Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Yesica Diaz
EDU 220- 1005
11/29/2016
Diaz 1
The student chosen for this PEPSI Case Study is a 6th grade student at a public charter
middle school. His last name is Diaz and during this case study he will be referred to by only his
last name. Diaz is my eleven year old Mexican American brother. Diaz is the youngest of four
children; which is soon to change when his new sibling is born. I chose Diaz after observing him
at a family gathering and after asking permission from his mother. Diaz can be a very socially
outgoing child. He mingles very well with adults and can hold a good steady conversation. I
emailed one of his teachers to get an in depth look in his classroom behavior. His teacher
He is not however an average eleven year old. His short height and his spunk make him
an easy target to teasing at school. Diaz is fluent in English and has almost mastered the Spanish
language. Of the two languages the dominant one is English, so there are no language barriers at
school, or home. Diaz lives with his beloved dachshund dog, his mother, stepfather, nineteen
year old sister, and sixteen year old brother. Their home is located in Henderson Nevada and it
sits on a large plot of land. They have neighbors all around and Diaz knows many of them. Diaz
loves to play with the neighborhood kids, with his toys, animals, lemonade, video games and
being watching cartoons on Netflix. His favorite T.V. show is The Flash. Diaz does not like the
word no and is having a difficult time adjusting to mothers attempts to add structure into his
currently consequence-less life. Another thing Diaz is having trouble adjusting to be the thought
of not being the youngest child anymore. This is spilling over into his school life and his grades
Throughout this case study Diaz will be observed in two places: his home in Henderson
and my home in Las Vegas. He does not know that he is being observed because if he did it
might cause him to act differently. Instead he will be told about this after the fact.
Diaz 2
Physical Development:
Upon looking at Diaz you notice that amongst the neighborhood boys and even girls in
his age range he is petite. His height is below average of that there is no question. His height is a
mere 4ft and 11 inches. Rates of development can differ widely among normally developing
children and each child will differ in having a slow or fast development. You and I as adults
know this but this fact that plays no value in the eyes of 11 year old Diaz.
When playing with the neighborhood boys he takes a natural born leader position and
regardless of his small stature he commands without words a certain level of attention. He is very
charming with his neighborhood friends who often poke fun at his stature. Diaz quickly fires
back with clever remarks and jokes. Outwardly he seems to not be bothered by this playful
teasing. However after it continues you see him start to glare disapprovingly at the offender
saying things.
With his mother Diaz is very helpful often over excreting himself in trying to tell her
what to do and how. He means well but his pregnant mother often has to remind him that she
knows and is the adult. This is something normal and universally common, Piaget recognized
age 11 as the beginning of formal operational thinking. Because of his age Diaz is increasingly
more and more able to reason with more logic, he is less dependent on concrete examples. He is
able to relate to things even if they arent real experiences. An example of this is when his
mother is asking him if he is sad that he will no longer be the baby of the family. He responds in
a confidant tone and says, nope, it is just like when my older brother became the second to
youngest, he was just fine and so I will be too, plus I get to boss someone around now too!
Overall Diaz is developing in growth a bit slower than his peers but his cognitive
Emotional Development:
Like I mentioned earlier Diaz is very social and well liked amongst his friends. However
his emotions are something I got to observe a little more closely in the intimacy of his home
away from his peers. Diaz does surprisingly well at managing his personal feelings,
understanding the feelings of others and expressing himself. Many boys his age do not confide in
One instance that shows his emerging way of coping with responsibility is when his
mother is lecturing him about his poor math and science grades. She is telling him that if he does
not shape up he is going to have to repeat the sixth grade. His face flushes and it is easy to see
that he is not happy with that consequence. He begins to understand that there are consequences
bigger than getting grounded and his video games being off limits to him.
Another thing that Diaz has begun to do is dress himself. What I am referring to is his
style. Whereas before he was ok with his mother or older sister (whom doesnt live at his home),
showing up with a new sweater or top, he now prefers to choose his own garments. He now
strays from the cartoon t-shirts with SpongeBob on them and instead prefers polos and more
grown clothes. His idea is that like he says he doesnt want to look like a baby.
He is physically and emotionally becoming a preteen. The fact that he cares how others
perceive him ties into egocentrism. Its like there exists an audience that is judging his actions
and appearance. He wants to have the same style as his 16 year old brother and he often ask to
borrow his brothers things and if not that asks him for his opinion on certain fashion choices.
Diaz 4
Philosophical Development:
In this stage of development Diaz is also very noticeably active. One of the more notable
things is how much he likes his Netflix shows, not because he does watch a lot of TV but
because of what he infers from his favorite super heroes. The Flash is a show he is very into
When asked why he likes the flash so much he said, I guess because he can go back in
time and change things that happened to him as a kid and I think that so cool. This very simple
and straightforward answer is something that we can infer a lot from. He is developing his own
until this age he has always just simply accepted what was being taught to him. Now that he has
had so much change in his life in the last couple of months, you can see him questioning more
and more. This is something perfectly normal for him to do at his age. His mother often finds
herself explaining more and more things to her young son. He asks about the origin of life, why
we suffer and if god loves us so much then why do bad things happen to good people.
