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 of how children can express their feelings unlike adults who most times can simple state their feelings. The teacher in the book was not taking data on the children, she was encouraging their creativity and trying to understand their meanings behind the stories and the characters. The author states that she believes the bad guys represent danger and loss, while birthdays are the opposite, safety and power, while babies are and uncertain symbol surrounded that changes with each child and is surrounded by ambivalence and concern. This type of teacher assessment reminded me more of the Work Sampling System, in the way that the teacher let the child lead and allowed for a child based environment, not sitting at a desk with pencil and paper in hand. I can’t say that I really understood the ideas behind each child’s thinking after reading this book, but I definitely can see how a teacher would need to pay very close attention to the dialogue between students in order to understand their rules and their way of viewing the world. If I needed to do these kinds of assessments with young children I would attempt to join in their play and really try to put myself in their mind frame in hopes that I could understand their meaning and be able to see connections to a larger level of learning.
Aloha Jeanette,
ReplyDeleteSome of my thinking was to explore the fantasy lives of young children, but more about the role of assessment. For example, though you mention you would still need to do more investigation to better understand each child, think about the information you currently do have. All of that information was gathered through observation, documentation, and assessment. Did Ms. Paley do the assessment, or did you, the reader? Perhaps both of you were a part of that process, even if Ms. Paley did the observation and documentation.
When we compare what we saw from the children in this book versus what we might discover about a child using a system like Brigance, for example, what are the differences between the two? Think about what we've discovered about each child's cognitive level, their social/emotional lives, their creativity, their language/literacy, their ability to quantify information. Think about how that was learned - Ms. Paley didn't pull a child out from their play to ask them a few questions and then drop them back into the classroom. And in fact, when she did try to enter the play, she found that her own (rational) thinking got in the way of the real happenings, that she was actually disrupting their learning. This serves as a bit of caution about our role in "playing" with children - yes, we want to offer supports, but we have to recognize that our supports might be hindering instead of helping. Instead, by taking an approach where we watch, wait and wonder, we can better see the action that is taking place and using those moments to assess later on. This type of assessment would not be easy, though, with a group of 26 children. So how might a teacher adapt some of Ms. Paley's work to best match their unique context? Mahalo!