Running Head: CHILD OBSERVATION

Child Observation

Justin McEntire

Ivy Tech Community College

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I. General background Information

The subject, hereon referred to as James, was a very delightful 5 year old boy. He attends a

Catholic school, and is quite academically advanced. As I understand the school, since James is

attending a private school he can advance well beyond his grade on a per-course basis, but based

on the evaluation he was given he is easily above the typical 1st or 2nd grade year that he would

normally be placed in. James identifies a visual, verbal, kinesthetic learner, and overall strong

learner. James mother stated that her personal philosophy when seeking a teacher is finding

someone who loves her child and treats them the same way they would treat their own child.

In addition to school, James life involves a 7-8s schedule, wherein he is extremely active.

When asked about activities, James mother informed me that he is was involved in swimming,

baseball, soccer, science, and art. James was quick to point out that working with pens and

markers was his medium of choice. Kinesthetic seem to be his toy of choice, as his mother

pointed out that James loves Legos, Magna Tiles, and Transformers. He also mentioned that in

addition to his typical hobbies and sports that he enjoyed cooking, reading, and loved having

breakfast-dinner. His favorite books included the Hunger Games, BFG, Harry Potter, and

adventure books overall. Like a lot of young boys, James favorite foods included hotdogs, eggs,

oranges, and cake.

On the other hand, James has also lived through a few circumstances that most youth his age

do not think about. In addition to typical maladies like having basic allergies or using reading

glasses, James has also had to put up with a brain cyst in the past, missing tendons, and four

fingers on his right hand; However, that has not slowed the young boy down one bit. He was

more than happy to comply with a whole slew of physical activities, which will be spoken of in

more detail later.

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A few parting details include that James is currently raised by a single mother and has a half-

brother and a half-sister, both of whom get along fairly well with James. His mother is currently

working within two universities and runs her own business on the side. During the evaluation

James, his mother, and I discussed interview questions over the course of a couple hours in a

single day.

Overall, the observation revealed that he was a high functioning, intelligent, and friendly young

boy.

II. Physical and Motor Development

As previously mentioned, James is involved in all manner of sports and activities. It should be

pointed out that when James was observed I had printed the wrong evaluation sheets. The sheets

he completed with me were for a 7 and 8 year old. One of the first things that I asked James to do

was to show me his motor skills. After tossing a pen back and forth (with both of us missing it)

James mother ran him through a few paces. It was a tad surprising when James immediately

began performing general physical tests proving balance, coordination, and flexibility. In the end,

this saved a lot of time and possibly prevented an eye from getting poked out by the pen. James

was also quite proud of his drawings, both from school and from an activity book that I brought

along. These activities show that he has a strong grasp on fine motor skills. The drawings were

both within lines and without lines entirely, and in both cases the drawings bore decent

resemblance to their real world counterparts. Admittedly, the drawing he performed in front of

me was quickly created, with hasty lines throughout, but he was never informed that he was

taking place in some sort of competition and the drawing was easily identifiable as a sky, sun and

grass hills.
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In short, James not only performed at his age level, but well beyond. His physical abilities

replicated the standards for an 8 year old, and his fine motor skills demonstrated advanced

control as well. Unfortunately, it was impossible to evaluate much more than that, given how our

observation was performed at night. If there was daylight during the observation I could have

observed him performing a small plethora of sports. In addition a piano performance was also

impossible at the time, but his mother insured me that James was quite talented.

III. Cognitive Development

James was quite firmly in the concrete Piagetian stage. This is astounding because by the

books James should have been in the preoperational stage for a few more years. To determine the

stage James was in, his mother demonstrated three tests. First we took a handful of pencils that

were part of a set. The pencils were lined up equally in two rows. James was asked which line

had more pencils he quickly counted and deduced that the rows contained the same number of

pencils. The pencils were then moved apart in one row, but James was still able to determine that

both rows had the same number of pencils lined up. James then moved onto the second test

where he was shown two identical glasses with the same amount of water in each. James agreed

with that conclusion and then the water from one glass was dumped into a different glass. James

pointed out that there was still an equal amount of water because changing glasses did not alter

the amount of water in the glass. Lastly, James was asked if it was ever ok to steal, even if it

saved someones life. James told us it was not, but one time Batman stole to stop a bad guy. That

said, James told us the reason it is not ever ok to steal is that Jesus would not like that.

These tests all demonstrate a few concepts. James understands that movement does not

change quantity. This is a concrete concept. In previous years James would have either thought
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that something larger was more, or he would have had to check for himself. The other thing is

that James possesses concrete morality, but the reasoning that sometimes Batman does wrong

hints that he may be working on abstract ideas like that sometimes good people do bad things, or

that sometimes there is a greater good. Without reading too far into a comment, James

understands right and wrong in terms of black and white, which is expected in the concrete stage.

