Children

“Children need the freedom and time to play.  Play is not a luxury.  Play is a necessity.”   ~Kay Renfield Jamison

Children grow and learn through play from the time they are born. They learn hand-eye coordination, they learn to respond and engage with others, and they learn cause and effect. Learning continues as the child continues to play. Their social, physical, emotional, and cognitive skills are greatly impacted by playing. They need to run, jump, skip, etc. in order to build their muscles and develop gross motor skills. Playing with other children helps children increase their vocabulary and can help build their self-esteem. Cognitive development is impacted because they use problem solving skills during play time. Play time is so valuable for a child’s development. They need the freedom to explore and play without someone telling them what to do and how to do it. I do think children need limits and there should be rules. If we constantly tell them what to play, then they are not getting to truly explore and learn from their choices and actions. Their learning is going to be beneficial if they learn it through cause and effect or trial and error. Those lessons are more meaningful and memorable.

http://www.joyofquotes.com/play_quotes.html

Assessing Children

            I think assessing children holistically means we should assess them emotionally, academically, and physically. Every child is different and they come from different situations. Understanding where the child is emotionally will make a difference in assessing the child academically. If a child has a low self-esteem, then he will be less likely to try. This could impact how the child performs on the academic part of the assessment. Knowing this information is going to provide the teacher with valuable information.  I feel it is important to assess the child and his/her growth. If we understand where the child is emotionally, physically, and academically, then a teacher can address the child’s individual needs to help the child grow in each area.  

            Until recently most test that were used to measure emotional intelligence were developed for adults. Studies have been done that use adapted versions of these test to measure the emotional intelligence (EI) of adolescence. A study performed in Australia in 2008 was used to see if a child's academic performance could be predicted based on the results of the EI test. Their results seemed to support the thinking that emotional and academic intelligences are connected.  This would suggest that based upon the results of an EI test given in elementary school then teachers could predict how well the child would perform in high school. If this information is accurate, it leaves a great opportunity for interventions to help the child. Further studies will need to be performed to validate the results found in Australia.  It will take several years to complete further studies because of the gap between their original test and their completion of high school. I believe based upon this information that it would be beneficial to the children to perform some type of EI test. I feel like this could also improve their social skills.

References:

Downey, L. A., Mountstephen, J., Lloyd, J., Hansen, K., & Stough, C. (2008). Emotional intelligence and scholastic achievement in Australian adolescents. Australian Journal Of Psychology, 60(1), 10-17