Hannah Givens 1st Grade Arbor Elementary School
Hannah Givens
11/23/2021
ECE 402
Kid watching Part A: Children’s Background Information
How I collected the data
During my first day of field at Arbor Elementary School I was placed in Ms. Oster’s first grade classroom. The first day I introduced myself and walked around getting to know each student by asking questions about their assignments and then asked some questions about their personal life that connected with the activity. For an example, the students had to copy and write down a sentence with what their favorite things to do. A student would write down, “I like to ride my bicycle.” I said to the student, “WOW! How did you learn how to ride a bicycle! That’s so cool!” the student would reply, “My Auntie taught me how to ride a bike.” Then from there I would start making connections with the student with my personal life and the things I like to do without getting them distracted with their bell work. I have observed every day and made connections with the students on the days that I have attended Arbor Elementary School to see their friends, how they interact with each other, their hobbies, their culture at home and what things they like to eat. I would do this by taking anecdotal notes and having a list of names with me and putting something quick next to the name so that I can remember what kind of learner they are and how they interact with each other emotionally every day. I wrote down what the students were doing, observed how they were comprehending the material that was given to them and I took note on how they would intake the information that was given to them and wrote each reaction for each student.
The Below Grade Level Student is (Khloe Bonner) 1st grade
What I learned about
The student I observed name is Khloe Bonner (6)
Family
Khloe lives with her aunt, Sister (2), two Brothers (8 and 10), and Cousins (4 and 5). Khloe does not live with her parents.
Khloe’s active extended family members that she talks about is her grandma and her auntie because those are the caregivers in her family. Khloe’s mother comes around occasionally, but she is still in Khloe’s life. Khloe’s father passed away when she was an infant.
Khloe does not have any pets.
Khloe’s aunt helps her with homework when she can but according to Khloe, she does not have much time to help. When grandma comes around her grandma helps when she can.
Nobody in Khloe’s family went to college but everyone has graduated high school.
Culture
Khloe’s ethnicity is African American/Black
Khloe’s aunt is the caregiver of the family, Khloe says she rarely sees her because she works all the time including nights. Khloe’s grandma is usually home when she gets home from school, but her grandma also works as well.
Khloe’s neighborhood is in the inner city of Euclid, which is not a particularly bad area, but it is also not located in the safest area.
Khloe likes to spend time with her family, but she wonders where her mother is sometimes, When Khloe’s mom does come around it usually will be on the weekends when she does come around and spend some time with her, Khloe’s mother will drop items off and coming from Khloe it seems that she is trying to do the best she can to provide for her children.
Interests
Khloe’s interests and hobbies are playing with her barbies, playing with her sister, brothers and cousins. Khloe loves playing dress up with her sister and likes to show her grandma.
Khloe’s favorite TV show is Paw Patrol, Arthur, Peppa Pig and Bubble Guppies.
Khloe likes to play dress up and barbies with her sister and she likes to play with her brothers and cousins.
Khloe’s favorite game is goldfish.
Khloe does not travel because her family is busy.
Khloe reads in school but does not do much reading at home. Khloe likes picture books because she likes looking at the pictures that are illustrated in the book. Khloe loves to draw and make pictures. Khloe does paint and arts in crafts in school as well as playdoh.
School Interactions
Khloe’s friends are Paris, Damion, Aaryn, Bella and Laurenn.
Khloe’s friends’ favorite subjects are reading/language arts and Damion likes math.
From what I have observed, Khloe is quiet, and she does not talk a lot. Khloe does not participate in classroom activities and material because she cannot grasp the information. Khloe shoes signs of dyslexia because she does not write letters in order especially after they are modeled to her. Khloe usually messes with her shoes during reading or play along with her friends during class time. During classroom learning sessions (Language Arts) Khloe can grasp making vowel sounds and finding words out that are said out loud by the teacher, but she cannot write things down and cannot comprehend the material in front of her. With my time with her I found myself spending most of my time working on this specific student because it was hard for her to write her name, but the first task was for her to identify what her name looked like. I often had to draw words for her so that she could trace them, but she had no idea what the word or sentence said.
3. How knowing interests will help me plan lessons and activities for them.
The way knowing Khloe’s interest will help me plan lessons for her is by incorporating stories about siblings, cousins and brothers. I know that family is extremely important to her so I will create stories and problems in lessons that talk about family and where she can interact with her own family personal life and culture. I know Khloe learns best by movement so I will make sure that I play a game where she can collect her favorite things that she plays with at home that may be in the classroom and she can say what each item is and to sound out the word of each item, this will have a limit of five items.
The On Grade Level Student I Observed is (Dominic Maki-Rodgers) 1st grade
What I learned about
The Student I observed was Dominic Maki-Rodgers (7)
Family
Dominic lives with his mother and auntie
Dominic’s extended family members live in Texas which are his two brothers and his father
Dominic does not have any pets, but he mentioned that his mother always wanted a yorkie.
Dominic’s mother and aunt help with his homework at home, and they switch off, either Dominic does his homework as soon as he comes home, or he waits for his mother to come home from work to help him with his homework.
His mother has gone to college but during her last year she became pregnant with Dominic, his mother did graduate, and his aunt did graduate college.
Culture
Dominic is African American/ Black
Dominic’s mother and aunt both works, he says his mom and aunt both work at amazon, but his mother drives out to one that is further away from his home.
Dominic and his mother lived in Atlanta since he was born and they recently moved to Cleveland when he was six years old, he is now seven years old. Dominic’s father and brothers live in Texas, but he has not been there yet because its due to family funds, but he hopes to travel there soon.