Furthermore, James was also able to understand abstract concepts like vin-diagrams, and the

concept that an object could belong to two groups. While I had to explain the concept he quickly

applied it to some scenarios I gave him. He has also started differentiating between concepts, like

that he is a boy, and that he should play with transformers instead of dolls. Non-direct items like

money also hold value to him, despite the fact that money is an in-between step for acquisition.

Being a part of a team, working with others, and doing what other boys do are all acceptable

forms of behavior that James participates in. James was also able to name specific subjects that

he enjoys more than others. For a child within a concrete stage, these actions are to be expected.

James understands that he is a part of a group, and that doing good or helping others is a part of

being in a social group. In this case, he understands that he is a boy and should do boy things, he

is an athlete and should help his teams win, and that if he wants to be a part of a group he might

have to do things he otherwise might not.

Finally, with regards to James language skills, James is quite competent. When I asked his

mother if he knew 4,000 or more words, she quickly said yes before asking James what an

advanced vocabulary word meant, only for James to quickly shoot back the answer. While I may

not have been able to confirm all 4,000 words, James was not confined to a limited vocabulary,

and he was capable of holding a normal conversation without any struggle.

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IV. Social/emotional development

By social and emotional development standards James seems to have progressed

appropriately. According to Eriksons stages of psychosocial development, James should be

coming to an understanding of what he is capable of, and should also be building an

understanding of self. According to the theory, this should last until he turns approximately 12

years old. James currently is allowed to decide certain things for himself, like how he dresses

himself. Additionally, James mother believes in a parenting style identified by firm rules, love,

high expectations, and praise appropriate to the task completed. These ideas are important

because Erickson states that if a child feels like he cannot accomplish goals that are set he will

lose motivation in the future. As observed, James seemed bold, sure of himself, and did not

question his ability to perform any of the things asked of him. That said, his mother informed me

that sometimes James can be unsure of himself, and that he can question his abilities from time

to time.

Additionally, James seemed to have at least a basic sense of others and individuality. His

mentality appeared to focus primarily from his point of view, but he also was able to speak about

friends and family. This also ties into his sense of belonging, since if he did not think about

others it would make inclusion in groups more difficult. From observation he seemed willing to

work with me, even though it did not immediately seem to benefit him. When I mentioned that

he was doing me a favor James immediately and honestly replied I know.

With regards to gender, James fully understands that he is a boy, and does not seem to

question that at all. He showed me his Transformers, told me about Batman, and informed me

that he would never play with dolls. According to James mother this developed over the last

year.
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Finally, James seems to have strong ties to his family. James informed me that he enjoys

seeing his siblings, and that he gets along fairly well enough with his peers. At this point James

seems to have a developmentally appropriate strong bond to his mother. James mother does have

a few problems with his teachers instruction style, which could easily negatively influence

James. Apart from that one aspect, James seems to have a perfectly normal social life for a young

boy.

V. Your Reactions, Recommendations, and Application

During my observation I was unable to see some of the accomplishments performed by

James. During these times I was forced to go off of the word of both James and his mother,

despite the rare confliction that provided. If this observation could be repeated I would have

performed the work weeks ahead of time, allowing for more physical and in depth assessments.

There would have been less group time and more one-on-one investigation. Given the restraints,

I believe that the information I gathered was factual, albeit without some significant prior

knowledge of James or his accomplishments it is hard to say what unintended bias may have

slipped through. It would have been interesting to run James through a watered down MBTI test,

as well as a learning style assessment. Regardless, I believe that enough information was

gathered to provide a detailed analysis. The whole process was admittedly rushed and performed

during one night just before James bedtime.

According to our texts, Since James is a fairly advanced learner it would be appropriate to

apply concrete styled strategies. These would include self-assessments, guidance, and

independent learning (Ellis, 2014). Overall there was nothing that I observed wrong with James

or his advancement, but developing self-regulation is important for students in his age range.

Additionally, his age group is highly focused on developing himself. It might require scaffolding
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in order for James to understand the importance of seeing things from another persons point of

view. Furthermore, this is a time where his successes and failures might alter who he is as a

person later on down the road. It will become more imperative as time passes to reassure that

while failure is not good, it is normal.

This observation was quite beneficial, since it provides the opportunity to evaluate based on

deduction. With this information I should be able to determine on a basic level what influences a

student, why they act a certain way at different ages, and how I can help them. This will be used

in future classrooms to help determine whether a student is self-regulating, or if they require

additional scaffolding and confidence to continue. Furthermore, I now have a general idea of

what to look for in 1st and 2nd grade students, which is the age range I hope to teach. Physical

actions may be the easiest to spot, but understanding mental barriers is a more pressing concern.

Overall I learned a lot from and about James, and teaching too.
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References

Ellis, J. (2014). Educational psychology developing learners (8th ed.). Pearson.