Jeanette Zarr

When I first started reading Vivian Paley’s book I thought that it would only have a small bit about the child’s fantasy play and the majority about the author’s views on the children. I think that she did not want to tell the reader what to think, instead the reader had to interpret what the fantasy play meant to the children, which is what teachers will probably do when they assess students using portfolios and assessments that do not use numerical scores. I think that this book was assigned to this class because it allows the student to have some experience in trying to gather information about a child’s thinking during their play time, which is valuable learning time for children. The teacher, or reader, has to interpret the meanings behind the stories that the children create. The most obvious part was when Fredrick would only play the role of the baby when he was worried about getting another sibling and not being the baby of the family anymore. I think this was a great example o...

In the article Assessment of Young Children, the authentic assessment approach seems to veer towards looking at the student holistically, as opposed to the standardized tests that capture the child’s ability at a moment in time. I am really liking this idea of looking at the child in a multidimensional way, using personalized education, and creating growth promoting relationships, but I am wondering how this can actually be done at our public schools. I see teachers barely getting through the day with 20 to 30 children in their classrooms. It does not seem reasonable to expect our teachers to have the time to get to know each child to the point that a parent would know the child. Which leads me to wonder if some of this should fall on the parents. Where does their part come into “stimulating the growth of  heart and mind”. Should we ask our teachers to spend all day with our children and know almost every aspect of their lives in order to personalize their education? Perhaps this...

Week 4 Assignments Who owned the different systems? Dial 4 screener and Work Sampling System is owned by Pearson. Brigance is owned by a company that goes by the name of Curriculum Associates. Brigance was one of the fastest growing companies in the industry in 2016. TS Gold screener is owned by a company called Teaching Strategies. What does each company have to gain by you using these systems? These companies are selling their assessment kits for money. They are not non-profit organizations who merely want to help students. They are selling a product. How are these systems aligned across different contexts (i.e.: do they align with the Common Core, and if so, who gets money from the usage of the Common Core?). Teaching Strategies and Brigance and Work Sampling  are aligned with Common Core. Dial 4 is aligned with the National Education Goals Panel, the National Association for the Education of Young Children and Head Start Domains and Standards. According to A...