First Former Buddy Club President

[Image Description: Picture of a classroom ]     There are many different types of standardized tests as part of the Pennsylvania state and states' systems of assessment in schools. During this past school year, I completed my student teaching in a first grade classroom at Saint Cecilia Catholic School (SCS) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At SCS, only the second through eighth graders take the TerraNovas. The TerraNovas are a group of standardized achievement tests in the United States used to evaluate the academic achievement of students in K-12. Students who take the TerraNovas are assessed in the following areas: reading, language arts, vocabulary, spelling, mathematics, science, social studies, and other areas. SCS' administration made the decision that their first graders would not be required to take the TerraNovas because they did not view this as being developmentally appropriate. Instead of standardized tests, my first graders took formative and summative assessments ...

[Image Description: Picture of a classroom ]   There are many different types of standardized tests and diverse controversial opinions about standardized tests. Typically, public schools use their standardized tests for funding while private schools use them to assess each student's academic and functional skills. For example, during my time of doing my Field Experience at the Bryn Athyn Church School in Bryn Athyn, PA, my third graders took the Iowa Assessments back in April. The third graders are assessed on the following skills when taking the Iowa Assessment: Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Spelling, Capitalization, Punctuation, Usage and Expression, Math Concepts and Estimation, Math Problem Solving and Data Interpretation, Math Computation, Social Studies, Maps and Diagrams, Reference Materials, Word Analysis, and Listening. In addition, when I was in first through third grade, my peers and I had to take the Terra Nova exams. When I moved to Murray Avenue School, w...

[Image Description: "'Every child deserves a champion - an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can be." -Rita F. Pierson" in center-aligned bold black text. There is also a light yellow stars and a pale blue background. ] CONTENT WARNING:  I would like to mention that I am not a psychologist or therapist. All content posted on disability advocate/teacher influencer page is for educational purposes with no intent to provide any professional services. Social media should never be used as a substitute for mental nor medical health care advice. If you suspect that you or your child are experiencing any mental health concerns, it is okay to get help. I highly recommend seeking help from a psychologist, therapist, and/or other professional who is qualified to do so. When I was taking my Observing and Recording Behaviors of Young Children course at Bucks County Community C...

Originally posted on March 2, 2019 on Facebook Notes on my Facebook page When I was taking my Observing and Recording Behaviors of Young Children course at Bucks County Community College, I had to write a research paper about observing young children. The prompt was to discuss the purpose of assessment, assessment strategies, observer skills, assessment methods, the importance of confidentiality, and my conclusion about the importance of observation to the assessment of young children. Since the information in this essay can be very beneficial for young children in the disability community, their families, and observers in the education or psychology field and certain types of assessment are used for assessing children in the disability community, I thought that this research paper would be beneficial to upload as a blog post. CONTENT WARNING:  I would like to mention that I am not a medical doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, and/or therapist. All content posted on disability advo...

Originally posted on March 7, 2020 on Facebook Notes on my Facebook page CONTENT WARNING:  I would like to mention that I am not a psychologist, psychiatrist, or therapist. All content posted on disability advocate/teacher influencer page is for educational purposes with no intent to provide any professional services. Social media should never be used as a substitute for advice about development. If you have any questions about your own or your child's development, it is okay to ask questions about this. I highly recommend asking a psychologist, therapist, and/or other professional who is qualified to do so.      When I took the Intro to Psychology course at Bucks County Community College, I had to write an essay about the Multiple Intelligences Theory. As many of you know, I always post my relatable essays as blog posts, and I finally got around to posting this one. The Multiple Intelligences Theory invented by Howard Gardner shows that everyone has different abilit...