quotes that inspire my class

"You are never to old, too wacky, too wild to pick up a book and read to a child" Dr. Seuss
     --This quote is above my children's books
"If a child cannot learn in the way we teach, we must teachin a way the child can learn"

The best teachers teach from the heart, not from a book!

Testing for intelligence

The Whole Child Approach- “Each child, in each school, in each of our communities deserves to be healthy, safe, engaged supported, and challenged. That’s what a whole child approach to learning, teaching, and community engagement really is.” (The Whole Child, 2013).

This website was so much fun to look through. It talked about the learning strategies that create higher order thinking. I believe that children should be observed and tested through action. It should be able to show that what was taught can be used off a piece of paper and pencil. So the question asked in assessment is, what they were taught can it reciprocated to knowledge of the real world?

In Japan standardized testing is what is being done in the schools. In the article I found, it talked about how passive and quiet children are in school. They learn facts. The author stated that he noticed how different it is from students in the United States. The children in U.S stated facts but also stated their opinions. There was emotion in the classroom when children are learning (Moderator, 2010).

The development of the whole child is important. I feel that understanding all depths of a child first comes from observing, guiding, and actively assessing. Children should be able to explore their environment, learn facts, come up with their own reasoning/opinions based on facts, and be able to speak out!!

flooding...natural disaster

Just as I was starting my student teaching, we the after math of a tropical storm Irene. I live in valley in upstate NY. We had major flooding in the area I was teaching. We mixed the first week of school and then it took six weeks to get all the children back in school full time. So many children were without homes, warm blankets and real food. It was so tough for this community. All of the resources were being used left and right. It was a horrific experience. FEMA was in to help as best as they could. The outside communities that could afford to help were there. Teachers were struggling with their homes but did the best they could to stay positive.

http://www.irinnews.org/report/94669/ethiopia-drought-floods-hit-education

This article talks about Ethiopia and how the drought and floods have effected the education of young children. after the major tragedies in the past few years, many of the children have just not return. Programs are being started up to help draw children back into school. underfunding and lack of other resources is making it hard for many organizations.