I think one of the most important things to assess in a child is their behaviors. I think this because a child could be acting out to get attention maybe because they are not getting enough at home. They could also be destructive because they are getting abused at home and they dont know how to express it in any other way. I think it is very important for teachers to always be aware of how the child is behaving and never take it lightly or punish them before understanding the reasoning behind it.
In Africa, they dont assess the children on how they behave its more of what they need as a person like food or clothes or medicine. Some parts of Africa are so poor that they dont really worry about the child's education, they worry about more of their well being. They assess health, clothes, and the environment they are living in. The teacher will then decide (assess) what the child will need and will try to help them as best as he or she can.
I recently had to do some assessments on children in my classroom who are turning two. I had a few of them average and then one of them was below average and no where near what he should be doing. His parents never wanted a meeting or anything. I'm not sure if it is because he's only two and they think eventually he will catch up, but I feel like if I were a parent I would be making sure I was doing everything I could for the child.
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED119942&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED119942
The sad part about it is that a lot of parents are not as involved in their children's school work because their parent wasn't involved with theirs. It sad to say that a lot of babies are having babies and it is a bad cycle. I am sure that a there are children in Africa being abused some kind of way in the home because it happens everywhere. The sad part is like you were saying that because of where they stay at their health is more important than anything to the adults. There are so many other problems that the abuse is one that they don't have time to tackle sadly.
ReplyDeleteI truly feel that assessing children behavior is important because it does help to understand things about the child. Its just sad that currently teachers as well as parents are not involved enough with children to recognize when something is wrong. Teachers that are dealing with too many students, are unpaid, and under appreciated have no time to deal with a child with behavior problems. I see in public schools that more and more children are just being suspended or sent to the office to sit for the day. I never understood the suspending principle because I thought the ultimate goal is for children to learn and how can do that if they home all the time because teachers or school officials are not concerned with the child problems. I always say we as a nation need to do better because the generation before us is severely suffering...Great post...really identified with a lot of things you were speaking on.
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