From elementary school, middle school, high school, and even when I finished college, I have dislike, what I really want to say is hate standardize testing. I am totally against standardize testing. From elementary to college I have never done well on standardize testing. I fear these type of test. I never scored well on these type of test. It takes me several times to pass them. It controls your whole day worrying about whether if you did well on the test or not. I personally think kids nor adult should be measured in what they know on these test. I believe that you can use observation to get what you need to know. A child or adult could be having a bad day and don't score will on the test. Also, some kids don't take the test seriously enough and will mark any letter that he or she think might be right. However, I personally think these types of test are bias.
Waldorf Education: The first Waldorf school was founded in 1919 to serve the children of employees at the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factoryin Stuttgart, Germany.
Pedagogy and theory of child development
The structure of the education
follows Steiner's theories of child
development, which describe three major developmental stages of
childhood, each having its own learning requirements, as well as a number of
sub-stages. These stages are broadly similar to those described by Piaget.
·
During the Elementary
school years (age 7–14), learning is artistic and imaginative, and
is guided and stimulated by the creative authority of teachers. In these years,
the approach emphasizes developing children's emotional life and artistic
expression across a wide variety of performing and visual arts.
·
During adolescence,
to meet the developing capacity for abstract thought and conceptual judgment
the emphasis is on developing intellectual understanding and ethical ideals
such as social responsibility.
Waldorf education realizes an
unusually and perhaps uniquely "complete articulation of an evolutionary
developmental K-12 curriculum and creative teaching methodology." its
underlying principles continue a pedagogical tradition initiated by Comenius,
Pestalozzi, and Herder Its methodology encourages collaborative learning.
[edit] Pre-school and
kindergarten: birth to age 6 or 7
Waldorf schools approach learning
in early childhood through imitation and example. Extensive time is given for
guided free play in a classroom environment that is homelike, includes natural
materials and provides examples of productive work in which children can take
part; such an environment is considered by Waldorf pedagogues to be supportive
of the physical, emotional and intellectual growth of the child through
assimilative learning. Outdoor play periods are also generally incorporated
into the school day, with the intention of providing children with experiences
of nature, weather and the seasons of the year. Oral language development is
addressed through songs, poems and movement games. These include daily story
time when a teacher usually tells a fairytale, often by heart.
Aids to development via play
generally consist of simple materials drawn from natural sources that can be
transformed imaginatively to fit a wide variety of purposes. Waldorf dolls
are intentionally made simple in order to allow playing children to employ and
strengthen their imagination and creativity. Waldorf schools generally
discourage kindergarten and lower grade pupils being exposed to media
influences such as television, computers and recorded music, as they believe these to be harmful to children's
development in the early years; this is consistent with the UK National Literacy Trust
The education emphasizes early
experiences of daily, weekly and annual rhythms, including seasonal festivals
drawn from a variety of traditions. Though Waldorf schools in the Western Hemisphere have traditionally
celebrated Michaelmas
and Martinmas
in the autumn, Christmas in winter, Easter and May Day
in the spring, and St. John's Day in summer, such schools are now incorporating
an increasingly wide range of cultural and religious traditions, and schools
located where Jewish, Buddhist, or Islamic traditions are dominant celebrate
festivals drawn from these traditions.
Elementary education: age 6/7 to 14
Waldorf elementary
school classroom
In Waldorf schools a child
normally enters elementary education when she or he is nearing or already seven
years of age. The elementary school centers around a multi-disciplinary
arts-based curriculum that includes visual arts,
drama,
artistic movement (eurythmy), vocal and instrumental music, and crafts.
Throughout the elementary years, students learn two foreign languages (in
English-speaking countries often German and either Spanish or French).
Throughout the elementary years,
concepts are first introduced through stories and images, and academic
instruction is integrated with the visual
and plastic arts,
music
and movement. There is little reliance on standardized textbooks; instead, each
child creates his or her own illustrated summary of coursework in book form. The
school day generally starts with a one-and-a-half to two-hour academic lesson
that focuses on a single theme over the course of about a month's time and
generally begins with an introduction that may include singing, instrumental
music, recitations of poetry, including a verse written by Steiner for the start of
a school day, and practice in mathematics and language arts.
An objective of most Waldorf
schools is to have a single teacher loop
with a class throughout the elementary school years, teaching at least the
principal academic lessons; Waldorf teachers have been cited for their level of
personal commitment to their pupils.
Waldorf teachers use the concept
of the four temperaments to help interpret, understand
and relate to the behaviour and personalities of children under their tutelage.
The temperaments, choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic, and sanguine, are thought to express four basic personality
types, each possessing its own fundamental way of regarding and
interacting with the world.
Waldorf elementary education
allows for individual variations in the pace of learning, based upon the
expectation that a child will grasp a concept or achieve a skill when he or she
is ready. Cooperation takes priority over competition. This approach also
extends to physical education; competitive team sports are introduced in upper
grades.
Secondary education
In most of the Waldorf schools,
pupils enter secondary education when they are about fourteen years old.
Secondary education is provided by specialist teachers for each subject. The
education now focuses much more strongly on academic subjects, though students normally continue to take
courses in art, music, and crafts.
Pupils are encouraged to develop
their own independent and creative thinking processes. The curriculum is
structured to help students develop a sense of competence, responsibility and
purpose, to foster an understanding of ethical principles, and to build a sense
of social responsibility.
Curriculum
Though most Waldorf schools are
autonomous institutions not required to follow a prescribed curriculum, there
are widely-agreed guidelines for the Waldorf curriculum, supported by the
schools' common principles. Government-funded schools may be required to
incorporate aspects of state curricula.
The Waldorf curriculum has from
its inception organically incorporated multiple intelligences. There are thus a
few subjects largely unique to the Waldorf schools. Foremost among these is Eurythmy,
a movement art usually accompanying spoken texts or music which includes
elements of role play and dance and is designed to provide individuals and
classes with a "sense of integration and harmony".The arts generally
play a significant role throughout the pedagogy and Waldorf education's unique
integration of the arts into traditional content has been cited as a model for
other schools.
Waldorf schools generally
introduce computers into the curriculum in adolescence.
Looping
In the elementary schools, the
homeroom teacher normally is expectedteach a group of children for several years.
Traditionally teachers are expected to remain with a class from first through
eighth grade, though an increasing number of schools are significantly reducing
the duration of the loop. Looping has both advantages in the long-term
relationships thus established and disadvantages in the challenge to teachers,
who face a new curriculum each year. Such stability also requires all parties
to maintain sustainable relationships, a frequently challenging task.
Reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf_education
Additional ideas, comments, suggestions, examples, and/or concerns related to
assessing young children
I would like to suggest that if you are pressuring young children into standardize testing please do not hold them accoutable. It will cost them problem late in life. Thanks.
