What Does It Mean To Educate The Whole Child

Family and teacher involvement is a necessary factor when it comes to the growth of children. As noted in the article, “What Does it Mean to Educate the Whole Child,” “collaboration occurs within and outside the schools among teachers, between teachers and parents, among teachers in different schools, among teachers and related services personnel (e.g., speech therapist, audiologist, counselor, psychologist, reading specialist), and among teachers and community agency personnel” (What Does it Mean, n.d., p. 14). When families and key stakeholders within the school system collaborate together it aids with the barriers of a child's learning progression. Collaboration helps by providing the support the children need for their intellectual, social,

As stated in the article,“Intellectual Development,” “Vygotsky believed that “learning occurs, in part, when assistance from others is within the “zone of proximal development,” and as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (Edwards, 2014, para 2). Therefore, when families and the key stakeholders within the school system collaborate together, they are able to help meet the needs of children who struggle with intellectual growth. This goal can be obtained by having an effective communication system which will allow easy access of information that is needed to assist the child. Some examples of intellectual development in which the child may need assistance with is (a) writing names, (b) reading books, or (c) letter and word recognition. When teachers and families collaborate they can come up with ways to support the child in these area, as well as many more. Teachers can send out newsletters, or emails to communicate to parents of various activities that are going on at school, which they can implement at home to increase intellectual growth of their children. Some parents can create a game night to get everyone involved and also make learning meaningful and

The social growth is the development of how children communicate with other people. As noted in the article, “About Social Development,” “Children’s earliest and most extensive learning about social relationships occurs in the family, also parents and care givers can support positive social development when they model respect and consideration and encourage children to be similarly respectful in all their relationships” (About Social Development, 2008, sec 3, para 1). When family members and teachers demonstrate to children how to be (a) kind, (b) courteous, and (c) polite, the child mimics that initial behavior which makes it easier for socialization to occur. According to the article, “Promoting Social Development Through Play,” there are several ways in which teachers and parents can engage children in playing activities to help them with socialization; (a) character play, (b) cooperative play and (c) parallel play (Tomlin, 2008). Promoting social growth through play can enhance the child's social competence. Character play is when the child watches and mimics other children, cooperative play is when the child plays in groups with other children, and parallel play is when the children is playing with the same materials but playing separately (Tomlin et al.,