: How to observe? Pp. 39-77)
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum in England differs greatly in structure and content to the Te Whariki curriculum in New Zealand; this therefore makes for an interesting comparison. The EYFS was introduced in England, in 2008, by the DfE as a framework that ‘sets the standards for learning, development and care of children from birth to five’ (DfE, 2012). Alternatively, Te Whariki was founded in New Zealand, in 1996, based on the aspirations for children ‘to grow up as competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body, and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society’ (Ministry of Education, 1996). Throughout this essay, the EYFS and Te Whariki curriculums will be compared and contrasted to give a greater understanding of the similarities and differences between England and New Zealand regarding their beliefs about young children’s needs.
I have always had a keen interest in observing children as they play and learn and using the observations to support the child’s growth. This is partly based on my past professional experiences and observations of my own children. I believe that my other strength in assessment is in analyzing data and using the data to make decisions. While I feel, this area is a strength, my exposure to the vast array of assessment tools used to support student learning has been
Assessments are important when teachers want to deliver high quality lessons and ensure the students understand the concepts before moving on. The assessment chosen for this assignment is a Letter to a Friend. This self-assessment strategy helps the teacher understand how clearly the students grasped the concepts within a unit (Sunal & Haas, 2011). For teachers who teach all subjects, this activity covers a few ELA standards as well.
Puckett, M., & Black, J. (2008). Meaningful assessments of the young child. (3th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
My desire for children in my care is that their learning journey would be meaningful as they explore the ideas and activities they are interested in. This means that I believe that children are naturally motivated learners and should have the opportunity to learn through their own explorations and through collaboration with other children and educators. I believe this can be done through both teacher-initiated and child-initiated activities and supported through play. I also believe that play is a natural and enjoyable means through which children learn. In my practice I aim to encourage children’s natural ...
Children have a natural inclination to play, alongside a natural instinct to learn and to be curious and inventive, which are characteristics of the human race in general. This quote taken from Janet Moyles is a good starting point for this essay. It is well known that children love to play. If a child were to be left to his/her own devices they would happily play and create new worlds anywhere they were left. It has been well documented and researched that children learn excellently through play. However they are not always given the opportunity to do so, instead being told to, ‘finish your work and then you can go play’. Obviously this is not always the case, but the fact that it is a common practice shows that we do not all fully appreciate the importance of play to children’s learning. This essay will attempt to show how children learn through play, making reference to current theory and practice. I will also give examples from my own first-hand experience of how children learn and develop as people through play.
Zumwalt, C. (2012). Authentic assessment and early childhood education—an update and Resources. Little Prints, 6(1), 1-15.
I will be looking at two different assessment tools one is a traditional assessment tool to an authentic electronic portfolio assessment. I will look at the age of 4-5 years old (preschool age) assessments. I work at Little Giants Learning Academy in Florida were the teachers use three assessment tools one from the center and two made from state. I will look at the one from the center and one from the state which is Teaching Strategies GOLD. The tool that I won’t compare is the VPK Florida Assessment tool which is just a series of question that the child is asked. “Children who are three to five years of age are developing rapidly, at individual paces, and with different interests. It is important to document their successes and their progress,
Assessment is an important area of a teacher’s career. Assessment is the one way that teachers know that their students have met their standard and are on track with where they should be in the kindergarten year. If the student is behind in the subject area that gives the teacher a chance to either work with those children within a small group or teach the large group that topic again if many students don’t understand. Assessment is a way to modify instruction based on the students’ educational level. It can tell the teacher if the topic is too easy or too difficult for the students. Authentic assessment in kindergarten is key. The article, Crisis in Kindergarten, states, “testing of children under age eight are subject to serious errors and their use is largely invalid” (Miler, Almon, 2009, p. 19). They are not the only research article to agree on this topic that young children need to be tested using a variety of methods, not just pencil paper tests. Authentic assessment is mean to assess students learning in a meaningful way, so that they will show the teacher their full knowledge because they will not realize they are being evaluated. As a teacher authentic assessment is going to give truer results, as the student will be completing the assessment through play or an environment where they are confident and comfortable. Performance assessment is designed to be representative of real tasks in the world. The students may self-evaluate students, and students are evaluated based on the knowledge they already. Performance assessment can be teacher made. Academic or developmental checklists are authentic assessments since the teacher just checks off if the student meets the skill listed. These checklists can be used to show student growth over time. Another authentic assessment is academic or developmental rubrics, which articulates the expectations for a skill and allows students to show their knowledge in a variety of ways. Anecdotal records are when the
Observing a child is a tool which is not only use by parents and teachers parents to measure child's developmental progress but it is also help to discover new things about the child which can be included in teaching and uses as guidance strategies. Thus teachers observe children in different settings to see a comprehensive
Observation is important as the practitioner can find out what the child is interested in and what motivates them to learn alongside their progress and how they behave in certain situations, additionally at the same time it identifies if children need assistance within certain areas of learning or socially (DCSF, 2008). Furthermore the observations check that the child is safe, contented, healthy and developing normally within the classroom or early years setting, over time the observations can be given to parents as they show a record of progress which helps to settle the parent and feel more comfortable about their child’s education. Observations are not only constructive within learning about an individual child, they can be used to see how different groups of children behave in the same situation and how adults communicate and deal with children’s behaviour (Meggitt and Walker, 2004). Overall observations should always look at the positives of what children can complete within education and not look at the negatives and all observations should become a fundamental part of all practitioners work alongside reflection (Smidt, 2009).
Applying this 2000-word essay, I will use my reflective/supervision journal, with the takepū kaitiakitanga (Pohatu T. , 2008). Reflecting on my interactions with te tuinga whanau (ttw) and this kaupapa I will demonstrate the integrated assessment schedule. Explaining my understanding of the kaupapa from the initial contact to exit plan. I Completed my mahi whakatau at ttw, this amazing non-government organization offers free social work, advocacy, information, mentoring, supported bail and support services to everyone irrespective of ethnicity (Whanau, 2016).
Assessment is the systematic collection, review, and use of information about educational programs undertaken for the purpose of improving student learning and development (Palomba & Banta, 1999). Educational assessments are carried out to measure the efficiency of the program, the quality of instruction and progress of a child’s learning. The purpose is to determine the growth and development.
Sullivan, K. (1994). Bicultural education in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Establishing a tauiwi side to the partnership. New Zealand annual review of education, 3, 191.222. Retrieved on 1st March 2014 from http://www.victoria.ac.nz/education/research/nzaroe/issues-index/1993/pdf/text-sullivan.pdf
The Te Tiriti o Waitangi was a contract that Maori people believe to be an acknowledgement of their existence and their prior occupation to the land, give respect to their language, culture and belief and “it established the regime not for uni-culturalism, but for bi-culturalism” (Sorrenson, 2004 p. 162). This essay discusses the historical events, attitudes and beliefs regarding Te reo Maori, its relationship to the Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the significance of bicultural practice in early childhood education.