So... you just finished filling out the 'Where Am I Now?' scale. If you are anything like me when I first started preschool, I had some adjustments to make. Preschool certainly wasn't the first grade I was used to. The expectations weren't the same, the children weren't the same...so really the way of assessing should also- not be the same.

If you have spent some time in public education or time in education classes in college, you may be feeling the pull of traditional assessments. Looking at what learning targets your students have and have not mastered, filling out report cards and talking to parents about where their child is succeeding and failing. If this all sounds pretty familiar, most likely you are looking at your students in a 'cognitive child' light. It certainly seems to be the norm when it comes to assessing children and collecting data. But, for our youngest of learners- is it the right way?

I was able to gain a fresh new perspective when I changed jobs and started working at a play-based preschool. I really had to take a step back and re-evaluate how I assess students. What my mind had been trained to do did not align with what we were doing with our child-lead, play-to-learn environment. I wanted to jump in, start assessing children with some drill and answer questions. But, as the class was engaged in center play, drill and answer just didn't feel right. So, I started observing. Wow, was I observing some amazing things. One child was ordering the blocks by size to create a really tall tower (he could seriate), another was cutting a piece of paper into tiny little pieces, she was even holding the scissors correctly and everything (she could cut and had proper hand/finger placement). The observations that I was making were going on and on. It was like my pencil and camera couldn't keep up.

It hit me like a ton of bricks- I didn't need a drill and answer session to see what my students were learning, I just needed to observe my students in their natural environment -play.

What was even more eye opening was that not only was I seeing a boy seriating blocks, I was also watching him protect his block structure and yell at anyone that came near it. That little girl cutting so lovely, I also got to see her take all those pieces she cut and glue them onto a piece of paper (using just a dot of glue, mind you). I learned more about the little boy than just that he could seriate, I also learned that I needed to help him learn how to positively interact with peers and communicate effectively. That little girl, I learned she has some great fine motor skills that also allow her to use a glue bottle, something I would not have known if she just had cut an assessment and moved on.

As a result of seeing my students with a 'whole child' lens, I have found that I know so much more about my students now (only a 2 day a week class) then when I ever did teaching first grade (where I had my students everyday).

It truly is amazing what a fresh perspective can do.