Assessment Day

You might be wondering, why on earth would I be giving AB a test?!?!  Well, let me start by talking about the importance of an assessment.  I feel they are a vital component to the learning process.  Assessments tell a teacher, what did the students learn and how effective was I, as a teacher.  Then, I know where I need to go, depending on the outcome of the tests.  Do I need to reteach to the class or a select few?  Do I need to teach the concept in a different way?  Can I go on to the next lesson?  In AB's case, I do a lot of informal assessing, through observation.  I don't keep a running record or anything of that sort, because I only observe her.  Obviously, if I had several children, I would need to.  How else would I be able to keep everything straight? LOL.

So yes, today I did a formal assessment on AB.  I was testing to see if she could name and identify the upper case letters, numbers 1-9, 13 different shapes, 10 colors, and lower case letters.  I did this a couple of months ago and wanted to see her growth.  Which is what assessments can also show.  AB is a few weeks shy of two years old.  I did not pressure her to do this.  In fact, we didn't do any lower case letters and did not identify any upper case letters.  She said, "all done" when I presented them to her.  So that was fine.

Was there growth?  Absolutely!  I was pleased with the results.  What will I do with this information?  Honestly, nothing.  I wanted to know the exact letters, numbers, shapes, and colors that she knew and didn't know.  I will continue to go about our learning in the same way as we already are.  Do I expect her to master all of these things at the age of 2?  No, I do not.  Do I expect her to have all these mastered by the end of Kindergarten?  Yes, definitely.

I will tell you that the things I assessed today, are the little things to me in the grand scale of what I'm trying to accomplish.  Those are just easy things to assess in a more formal way.  My big  goal for her, is that she have a love for learning, exploring, and trying new things.  That she will be kind to others and have a sense of independence and confidence.  And yes, I feel as though I have observed these things.  And as of right now, she does have all of those qualities.  Except for trying new foods =)

You also might be wondering the results from the tests I did today.  I would rather not put those results on here.  I never want another parent to say "my child can't do that, what's wrong with them?" or a parent to question themselves, thinking I'm not a good parents because my child isn't do that.  I stated previously, all children learn differently and at their own pace.  I will be happy to share the results privately, if any of you want to know.