When I think of Child Development

"Children must be taught how to think, not what to think." -Margaret Mead


I love this quote because, most of the time children are sometime taught what to think and how to do certain things. We as educators, should be teaching them how to think during certain situations. We have to realize that each child as their own way of thinking and have their own way of doing certain things.


I want to thank my student adviser, this year hasn't been a great year for me, due to my house catching on fire. I'm thankful that my family wasn't home at the time, but we lost everything. My adviser has been keeping in touch with me every since this has happened, giving me encouraging words or just asking how everyone was doing.  

Testing for Intelligence

I think every child should be assessed in school. This will give the teacher a synopsis of where the student stand. This will let the teacher know, what the student know and don't know. I feel every student should be assessed at least twice a year; so they can keep track of the student progress.



 The Chinese education system consists of six years of primary school, three lower secondary, and three upper secondary school. At the age of 15, they have the option of leaving school or go to a upper secondary school.All students attend an academic lower secondary school, at the end of which they take a locally administered entrance exam for upper secondary school. Depending on the results of this exam, they may enter an academic or a vocational upper secondary school, or they may choose to end their formal education.  Chinese students receive formative assessments throughout their education. These typically take the form of year-end or term-end tests as well as casual assessment from teachers. They are also required to take graduation examinations at the end of primary, lower secondary and upper secondary school, in addition to the entrance examinations for the next level of schooling.




http://ncee.org/what-we-do/center-on-international-education-benchmarking/top-performing-countries/shanghai-china/shanghai-china-instructional-systems/

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

Although all of the stressors can have an major impact on a child's development,I chose the stressor, violence. One of my best friends, Miracle, parents were in a very violent relationship. Her dad used to beat on her mother almost every night. If you were on the outside looking in, you would've thought they were the perfect family. One day Miracle came to school with a bruise on her face. The teacher asked, what happened to her face and the tears begin to fall. The teacher then, called the guidance counselor to the classroom and they took her to the principal office. I started to get worried, when I seen her sitting the office with her mom. After that day, Miracle didn't come to school for a week. I called her everyday, but I never got an answer. About a month later, she contacted me and told me that she and her mom had moved to Atlanta, Georgia. I was so excited to hear from her. I finally asked her, why did she move. That's when she told me her dad used to beat on her mom and sometimes he would hit on her to. After she told the story, I started to think that's one of the reasons why, she was making the grades she was making. Miracle used to make first honor roll every nine weeks and all of a sudden, she started making C's and sometimes D's on her report card. I should've known something was going on with her. Miracle and her mom was so excited to get away from that situation. 

One country that I would like to learn more about is India. I love to learn about the third world countries. We seem to sometimes look at those countries as poor countries in the world. But they're so much more than that. One stressor that I chose that affects a child's development in India is malnutrition. In India, child malnutrition is responsible for 22% of the country's burden of disease. Levels of malnutrition have declined modestly, with the prevalence of underweight among children under three falling by 11% between 1992/93 and 1998/99. Although, levels of under-nutrition in India declined modestly during the 1990s, the reductions lagged far behind that achieved by other countries with similar economic growth rates.Under-nutrition, both protein-energy malnutrition and micro-nutrient deficiencies, directly affects many aspects of children's development. In particular, it retards their physical and cognitive growth and increases susceptibility to infection and disease, further increasing the probability of being malnourished. Under-nutrition also affects cognitive and motor development and undermines educational attainment; and ultimately impacts on productivity at work and at home, with adverse implications for income and economic growth. Micro-nutrient deficiencies alone may cost India US$2.5 billion annually (Gragnolati, Sheka, Gupta, Bredenkamp, Lee, 2013).

. Gragnolati M, Shekar M, Gupta MD, Bredenkamp C, Lee Y. India's Undernourished Children: A Call for Reform and Action. [Last accessed on 2013 Feb 12]. Available from: http//www.worldbank.org/hnppublications .