Tim Brown

Child Study
SCED 499

Observational Notes (Mentor)

1. Actions and context of those actions (include specific examples like shouting out in class,
slouching in chair, falling asleep, etc.):
 With the exception of his head constantly being down, there are no other negative
behavioral outbursts
2. Words and context of those words (be specific about what he/she said and the situation):
 Generally doesn’t speak
3. Participation in class (specific examples like never raising hand, turning in their
homework, not trying unless prompted):
 Student does not participate in class unless prompted
 Assignments are mostly turned in on time but are often lacking one or more important
details or are missing entire sections
 When he enjoys a topic, his writing improves but his participation does not
4. Interactions with teacher and classmates (specific examples like always writing notes to a
classmate, not looking teachers in the eye, insulting a particular student)
 Seems to be liked by all students
 Has 2 friends in the class that he spends the most time with, both sit in his general
area
 Never looks adults in the eye
 Will participate and talk to classmates occasionally but for the most part keeps to
himself with his head lowered
5. Performance in your class (specific examples like quality of work, grades on particular
assignments, etc.)
 Maintains a low B average
 Classwork is much better than homework
 Enjoys reading assignments
Observational Notes (Teacher other than mentor)
1. Actions and context of those actions (include specific examples like shouting out in class,
slouching in chair, falling asleep, etc.):
 Head is down in other classes as well but still the only behavioral problem that he
has
2. Words and context of those words (be specific about what he/she said and the situation):
 Similar in other classes where the student does not talk unless prompted to by a
classmate or teacher
 3. Participation in class (specific examples like never raising hand, turning in their
homework, not trying unless prompted):
 Participation is limited in other classes as well
 Very consistent behavior across the board in all main content classes
4. Interactions with teacher and classmates (specific examples like always writing notes to a
classmate, not looking teachers in the eye, insulting a particular student):
 When he is not near one of the two students he is the best of friends with, he shuts
down socially. He has the ability to socialize with other students if he needs to
when working with a partner or group, but largely prefers to remain quiet and by
himself
5. Performance in your class (specific examples like quality of work, grades on particular
assignments, etc.)
 Fairly average across the board with B’s and C’s

School Based Personnel Notes

1. In what capacity do you work with this student?
 Teaching Assistant
 In each of the four main core classes with the students everyday
2. How long have you been working with this student?
 This year and last
3. What are your experiences with this student?
 The only way to really get him to do much is by developing a relationship with
him that makes him feel comfortable with you
 He shut people out after his father passed last year
 Some days are impossible to make him do anything productive unless you sit
there and work through each individual step together
4. What are your thoughts on physical, social, emotional, or cognitive needs of this student?
 If the student has their emotional need from the loss of his father filled in any
capacity, it would benefit him in all other areas
 Can sometimes struggle to interact socially with others. Not in the sense he
doesn’t know how, but in the sense he doesn’t want to at all
5. What might I do better to serve this student in my classroom?
 Form a relationship with him. Being a guy and having the luxury of having three
adults in the room during instruction, close one on one work will only help him
6. Do you have any insight into the social and academic behavior of this student?
 He’s nothing if not consistent. He enjoys math more than the other subjects but
other than that is the same kid in each class you find him in
Conclusion
My student will go by the pseudonym Jeff Rogers with respect to his privacy as well as

the privacy of his family. This was a difficult situation to explore but a sobering one as it related

heavily with a friend of mine that I no longer talk to. Jeff is a seventh grade student and is in the

lowest achieving group of four seventh grade core classes. Jeff travels with all the same students

to all of his core classes; social studies, science, language arts and math, as well as lunch. He is

in Ms. Abel’s first period after cougar time, which is more or less the only class that I’ve worked

with while at Fallston. Because this class is the lowest achieving, they have an additional hand

that also travels with them to all their core classes, referred to by the pseudonym Ms. James.

Having three adults in the classroom to monitor a maximum of 27 students on any given day

expands the ways that I was able to work with Jeff during instruction.

Jeff is a very quiet student and generally needs extra push to get an assignment done. He

is a middle of the road student academically in all of his classes but tends to prefer math class,

which dates back to elementary school. The first quarter of the school year is generally the worst

for Jeff, and he shows consistent improvement over the entire school year. Additionally, he

requires significant push to actually complete worksheets or activities in all of his classes, not

just the one I’ve observed. My interactions with him in the social studies environment are almost

completely one on one. The class generally has at least one activity each class that has a

collaborative component that has them work with their elbow partner, the student sitting next to

them. Jeff doesn’t sit directly next to someone so he usually works by himself, which entails

putting his head down after writing five words. So during these activities I would work with him

to get the worksheet or activity completed within the time frame. The one on one opportunities
that I had with him improved his work dramatically, mainly because I was encouraging him to

continue to write until each part of the question is answered.

