I will make notes during story time and write up my observation in a written report.
Ben and James finish tidying up last and join the class by sitting near the rear of the group. The sit next to each other, they sit so that there is a gap between them and the rest of the class. They pay little attention to the stories being read by Mrs E. They fidget and throw bits of carpet and scraps at each other. Mrs E splits them up. Ben starts to listen to a new book; “Don’t step on the Crack!” he reads along with the book and reacts accordingly. i.e. when there is a joke he laughs, when there’s a question asked he put his hand up to answer. The book is finished and everyone is giggling. Mrs E tries to settle them down so she can start to read a few paragraphs of their continuing story, which they have been reading since March. Mrs E starts to read “The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark.” Ben listens carefully and shuffles himself closer into the group so he can hear. James still sits fidgeting. He throws a tiny piece of plastic from the floor across and it hits Ben. Ben turns away from Mrs E and throws it back. He sits back again to listen to the story. James keeps throwing things at him, he ignores a few then turns, smiles and starts to throw them back. James is told off and sent to sit under the white board. Ben is told off and as soon as Mrs E begins to read again Ben gives her his full attention. At 3:10 the class get ready to go home. Both boys push and shove though the crowd of children in the cloakroom, and knock over Gary. Gary bumps his knee and says that “it hurts” but it is washed and he is fine. Both boys are told off and the parents are spoken too. Ben stands silently with his head down and ignores James pulling silly faces from the other side of the room.
Learning for me
In this observation I learnt that children can sometimes copy their peers. If James was ill or away Ben would probably have behaved well, without disruption. But James encouraged Ben’s bad behaviour and I learnt that due to this encouragement Ben was disruptive during story time. If an adult were to encourage Ben to work on a project or some class work, he would do it, if only for a moment. If left un-encouraged he would get distracted and stop working, this also happens, although less often, if he is sitting alone.
Mrs K and Mrs E have tried to encourage Ben into doing something long term rather than just for 10mins. The best way to deal with children like this is to split them up prior to the activity. I learnt to encourage exploration of books and reading. I think that in the future Ben should be encouraged to work alone or away from any distractions. If he has trouble with concentrating then he should sit on his own, not separated from the class but encouraged to work alone, to concentrate without distractions.
It is important in any childcare setting to practice anti-discriminatory and anti-bias practice. It is important to portray equal opportunities. Children are to be treated equally but at the same time their personal needs need to be taken into consideration.
Evaluation
In this observation I noted that both Ben and James distract each other. When working on his own or siting alone he pays attention to the task he is completing. Ben can get distracted easily. James doesn’t concentrate very hard and often gets bored or gives up on a task as soon as he feels there is a possibility of failing. When James gets bored he distracts Ben and misbehaves. When he “gives up” he distracts Ben by playing silly games with him. They giggle and talk at inappropriate times, which distracts other children from doing their work. Ben is 7 years old and is at the average developmental level for his age group.
Around age 7, with regard to speaking and listening, most children are able to:
- Listen carefully, Ben can listen carefully when he’s not distracted.
- Show they have thought about listeners by including details to interest them, he asks questions the stories that were read.
- Speak clearly, Ben some times stammers but this is only when he’s nervous. He is under going speech therapy for this.
- Tell stories, and repeat rhymes and poems
- Learn new words and use them in conversation
- Change how they talk to different people, in a range of situations. Ben knows how to talk to different people i.e. teachers and his friends and he can observe the situation and apply appropriate thought into the conversation.
Ben also gives his views about events or ideas in what he has read, he can read aloud and understand stories/information books. He can also use more than one way to work out the meaning of unfamiliar words. Ben knows how to act socially, he knows that it is important to respect others and get on with them. He knows that he should think about what's fair and unfair, right and wrong, he should behave appropriately but he doesn’t always do as he is supposed to.
J. Piaget sates that cognitive structures change through the processes of adaptation: assimilation and accommodation. Cognitive development consists of a constant effort to adapt to the environment in terms of assimilation (interpreting events in the present) and accommodation (events in a changing cognitive structure.)
In his stages of development Piaget states that children of the concrete operational stage can think in a logical way but their thinking depends upon concrete sources. Ben does this in most of the activities and tasks that he has to face. He thinks for him self if given the correct encouragement.
Bibliography
http://www.pediatrics.wisc.edu/childrenshosp/parents_of_preemies/index.html
Tassoni, P (2000). Diploma in Child Care and Education. Oxford, Heinemann’s.
