Thank You!!

I would like to thank each and every one of my group members for sharing their thoughts on my blog and on the blogs of their own. It was truly an experience that I have enjoyed over the past 8 weeks. I pray for the best in all of our futures!

Quotes about Children and Education

“Indeed, education without research or innovation is education without interest.”-Malaguzzi

This quote means a lot to me. It says to me, no matter how many years that I teach that I should always be researching and looking for new, innovative ways to teach. If I don’t do this, I’m just going through the motions.

"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.”-Nelson Mandela

This quote explains that a society is only as much as it treats and raises its children. The way we view children is the way we expect our nation to grow. Our nation won’t better itself unless we better our children.

Testing for Intelligence?

I believe that children should be assessed in all of the areas that affect learning. Howard Gardner described multiple intelligences as linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic (movement), interpersonal (social understanding), intrapersonal (self-understanding), naturalistic (understanding nature), and existential (life and death). Once children are assessed, educators can receive a general idea of how to teach them due to what they are skilled in. The question still remains, “What is the best way to assess children?”

In Australia, children are given standardized tests to assess their intellectual abilities. This has known to be problematic because the results seem to never give a true result of the child’s IQ. Children are referred to as having an intellectual disability in Australia, instead of mental retardation. These intellectual disabled children have a 70 or below IQ score. Children that are below 70 are categorized into four groups: mildly (score of 55-70), moderately (score of 40-55), severely (score of 25-40), and profoundly (score of 25 and below) disabled. None of the formal testing is completed independently of other skills. The tests require children to already possess language or motor skills. Because of this, these tests are considered biased therefore inaccurate for the children who don’t have these skills or struggle in these areas.

Resource

Colmar, S., Maxwell, A., Miller, L. (2006). Assessing intellectual disability in children: are IQ measures sufficient, or even necessary. Australian Journal of Guidance & Counseling. 16(2), 177-188.