Jeff is on the autism spectrum to some degree, although he is high functioning, both

academically and socially, when on his medication. Jeff’s mother is a teacher at the school and

has been for the last year. He is one of three kids. His younger brother is eleven and his younger

sister is seven. His sister is now in remission from leukemia that she’d been battling for some

years. Jeff’s father lost his life to an overdose last year and has since been quieter and more

disconnected from everyone else. He was very close with his father even though his parents were

going through a divorce and he spent a majority of his time with his grandparents. According to

his records, after his father passed his grades plummeted and his attendance did as well.

After speaking with other instructors, and educators, it was clear that the best way to have

a positive impact on the way he learns is by developing a relationship with him. He normally

says nothing to most people in the classroom except for the occasional short remark to one of the

three students he talks to on any kind of semi-regular basis. That being said, it was concluded

that since the possibility presented itself to work with him one on one that would be most

beneficial to him. The special educator emphasized the need for a close relationship with a male

figure. The void that Jeff had with the loss of his dad could never be filled, but that was an

important and necessary role that needed some attention none the less. The increase of one on

one opportunities and taking a slow approach to get him to open up were the essential

components to working with him.

Jeff’s case of a lack of a father figure in his life is unfortunately a more widespread

phenomenon that does have a lasting impact on the development of our students. There is

significant research that suggests “children do better in school when their fathers are involved in
their schools, regardless of whether their fathers live with them” (Stile & Ortiz, 1999). This

reading stresses the importance of fathers engaging with their children in as many ways related

to their education as possible including reading to them before bed and encouraging them to ask

as many questions as possible. Much like a mother-daughter connection, there is similar

importance in a father-son connection. While I could never fill that role completely, it is still

important that he has some kind of relationship with an older male figure. One of the more

striking things I’d heard in the classroom was one day in mid-November when the students were

entering the room and one of the students that is friends with Jeff said, “Hello Jeff’s dad.” An

innocent enough greeting but one that showed that I was making some kind of positive progress

that was helping Jeff along.

Working with a student that is experiencing drastic hardship outside of the classroom

requires a delicate approach that constantly challenges them in different ways. Students become

bored of doing the same activity frequently and their grades reflect that. In dealing with these

students that don’t participate in class and often spend most of their time with their head down,

we must be giving them a multitude of different learning activities. In addition to the

diversification of your activity portfolio, you must be constantly giving the student(s) feedback

to how they are doing. This helps build the relationship between student and instructor that

facilitates better learning (Bowering, Mills & Merritt, 2017). The increased relationship also aids

students in retaining academic content in the long run. Students are also more likely to notice and

positively reflect on the relationship they have with an instructor if they take that extra step to

truly get to know them. A combination of all the above strategies improved students time

management skills and testing anxiety, among other positive results. These are both strategies
that Jeff needs to improve on in order to be a better student and achieve his long term goals of

passing each class each semester.

In Jeff’s case, collaboration activities that can pair him with someone in the classroom he

is comfortable with are ideal. With students that are on the spectrum and even some not on it,

social connections can be a very difficult skill to become good at. In school, social interactions

are a regular occurrence and any way those skills can be developed further using activities in the

classroom, should be pursued. The trick moving forward for Jeff will be trying to find other

kinds of activities that engage him in ways that collaboration does. This may include a new

emphasis on technology or more organizational heavy, instead of content heavy, note taking

methods. The important thing moving forward is presenting him with constant challenges and

new activities that engage him in different ways outside of the one on one work that we have

been accustomed to.

This micro level look into the life of a student has provided me with a number of tips that

I will be able to use moving forward to hopefully provide a better experience for my students.

Building relationships with the students is so much more important than we as instructors

sometimes realize. Since it is impossible to know every detail of each of our students’ lives, we

never truly understand what that connection you may have with a student really means to them.

At risk students that are lacking critical relationships with parents or guardians are one of the

most vulnerable sub groups of students and if the teacher can help fill that void in any way, we

should make every opportunity to. In addition, monotony is a great way to ensure the students

never get that extra level of motivation to get anything done or achieve something new.

Diversification is a key component to ensuring better learning for every student, not just the ones

that are struggling as it is. And perhaps the most important tip is empathy. Your students are all
unique and each one is going through different challenges that they are trying to work through.

They are at a vulnerable time in their lives and school can be used to be a get-away or a

distraction in a positive way. Work for your students and don’t be afraid to want to build

relationships with them because you just never know how far something like that can go.
References

Stile, S. & Ortiz, R. (1999). A Model for Involvement of Fathers in Literacy Development with

Young At-Risk and Exceptional Children. Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 26

Bowering, E., Mills, J. & Merritt, A. (2017). Learning How to Learn: A Student Success Course

for At Risk Students. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and

Learning, Vol. 8