My Commentary

I have learned so much about play and interplay. My greatest wish is that adults truly look at infant play and advocate for  our smallest citizens  while praising them on the hard work  to communicate their silent language of cues.
Mister Rogers was wonderful and  I have quoted him on play, yet  even in his powerful role of influence he missed the opportunity to shared about the wonders and excited joy our infants have in discovering their world:-)

One quote about children

Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/fredrogers193081.html#BZl4GiPrDwRpLwZM.99

 

Fred Rogers AKA Mister Rogers:-)

 

 

 

Testing for Intelligence

Testing for Intelligence

 

 Child: plural noun: children

1.    a young human being below the age of puberty or below the legal age of majority https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=what+does+child+mean

 

 Holistic;

1.    characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.

                         2.  Medicine characterized by the treatment of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the physical symptoms of a disease. https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=what+does+holistic+mean

 

 

When I think of the whole child and an asked what is my opinion on how a child should be assessed?  My answer, is not only testing in academic achievements which on paper give us a portion of how the child  comprehend questions , but in the environment of how a child  functions. Example …emotions, respective, descriptive and expressive language during interaction. Also vision, hearing, taste, and smell, also physical development plays a great part on how the child takes information in and applies  the data. We have Ages and Stages Questionnaires from birth to six, at this point in elementary and secondary peers play a crucial role how children isolate themselves or flourish because of confidence. So an environmental assessment of the whole child would be beneficial.

 

Let’s look at China   

 

 May 2007 | Volume 64 | Number 8 Educating the Whole Child Pages 70-73

China and the Whole Child

Yong Zhao

A nation with a rigid thousand-year-old testing system struggles to implement a more holistic approach to education.

Half a century ago, Mao Tse-tung articulated the central aim of Chinese education: “Our educational policy must enable everyone who receives an education to develop morally, intellectually, and physically and become a worker with both socialist consciousness and culture” (1957). China embraced, in theory, Mao's appeal for educating the whole child, and this approach remains the guiding principle for education in China today. Yet it has had a minimal effect on Chinese education.

Overworked, Underrested

Students in China continue to be burdened with long school days, mountains of homework, and time-consuming school-oriented extracurricular activities. Sleep deprivation among students as a result of excessive schoolwork is a persistent problem. According to the Beijing Education Commission, over 60 percent of students don't get sufficient sleep (Zhang, 2006). On weekdays, students leave for school at approximately 7:00 a.m.; they typically get home around 6:00 p.m., with at least two or three hours of homework to complete. On weekends, students attend tutoring sessions, training courses for various contests, or test preparation events (Liu & Liu, 2004; Lv & Song, 2005). They are simply too busy to sleep or engage in leisure activities.

Reference;

Yong, Z. (2007, May 1). China and the Whole Child. . Retrieved , from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may07/vol64/num08/China-and-the-Whole-Child.aspx

 

 

Additional Comments

 

Above all else the cliché “ the children are our future”   is very try, and as educators  it is our responsibility to stay current in education and  objective  to how to enhance, create and implement fair assessment that look at the whole child’s   way of taking in and applying life skills.