This is a good opportunity for mother and son to bond and Diazs mother has definitely
taken advantage of that. She sits with him once a week and together they study a publication
titled Questions Young People Ask, Answers that work. This is a Christian youth book that Diaz
enjoys very much. I got the opportunity to watch him and his mother have one of their weekly
sessions and he expressed that he liked the idea of being able to come to his own conclusions and
also being able to understand the why of his religion. Having these questions answers seems to
lessen his frustration of feeling out of the loop as he puts it. Over the past few Ive gotten the
opportunity to see Diaz develop his philosophical opinions and values more and more.
Diaz 5
Social Development:
We dabbled a bit in Diazs social life earlier in our discussion of his physical growth. The
two are very closely linked in this case. Diaz is a new middle schooler and wants his age to be
recognized; often responding to something his mother is saying with an annoyed I know. Erik
Erickson refers to this age as industry vs inferiority. Diaz is becoming more and more aware of
his own personality. Even though this phase is just beginning for Diaz he seems very sure of
everything and as if he will never change his mind. The fact that he feels like that is also
indicative of his emerging adolescence stage that will carry him from child into young
adulthood.
In this part of his development Diaz will need to learn how to interpret others points of
views and emotions. I was there to see his reaction of being told he would be getting bunk beds
and now rooming with his 16 year old brother. Surprisingly even though he gets along with his
older brother, he was upset. He angrily said that it wasnt fair that the soon to come baby was
getting his room. He argued that the baby didnt need a nursery and that he wouldnt move any
of his things out of his bedroom! Diaz will need to learn that situations dont always work out to
our advantage. He also needs to learn how to use his communication skills better and not just
explode and shut down. Another thing that he will need to learn is how to relate to the real world,
To do this he will need to develop his interpersonal skills more effectively with his
family. His problem solving skills also need some work, instead of just threatening things in
order to attempt and have his way he will need to understand that that is not the way to solve
problems. In conclusion his conflict resolving skills need to be more developed in due time.
Diaz 6
Intellectual Development:
Most kids this age will tell you that they dont like school but they like seeing their
friends, this is exactly what Diaz has said. He enjoys being social at school and he enjoys some
subjects. He likes working in groups but only if he gets to choose his team members. Keeping
Diaz engaged in learning is a difficult thing mentions his mother. There always have to be many
incentives offered and even then he might still decide to not try his best in some courses.
At this age a kid is moving into more abstract thinking they tend to focus more on issues
that are not necessarily associated with them. Diaz will need to develop this skill further.
When asked if he thinks his academics are important Diaz simply nods his head but also give a
slight shrug of shoulders. In his view he mostly hates school and there is nothing an adult can tell
him to change his mind because according to him adults dont understand because they dont
have to suffer in school like him! Even when told that adults at one point also attended school
just like him, he rebuttals with an, its different; they didnt have to deal with what I have to
deal with.
According to Diaz he has low grades because he hates school and the teachers are mean.
When asked if moving on to the next grade level was a motivator for him to improve he nodded
his head yes, almost reluctant to respond. He goes on to say, I know that I have to do better but I
just hate school so much so I dont want to try harder. Diaz thinking and reasoning are not to
par with what his mother would like but they to par with the average preteens his age. His
intellectual development is about average when comes to reasoning and being able to infer
consequences. Often times like in the case of Diaz, he understands some consequences but also
lacks the motivation to do anything to correct issues. As he grows older the disconnect between
Supplemental Materials:
Physical Development:
Growth chart to illustrate where Diaz is physically and where he end up according to his
percentile:
Diaz 8
Intellectual Development:
Some of Diazs grade shave improved in the past weeks, but there is still room for improvement.
Diaz 9
Recommendations for parents: Diaz an emerging teenager and this is something that can
be very difficult for parents to grasp. Diaz is going through such dramatic changes in all areas of
his development that it is easy for parents to be overwhelmed. It is important to remember that it
is normal for Diaz to be happy and bubbly in one part of the day and more sluggish in a different
part of the day. Diaz is at an age where self-seeking is common, he is trying to figure out who he
is and who he would like to become. Simple answers like because I said so will not aide him in
his search. Explaining things to him on an adult level will help him mature. There will be times
when he full comprehends and then other times when he wont but the important thing is to keep
trying. He wants to be recognized as older and part of this will call for his opinion. He will give
you his opinion whether you ask for it or not. It would be a smoother transition if you as a parent
did try, whenever possible to take his opinion into consideration. Id like to recommend that he
continue his weekly study of his youth book with either parent (some chapters are more father geared).
important to him like many of his other peers his age. An educators reassurance and acceptance
are two things that are very crucial to being able to get across to students in this age group.
Strong support from your behalf helps kids like Diaz develop further confidence in his abilities.
If Diaz knows he has his teachers support then he will continue to make health choices. This
does not mean that slacking behavior is to be allowed but it does call for a more sympathetic
attitude toward all the changes that a kid this age faces. Diaz also needs to be reminded of the
consequences that can follow him in the future. He also needs to be challenged to complete his
work. I say that this is a challenge because it is something that Diaz lacks some motivation in. As
a teacher you might already deal with and know many of these things but a good refresher now
References:
H. (n.d.). Childhood Milestones age 11. Retrieved December 17, 2016, from
http://www.webmd.boots.com/children/guide/childhood-milestones-age-11