Maximizing Assessment Practice through Domains, Technology, and Partnerships - Assignment Example

Maximizing assessment practice through domains due: It is believed that the learning process of a child begins before birth. This process continues after birth, for the rest of a person’s life. As children grow into adults, they are expected to pick up skills that will ensure their wellbeing as well as their productivity in the societies they live. This learning process is a complex one and is affected by both the genetic form of the child and their environment. The learning process has been put in the following domains: • Cognitive This domain is related to a child’s ability to acquire, analyze and use knowledge. It is necessary that a teacher monitors and assesses the development of children’s cognitive skills as they grow. These skills include how well a child is can remember things, reasoning and problem-solving skills, independence and how children relate to their immediate environment. These tests may be both verbal and non-verbal. As the child develops these skills, the experiences, they go through, become meaningful to them (Carr, 2002). • Language and communication This domain is related to how well a child can understand spoken language and how well the learner can use spoken language to communicate. The domain also includes the non-verbal communication skills. The language skills developed by children help them express themselves as well as understand other people as they interact with them. • Social/ Emotional In the assessment of the social skills of a learner, the teacher studies how the children view themselves in relation to others. In this assessment, the teacher studies how the child relates to their peers and adults in their environment. This may involve how well they form friendships, behave and fair on as part of a team, the development of their individuality and how they act in response to the feelings of other people. The way children relate to others is a reflection of how they view themselves. As children develop a healthy self-esteem, they develop meaningful social relationships with others. • Adaptive/ Self-help development As a teacher, it is necessary to determine how well a learner can do things for themselves. It breeds a form of independence that is necessary for the development of a child. This involves testing some basic skills such as using the toilet, eating, how well the child can clean themselves among others. Children learn some level of independence if they are left to do some basic things by themselves. This independence is important for the children as they grow towards adulthood. • Motor This is a domain of learning that is related to how well a child can coordinate their body parts to do something meaningful. This involves crawling, walking and running. The ability of a child to use some instruments to work and play is a significant part of this domain of learning. This skills help develop the confidence of the child the more they are used (Seidel, Kett & Perencevich, 2007). Explain how to differentiate assessment within each of the five domains for the following: 1. Assessment of gifted children Gifted children are children with specific pronounced abilities to pick up skills in particular domains as noted at an early age. Gifted children have the potential of excelling in particular fields more than the average children. These skills may be creativity, psychomotor skills, intellectual skills or social skills. This is important to the improvement of life if the resource is taped skillfully. The assessment process should be such that it enhances the learning process as opposed to just providing some statistics. Gifted children should be given special attention so as to develop and use their special skills without neglecting other domains of their learning. It involves putting them in specialized learning environments and using specialized learning and assessment tools (Whitney & Hirsch, 2000) 2. The assessment of English language learners This form of assessment falls under the language and communication domain. It involves assessing the learner’s vocabulary, writing skills and spoken language skills. The teacher should conduct the assessment considering that the assessment is meant to enhance the learning process. It has been noted that, learners, who are given complex tasks that require the use of the English language, are better able to grasp the language out of necessity. The tasks motivate them to learn the language better than the learners who study the language as their primary goal. 3. Learners with special needs Learners with special needs require more attention than the average learner. This calls for a unique approach to their assessment. Normally, the process of assessing the learners with special needs is required to be universal. The teacher is expected to assess how well the learner is grasping the concepts at the beginning of the learning process and then keep assessing continuously as the learner progresses. This ensures the teacher does not go ahead of the learner (Gargiulo & Kilgo, 2013). The use of technology and assessment tools in the assessment of a learner Using technology in the assessment of learners in the learning process is the trend today. The process involves the development of assessment procedures using innovative skills and a system for developing the score of a child as the child progresses. These technological tools used vary from one domain to another. Some of the technological tools used include computers, iPods, and iPhones among others. Use of learning games has been observed to be more effective with children than