Running head: OBSERVATION TOPIC REFLECTIONS 1

Observation Topic Reflections

Heather Wallace

Ivy Tech Community College

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Observation Topic Reflections

Observation Topic #1: During an observation of children, cite in detail five examples of pro-

social behavior and five examples anti-social behavior that you witnessed during your observation time.

Be sure to give thorough examples of these behaviors and explain in great detail why you thought they

represented pro/anti-social behavior. This will require at least 10 different paragraphs (one paragraph

per example).

Location of observation: Staunton Elementary School

Date: March 24th, 2017

Students Age: 8 years old

Explanation for Location Choice: I chose this location because I had already been

working with these students for another class.

Theres this one girl named Autumn, who I would say has a very pro-social behavior she

exhibits perspective taking. By this I mean she can take any other students point of view, she has

seemed very easy going to me for being in the second grade. She works well with the other

students and if she is wrong she will admit to it and go back and fix it while listening to your

point of why it was wrong.

Theres also this other girl named Quwen in my class who presents anti-social behavior,

she doesnt have any communication skills. Quwen will walk up to you and just stare at you and

expect you to know what she wants. When the students are asked to get into groups she will walk

up to another student and look straight at them and not say anything then when they say they

already have a partner she is confused and doesnt know what to do then. She will walk around

the classroom confused like a lost puppy until the teacher tells her she needs to use her words.

Anne presents pro-social behavior and exhibits the empathy skill. I choose this specific

skill because she seems to feel another students emotions and tries to make it better. Anne is
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Quwen little side kick she is always by her side and if Quwen is having trouble and is frustrated

Anne will begin to get upset and look just as lost as Quwen is.

Caiden is a pretty strong case for anti-social behavior, he is one of the trouble kids in

the class. He doesnt exactly know how to treat someone nor does he understand that its not nice

to hurt others or himself. Caiden will sit at his desk and just hit his head against the wall or he

will just start punishing himself in the head. He has also gotten frustrated and pushed a student or

hit the teacher. He is typically separated from the rest of the students to prevent anyone from

getting hurt again.

Another girl in my class is Ashley, she is a very sweet girl who is very social. She gets

along very well with the rest of the class and is always available to lead a helping hand. She

takes other peoples point of view into consideration, typically her partner in the class, and will

work together to get to the correct answer.

I also have a boy named Larry, he is slow, he has been diagnosed with a form of autism.

Larry is very bad about communicating, and keeps to himself for most of the time. He has

however tried to get into a few groups while I was in the class, he will walk up to the other group

and stand their listening to what they are talking about. But instead of joining in on their

conversation he will just abruptly begin talking to them about what he wants to be talking about.

Elijah is a very quiet boy in the class but a very bright one at that. He is what I would

consider in the pro-social behavior group. He is always in a very good mood and is constantly

trying to help the other students in the class.

Jesus is a boy who has been an only child for the majority of his life, and now he has two

younger siblings who receive most of the attention. Due to this Jesus acts out a lot, in fact the

students were in the middle of taking a test on test day and he was talking, a little girl raised her
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hand and said that he had been talking to her. He had then stood up and started yelling that he

had not been talking and that she was lying and that he hated her. He was then in trouble and had

to sit at the teachers desk to finish his test.

Kole is a boy in class that has the reading level of probably a fourth grader! He takes a

book home every night to practice and will come back and read that book fluently. He has sat

down with me and has read a story to me and you can tell he practices they he will sit in the class

with another student who may not be as far along as he is and help them work on their reading,

by sounding out words and read the sentence.

Alex is another girl in my class that I would say she would show anti-social behavior.

Alex isnt quit at her grade level in the maturity ranking, she has begun to talk like a baby again

and acting out frequently. Alex doesnt consider other students point of view and will always go

with her answer whether it be right or wrong. She also doesnt seem to care about other peoples

feelings, she is still very shy but when she does speak and can be mean.

Observation Topic #2: Conduct an interview with a child. Create your own interview

questions (i.e. What is your favorite color?, What is your favorite thing to do here?, etc). At

least ten different questions should be asked during your interview session. Type this interview

stating the questions first, followed by the childs answers. Set up your interview as directed

below by using open-ended questions (DO NOT use Yes/No types of questions). Include an

introductory paragraph about the student you are interviewingset the scene in other words for

your reader (me)!

Location of observation: Staunton Elementary School

Date: March 14th, 2017

Students Age: 8 years old

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Explanation for Location Choice: I chose this location because I had already been

working with these students for another class.

I am sitting down with a student in the class I am observing. We are sitting at a group

table having a simple conversation while the rest of the class is having free time. The students

name is Mya, she is a very sweet and talkative girl and has always seemed to end up by my side

every time I come into the class. Mya is wearing a Frozen shirt and shorts, in the beginning of

march.

Interviewer: What is your favorite color?

Child: I really like blue but purple is probably my text to favorite color.

Interviewer: Who is your favorite princess? And why is she your favorite?

Child: My favorite is Elsa from Frozen, because she is very pretty and can freeze stuff

and because she is really nice.

Interviewer: What is your favorite thing to do while at school?

Child: I like to be the helper of the day, I like being in the front of the line and helping

my teacher whenever she needs it, I get to pass out papers and check lunches every

morning.

Interviewer: Do you have a favorite subject? And why is it your favorite?

Child: My favorite would be reading, but im not very good at it yet. I like it because I am

starting to be able to read books faster and on my own, but I am working on getting

better.

Interviewer: What is the coolest thing you saw someone do today?

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Child: Well Larry was walking around the room this morning, he walks of his tip-toes,

and when he went to stop he couldnt because he was going to fast and did almost a burn

out on the floor. I made sure he was okay but it was still pretty cool to watch.

Interviewer: If you could change one rule that your family has, what would you change?

Child: That I could eat more candy. My mom and dad never let me eat candy when I

want to so if I could eat it whenever I wanted id get as much as I wanted.

Interviewer: How would the world be different if animals could talk?

Child: That would be so funny could you imagine a dog talking to you? I think it would

be funny if animals could talk. But at least you could know what they were wanting.

Interviewer: Would you cheat on a test if you knew you would not get caught? Why or

why not?

Child: No I would never cheat. Even if I wasnt to get caught I would still no and I

would feel bad and guilty.

Interviewer: If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?

Child: Im not sure, maybe spend a day doing all the fun stuff I want to do. I would go to

the zoo or try and see what everyone else gets to do during the day.

Observation Topic #4: Identify and analyze societal issues facing todays children. In

other words, write what you think are major issues children today have to face in our current

society and how this issue(s) affects their development, cognition, social environment, self-

esteem, etc. What could possibly be issues in the future they may have to face? This reflection

needs to include details and examples!

Today there is so much more things out there that children have to deal with that even I

never considered when I was in school. Bullying is getting worse the day they dont only have
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the face to face bullying but now we have social media and kids get bullied on there. With

someone being cyberbullied now many more people can see what is being said or posted so now

there are more people who are laughing and making fun of her. Another thing children now have

to deal with is technology, kids will continue to get more advanced technology throughout the

years and this could be negative. I think this could be considered negative because kids will

begin to watch more television or playing more video games and get into trouble because they

are not outside playing, but how is it all their fault when the parents are the ones providing them

with these ne gadgets.