My Connections to Play

"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning.  But for children, play is serious learning." - Mr. Rogers

We all had a playroom growing up.  It was called "outside." - Anonymous

Essential play items when I was younger!

When I was a child I remember playing all the time.  I spent hours playing with dolls, riding my bike, going to the park and playing with my friends.  When the weather was nice we were always outside.  When I was about five years old we lived in an apartment building.  I remember playing with the other children in the apartment building.  We would play outside and ride our bikes on the sidewalk right in front of our apartments.  My mom would check on me often and sometimes stay outside with me.  My mom would also take me to the park and watch me as I played on the equipment.  I had a pretend kitchen and I would make my mom all kinds of different food.  My mother always encouraged me to play and many times would watch me play or play with me.  All of these are very fond memories when I think of my childhood.  I learned a lot about getting along with people, communicating and problem solving through my play.  Today children do not get nearly enough time to play outside or inside.  Children definitely spend way too much time watching television, playing video games and using technology.  I understand that parents have to be more protected of their children because society has changed during the last twenty-five years.  I am a parent myself and I am just starting to let my seven year old go in our backyard without me being out there with him.  Even though I am very protected of my children I do understand the importance of play and exploring outside.  I enjoy watching my children play with each other and friends.  My husband and I also spend a lot of time playing with our children and this does help you feel like a child again.  Growing up I loved playing basketball and always wanted a basketball court in my yard.  We have a basketball hoop in our backyard and we love having family games and competitions.  I hope, as my children get older they will get the opportunity to experience the fun of playing night games in their neighborhood.  If nothing else they will get to play night games with their parents!  

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are very important to us.  People who have strong relationships they can count on are usually healthier and happier people.  One of the most important relationships I have is my relationship with my mother.  Of course this relationship started when she was pregnant with me.  For me this has probably been one of the easiest relationships to maintain because she is a wonderful mother and has always made me feel loved and important to her.  It was just my mom and I for the first seven years of my life so that built a strong foundation for our relationship.  Through the years my mom’s constant support of me has been important in our strong relationship.  Even when I was a teenager and at times not the nicest person to my mother, she was always supportive of me.  As I got older my relationship with my mother became even stronger and I would reflect back to those times when she loved me unconditionally.  I also believe our relationship saw new strengths when I became a mother.

Another extremely important relationship in my life is my relationship with my husband.  From the beginning our relationship has been built on trust, respect, understanding, support and lots of love.  We truly enjoy each other’s company and experiencing life together.  I believe this joy helps strengthen our relationship and is important for our children to witness.  My husband is an outstanding father and watching him love our children makes me love him even more!  I also believe we have great communication which is essential in a relationship. 

An important work relationship that I have is my relationship with my teaching assistant.  We both know that we have a very important job and we both want what is best for our students.  Having a mutual understanding is helpful when it comes to doing our best work.  We are both supportive of each other and have respect for each other.  We enjoy listening to each other’s ideas and encouraging each other.  This relationship is also important because she is someone I can confide in when I am having difficulty with a parent or student.  We can then work together to find the best solution.

I believe with all relationships it is important to have great communication.  People are not always going to agree with each other but you definitely need to be able to talk about issues so that you can come to a mutual understanding.  That understanding may be that you see it this way and they see it another way, but it needs to be a respectful conversation.  I believe in a school sometimes you have people who are very offended if you do not agree with them on an issue.  This characteristic in people can make relationships difficult.  I think if everyone agreed on every thing life would be really boring!  If you are having a misunderstanding with someone you really need to communicate with him or her.  I also believe this communication should be done in person, not on email or text messaging.

When I Think of Child Development

"You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child" - Dr. Seuss

"Children are great imitators.  So give them something great to imitate" - Anonymous

"The greatest legacy one can pass on to one's children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one's life, but rather a legacy of character and faith" - Billy Graham

Testing For Intelligence?

Although I do not agree with all the standardized tests children have to take, I do think assessing children’s skills are important.  It is important to know what children understand and what they need more help in understanding.  For example, my preschoolers practice the skill of counting all the time.  Usually this practice takes place in a small group or whole group. Having the children count together is great but sometimes I need to take children aside and really assess whether they know how to count on their own without other children counting with them.  I need to do this assessment to know whether counting is something they need work on.  Sometimes I might do my assessment by just having them count for me or by observing them counting during lab time.  

I do not agree with all of the computer tests children have to do these days.  I think that children need to be able to answer assessment questions in their preferred learning style.  Many children need more hands on opportunities to really be able to answer questions.  There needs to be different ways for children to show what they really know about a topic.  I believe teachers need to be able to assess children by observation and not always by a standardized test.  

Since 2010 New Zealand has had a curriculum for the years 1 – 13, which is typically ages 5 to 13.  For primary education (1-8 years) they follow national standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Teachers are expected to assess children in regards to the standards and regularly report the progress to parents.  New Zealand’s education system is highly inclusive in regards to special education.  Children from year 3 to 10 take the Progressive Achievement Test (PAT) each year.  This test is taken at the beginning of the school year and maybe at the end but it is not taken more than two times a year.  This test has four different parts that measures reading vocabulary, reading comprehension, listening comprehension and mathematics.  The data from this test can be compared to other children taking the test.  Each one of these tests takes approximately 25 to 45 minutes.  Other tests children take in New Zealand are the STAR test, which is a reading test and the AsTTle, which stands for Assessment Tool for Teaching and Learning.  This test is a numeracy and literacy assessment tool. 

The PAT test sounds a lot like the NWEA test our elementary students take at least twice a year.  The NWEA is done on the computers and tests different areas such as reading and mathematics.    

References

Nusche, D., Laveault, D., MacBeath, J. & Santiago, P. (2011).  OECD Review of Evaluation and Assessment in Education: New Zealand.  Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/education/school/49681441.pdf

NZCER.  Understanding PATs – for parents and the community.   Retrieved from http://www.nzcer.org.nz/tests/understanding-pats-parents-and-community