the conventional use of paper and pen assessment. These learning games are developed by a teacher for a specific group of learners. The games are such that they measure the progress of the child as the child progresses. Besides the computer games, other learning tools can be used as well to help develop the child’s cognitive, self-help and motor skills. The learners are supervised by the teachers, and their progress noted as the complexity of the learning process changes. Usually, the nature of the learning games is designed by the teacher depending on the objective of the learning process (Sigafoos & Green, 2007). Involving parents in the learning process When ensuring that the learning process of a child is effective, it is important that the teacher fosters a healthy relationship with the child’s parents and to bring the parent into the child’s learning process. The teacher needs to learn more about the child from the parent in order to teach the child more appropriately. It will call for the following so as to achieve the goal: • A relationship of mutual respect should be fostered between the teacher and the parents. It will make it easy to involve the parents in the child’s learning process. • The teachers should involve the parents in the decision-making, goal setting and assessment of their children. • The teacher should consider the opinions of the parents concerning the implementation of some objectives in the learning process of their children. • The teachers and parents should maintain constant communication concerning academic progress of the child (Schumm, 2006). In conclusion, the process of assessment of children should be such that it enhances the learning process of the child and not just a statistical performance index. The teacher should use the assessment process that is suitable for the particular domain of learning and suits the learning requirement of the child. Feedback from the teacher and the audience 1. The presentation should be able to describe clearly who the teacher is and the different roles the teacher plays 2. The description of the child as intended in the presentation. 3. How best can the presentation be given to the benefit of the parent? 4. The role of parents in the learning process of their children. 5. The limits of technology in the learning process 6. The presentation will be more organized with a power point presentation. Reflection The presentation should bring out clearly the description of the teacher and the roles the teacher plays in the progress of the child. The word teacher as described in the presentation is not just the class room teacher. The teacher could be the sports instructor, the day care attendant, the holiday camp care taker or the class room teacher. All the people who contribute to the learning process of the child, including the parents can take up the title of a teacher. The presentation should bring out clearly the description of the child in terms of the age limit. The child as described in the presentation has an age limit. The child’s age ranges from a new born baby to the early teen age. This age limit could be higher for children with learning difficulties. For the presentation to have more impact on the parents, it should be such that it also addresses the parents as important stakeholders in the learning progress of their children. The presentation should put the boundaries as to how far the contribution of the parents should be. The presentation should also define how far the teacher should go when it comes to making decisions concerning the welfare and progress of the child. The parents should understand clearly the role they need to play in the development of their children. The presentation should also address how much the parents should dictate what the teachers should teach their children since the teachers are the professionals and they know best what is required for the children’s learning. The presentation should educate the parents on how to handle and address the needs of the gifted kids and those with learning disabilities. They should be able to provide the special attention these children need without making them feel out of place with the average children. In addressing the role of technology in the learning process, the presentation should be able to put the boundaries of technology in the learning and assessment process. The children should use technology to help them interact effectively with the real world. The technology should not paint a wrong picture of what reality is to the children. For example, the children should not think that the learning games are all that there is to learning. A power point presentation would be more effective for a presentation since it is more systematic and has better user interface than the word processor. References Carr, M. (2002). Assessment in early childhood settings: Learning stories. London [u.a.: Chapman. Gargiulo, R. M., & Kilgo, J. L. (2013). An introduction to young children with special needs: Birth through age eight. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth. Schumm, J. S. (2006). Reading assessment and instruction for all learners. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Seidel, R. J., Kett, A. L., & Perencevich, K. C. (2007). From principles of learning to strategies for instruction: With Workbook companion : a needs-based focus on high school adolescents. New York: Springer. Sigafoos, J., & Green, V. (2007). Technology and teaching. New York: Nova Science Publishers. Whitney, C. S., & Hirsch, G. (2000). Helping gifted children soar: A practical guide for parents and teachers. Scottsdale, AZ: Gifted Psychology Press. Read More