Blog #2

Response to comment from Blog posting #1:

Ulrike brought up a good point on the person administering the test. They may hold the power as they have that power to manipulate and present it in many different ways. They are strangers which is a huge factor in accuracy. How can we say this child knows this or this child knows that? The ones who would know child best is either parent or teacher.  Yes it takes a whole lot of time away having to check off and input data which leaves employees feeling overwhelmed and exhausted!  I like the word Ulrike used, “uniform.”  Thatʻs exactly what it feels like the purpose of it all is. 

Blog #2:

So in any assessment program being used, who holds the power?  Well, the child learns from everything around him/her and therefore has the power to create their own story, as shared in the TSGold site.  Children have the power to create their own story, yet is some how manipulated by teachers, who then hold the power.  Now that I think about it, everyone plays a part in holding the power.

By definition, according to google, school readiness is foundational across early childhood systems and programs.  It means children are ready for school, families are ready to support their childrenʻs learning, and schools are ready for children.  Furthermore, physical, cognitive, social and emotional development are all essential ingredients of school readiness.  According to Hatcher et al.,"The increased academic demands of Kidergarten (Goldstein, 2007) resulted in expectations that preschool children will enter kindergarten having some familiarity with print, letter and sound recognition, and begin writing skills."

  

School readiness applies to the teacher and child, of course. Teachers get children ready for the next level of education.  Readiness shapes our children in what they should know.  If they are not up to par, then children are then labeled in having delays.  Power plays into readiness as it manipulates and shapes children into these robots, basically, forcing children to know this, this and that. Readiness does not look the same across all cultures as each culture has their own culturally-appropriate curriculum. Of course, children learn according to their environment and their culture, therefore having a diverse idea of what school readiness should be.  However, children are tested and labeled, as not being “ready” because society has one measurement statewide where children are compared with and placed as exceeding, meeting or well below their benchmarkers. 

As for last week screeners, Brigance and DIAL, those are tests used for student placement.  I kind of got a head of myself lol as I shared my experience with WSO, which was this weeks blog assignment.  So, I will not go on about WSO as I have already shared my thoughts about that program and will be sharing my thoughts on TS Gold.  These two programs are assessments that are used in the classroom that teachers use throughout the school year to guide their curriculum.  These are observations made by the teachers in the classroom, and rated according to what teacher  observes.  Teachers have more power here, as the screeners from last week, those programs hold the power.  My experience in using WSO can be meaningful, but like I said, it is very time consuming.  I have never used TS Gold, but from watching the videos and reading up on this program, it seems to be more user friendly and focuses more o guiding your teaching. Meaning, it is more detailed in telling the stories of our children throughout their learning.  What makes this program so awesome, is that it also gives lessons you can use to further childrenʻs learning and pin-points exactly what children know and where they need to grow and strengthen.  I love the color band system that will tell you where child is at and where they should be at childʻs actual age.  It also extends to sharing this information with families and how to help the childʻs growth at home as well.  Honestly, unless you have actually used the program, you really canʻt understand how useful these programs can be in the classroom.  You can read up on it and watch videos on it, but you really canʻt understand the program until you have first-hand experience utilizing them.  I dislike WSO, but hard to say which I prefer because I havenʻt tried TS Gold. However, I would rather use TS Gold in replacement of WSO.