Interests
Dominic’s hobbies are playing on his iPhone 8, playing basketball, going to the movies, going to the museum, drawing or playing football with his friends outside of school.
Dominic’s favorite TV Shows are Peppa Pig, SpongeBob, Super why, PAW Patrols and Amazing world of Gumball.
Dominic likes to play football, basketball and games on his iPhone 8.
The games Dominic like to play on his iPhone 8 is subway suffers, temple run, or jetpack run.
Dominic has gone to Florida, Atlanta, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio. Since Dominic has moved, he has not been out of state because of Covid-19 restrictions.
Dominic likes to read book at home with his mom and aunt, Dominic likes to read along with the teacher in school. Dominic loves to draw and create new things with paper (Paper Mache) and Dominic likes playdoh, but he does not like when it gets under his nails, so he loses interest fast.
School Interactions
Dominic’s friends are, Kateyn, Amauri, Taevion, Da’vion, cashmere and Paris.
Dominic’s favorite subjects are math but Paris and Cashmere like language arts.
Dominic pay’s attention in class but he likes a lot of attention. Dominic is almost like the class clown or main character in the classroom. Dominic likes to make people laugh and make people smile by complementing them or making them laugh. Dominic does move around a lot, but he also loses interest fast when lessons start to not make sense to him. Dominic likes to help the teacher out and likes to participate in lessons. When Dominic gets corrected a lot by the teacher or when he feels that he is not getting a lot of attention he starts to show emotion and has a fall out in which he cry’s or sits in silence. Dominic learns best by writing and visually looking at the lesson. Dominic’s favorite subject is math because he likes to solve problems, count and breaking number down.
How knowing interests will help me plan lessons and activities for them.
The way that will help me plan out my lessons and activities with Dominic is by movement. I know Dominic likes to move around and he likes playing sports. I will have a fun basketball game where each time I may ask him a question about a vowel, and he gets the answer correct he will try and make a shot at the basketball hoop. I can also tell that Dominic is a kinesthetic learner so movement will be one of the ways he will gain the content.
The Above Grade Level Student I Observed is (Aaryn Ashford) 1st grade
What I learned about
The student I observed what is above grade level is Aaryn Ashford (7).
Family
Aaryn lives with her mother, auntie and cousin (8).
Aaryn goes to see her cousins and grandma on the weekend. Aaryns father passed away when she was an infant.
Aaryn does not have any pets
At home Aaryn’s mother and aunt help her with homework as soon as she comes home, when she does come home, she comes home to her mother.
Aaryn’s mother and aunt both graduated college and work closely with Aaryn’s education.
Culture
Aaryn’s ethnicity is African American/ Black
Aaryn’s mother work for the government and Aaryn’s aunt works at amazon
Aaryn shares a room with her cousin, but she sleeps with her mother at night, Aaryn works on a schedule and likes to go shopping with her mother, auntie and cousin.
Interests
Aaryn’s hobbies are playing with her cousin, reading, spending time with her mom and doing her homework with her mom.
Aaryn’s favorite TV shows are SpongeBob, Peppa pig and my little pony.
Aaryn likes to play barbies with her cousin
Aaryn likes to play goldfish
Aaryn does not travel much because of Covid-19 but she has been to Columbus before.
Aaryn loves to read at home and read at school, it is hard for Aaryn to put a book down because he loves reading more than she likes TV. Aaryn loves to draw and make projects in class; Aaryn like to play with playdoh.
School Interactions
Aaryn’s friends are Kyndall, Kateyn and Bella
Aaryn’s friends’ favorite subjects are reading/language arts
Aaryn’s behavior in school is controlled. Aaryn can differentiate when she is happy, sad, upset or excited. Aaryn is a very focused student where she likes to succeed and excel. When Aaryn does not know an answer to a question, she gets frustrated and shuts down or she asks for help. Aaryn likes to read a long with the teacher, ask questions and learn new material. Aaryn is a calm student, she learns best by visual learning and seeing how problems are done or she likes to see and read a long with the teacher.
How knowing interests will help me plan lessons and activities for them.
I know that Aaryn is a Visual learner and I know that she is interested in reading. I will make lessons where Aaryn can read about what she is interested about. Aaryn loves to spend time with her family so in my lessons I will have them set up where she is reading about “her family” by putting her family names and things she likes to do so that she can connect with the story and get excited about the things that interest her.
What I learned:
What I learned about the process of getting to know children is that student love to talk about themselves once they see that you are interested or engaged in their lives. Children will share many various details about their lives even parts that may seem upsetting they will always share with you what their experiences are in their lives.
What I learned about kid watching was that students do not like to really be watched over, but they love being complemented and told that they are doing a great job. Once students take at note that you are noticing how they are behaving in the classroom they shift their behavior and want to do the best they can.
What I learned about myself as a teacher was that initially I was very shy but then I realized that students would break that shyness out of you and want to know more about you. I feel more confident being a teacher in the classroom and learned a lot of reading materials.
My perspectives on teaching, learning and children are that it is so important to stay engaged with students because they lose interest extremely fast, so it is very important to always stay engaged and entertained with students.
Reflecting on my learning and perspectives to understand the potentials for prejudice is that all students do not come from the same background. Students have different families, experiences that they cannot control but they are trying their best every day to be the best that they can be. Students do not act out for no reason nut they usually have a reason on why they may act out or want attention at home/school.
The connections to relevant research and theory are that I know that every student has a different culture and that students who may come from the same neighborhood doesn’t necessarily mean that they are living the same lifestyle or have the same opportunities. Students try their best every single day to be the best student and it is important to take that into consideration.
ECE 402-502