When I saw the blog post for this week I was excited to talk about this. When I first started working in this field I was at a school that firmly believed in using an assessment tool for the children. I was new and didn't know anything about assessments. I was told that I had to take anecdotal notes on the children and write my notes on a chart. What in the world is a anecdotal note? I had to learn all about it in 5 minutes. As the year progressed the notes became easier. I felt like I was always playing catch up with my notes. Working in an infant room is constant motion all day. I didn't have time to write notes. We had parent/teacher conferences twice a year and the assessment charts were helpful and the parents always enjoyed seeing them. So much time was put into doing them that I sometimes feel that I missed out on one on one time with the babies.
I just started my second year at a new school. The school I am at now is a Reggio Emilia inspired school. I quickly learned that the mention of the word assessment was like the Black Plague. I remember our first staff meeting and I asked what assessment tool they used and the tone of the room changed immediately. As I start my second year, I can honestly say that I haven't really missed using the assessments. My focus has solely been on the children. We are able to have more experiences and I am able to sit back and observe. Reggio schools spend a lot of time focused on documentation and so I take a lot of pictures. When I go back through these pictures, I see things that I did not see when I was sitting right in front of them. I have also learned trough these pictures that I am still able to assess the children in my classroom. I am glad that i have my background with an assessment tool, but I am enjoying this new process a lot more.
Education in Japan
My best friend recently moved back to the U.S. after teaching english in Japan for 2 years. I asked her if she used an assessment tool with her children. "When assessing my adult students it was on a one on basis. I would sit down with the student and their Japanese teacher and we would go over their strengths and weaknesses in regards to learning English. For my young students I was able to talk with them 2-3 times a week about their progress. I had formal meetings with their parents every 3 months with Japanese translator so that we could communicate openly about how their child was doing" Those were the words of my friend Shana-Gay Jones.
After my conversation with her I was interested in the traditional schools in Japan.
The National School Curriculum
The elementary school curriculum covers Japanese, social studies, mathematics, science, music, arts and handicrafts, homemaking and physical education. At this stage, much time and emphasis is given to music, fine arts and physical education.
The middle curriculum includes Japanese, mathematics, social studies, science, English, music, art, physical education, field trips, clubs and homeroom time. Students now receive instruction from specialist subject teachers. The pace is quick and instruction is text-book bound because teachers have to cover a lot of ground in preparation for high-school entrance examinations.
High schools adopt highly divergent high school curricula, the content may contain general or highly specialized subjects depending on the different types of high schools.
Elite academic high schools collect the creme de la creme of the student population and send the majority of its graduates to top national universities.
Non-elite academic high schools ostensibly prepare students for less prestigious universities or junior colleges, but in reality send a large number of their students to private specialist schools (senshuugakko), which teach subjects such as book-keeping, languages and computer programming. These schools constitute mainstream high schooling.
Vocational High Schools that offer courses in commerce, technical subjects, agriculture, homescience, nursing and fishery. Approximately 60% of their graduates enter full-time employment.
Correspondence High Schools offers a flexible form of schooling for 1.6% of high school students usually those who missed out on high schooling for various reasons.
Evening High School which used to offer classes to poor but ambitious students who worked while trying to remedy their educational deficiencies. But in recent times, such schools tend to be attended by little-motivated members of the lowest two percentiles in terms of academic achievement.
"The teaching culture in Japan differs greatly from that of schools in the west. Teachers are particularly concerned about developing the holistic child and regard it as their task to focus on matters such as personal hygiene, nutrition, sleep that are not ordinarily thought of as part of the teacher's duties in the west"(www.education-in-japan.info/sub1.html).
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