When I think of Child Development

I love this quote, it makes me stop, think, and often change how I handle a difficult behavior. 

This is so true, I see this in myself, my kids, and I think of this as I am teaching.  

Relationships are so important for all of us.  I try to have a positive relationship with all of the kids in my class, the better the relationship, the better the learning and the outcome. 

Thank you to all my classmates for your help and support, 2 classes down, we got this.

Testing for Intelligence

This is a topic  with a lot of debate.  Truthfully, I hate standardized test, I hate seeing what it does to my kids.  My daughter Evie is in third grade, and her class took the Air test last week.  The kids have to pass it to pass third grade in Ohio, and the teachers told them this!  She already has anxiety issues, and of course this put it in overdrive.  She cried and had panic attacks over what happens if she doesn't pass.  The stress was too much for an eight year old, and probably made her do poorly. We prayed about it and asked God to calm her and help her to do her best, we talked about how I would love her no matter what, and for her to just do her best.
What will this test show? It doesn't show how big her hear is, how she likes to volunteer at the community center and serve dinner to homeless on Friday nights. It does not show what a great dancer she is, or how her smile can light up a room.
My first grader reads on a third grade level, his DRA score is actually higher than his sister's, however, he has ADHD and cannot sit for two hours to take a test. His test scores are usually low because of this. Standardized test do  not show us anything but whether or not a child is a good test taker.
 What way should children be assessed? I believe in an holistic approach to education, this is one of the reason why I love teaching for Head Start. Would it be possible for elementary schools to take this approach? Instead of test to prove a child can do grade level work, a portfolio for a selection of what they have done.  For example, book reports, art projects, pictures of a music performance, DRA scores, etc.
What if there were some type of assessment that we could see what type of intelligent they had. ( I am thinking along the lines of Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence.)  For example, children who test high in body kenistic are grouped together, that is used as the base for teaching them, and their assessments are given with this in mind.  This takes a lot more planning and time than standardize test, but aren't children worth it?
For the international piece I decided to research Belize. In Belize, most public schools are ran by the Catholic church.  Most of  the schools do not go by grades like we do (k-12th), instead they have forms that go up to 6th form which is jr. college.   Education is free up to age 14, however families are expected to pay for uniforms and books which can cost $3,000 US dollars. High school cost ranges from $20 US dollars to $1,000 a month plus the cost of books and uniforms. Most of Belize families cannot afford this, and many children never finish primary school. There are government programs to help needy families, but it is unavailable to most families unless they have connections. Belize City has good schools with educated teachers, however in the south, most teachers are uneducated and have very limited supplies. one  out of two children in the south will finish primary school, (Belize.com, n.d.).
Resources
https://www.belize.com/education-in-belize
http://www.mybelize.net/education-in-belize/

Stress on Children's Development

For this topic I picked poverty.  I grew up dirt poor, up a holler in Appalachia. My days were filled with frog giggin', shooting squirrels with a bb gun, fetching water from the crick, and spending sun up to sun down in roaming the forest behind our trailer.  The only time I put shoes on was for church on Sun., until I started school.
I do remember being hungry a few times when my dad used our food stamps to buy beer and my mom refused to ask for help. I started hiding little Debbie cakes that my papaw would give me for these occasions. I would also make up some reason to walk down the road to my grandparents house knowing that they would ask me to stay for dinner.  When I left the holler at the age of 18, I swore I would not be back and my kids would not endure life like this.  Funny how I look back with fond memories and hearing Country Roads on the radio often makes me cry.  Any ways, back to the topic.
I now stock up cans, clip coupons, and have money put back just in case. I also struggle with my weight as I cannot stand to see food wasted and eat more than I should with the excuse you never know when something bad is going to happen. Our church operates the main food bank in our small town and I try to volunteer there when I can, and teach me kids to help other as much as they can.  I also teach for Head Start and I am the teacher with the list of all the food banks/ pantries with their contact info and criteria in our county and the surrounding counties.  I cannot stand to hear of a child being hungry.

The country that I picked is Haiti, again.  I know that clean water is an issue, so I am assuming that poverty is as well.
Before the earthquake of 2010, Haiti had  1.9 million people in need of food assistance.  Since 2010, Haiti is now the poorest country in the world with a poverty rate of 77%. Only 50% of the country has access to clean water. "Only fifty percent of children living in Haiti are able to go to school, while 30 percent of those only progress to the fifth grade. As a result, half of Haitians are illiterate. Without a proper education, the people are unable to break free of the cycle of poverty," (The Borgen Project, 2015). This is extremely heartbreaking to me, and I wonder what is being done to help these children?
The Borgen Project list 30 ways to help with the top 3 being email congress, call congress, and donate. They list several ways that ordinary people can get involved and help which I think is awesome.
World Bank gives advice on  what should be done. "To combat poverty and inequality in a sustainable way, policies should focus, alongside strong economic growth and better governance, on investing in people; boosting incomes and opportunities; and protecting the poor and vulnerable from shocks," (World Bank, n.d.).  I was unable to find proof that this is being done. What I can find are small organizations usually affiliated with a church are doing what they can, but  the government is not doing anything.  I hope this changes soon for these children.
References
The Borgen Project. (2015). The Top 5 Facts about Poverty in Haiti. Retrieved fromhttps://borgenproject.org/top-five-facts-about-poverty-in-haiti/
The World Bank. (n.d). Investing in People to Fight Poverty in Haiti.