Presentation/Assigment

Child’s name:

Dmitri Danilov

Child’s age

9 years

Child’s grade:

Fourth Grade

Child’s academic achievement:

Dmitri is doing well

Child’s main academic interests:

Reading non-fiction books, and writing, play games

Child’s relationships with classmates:

Dmitri loves to play with his peers. He enjoys having conversations with children who share the same interests. He also enjoys recreational activities with his friends in school and afterschool.

Child’s relationships with the teacher (other authorities):

Dmitri respects his teachers and other authorities. He understands his role as a student in the classroom. He often seeks individual attention from his teachers and loves to be recognized for his efforts and accomplishments.

Socio-economic status of the child’s family:

Dmitri comes from a low-class family.

Child’s family composition

Dmitri resides in a single-parent household. He resides with his mother and with eldest brother 22 years, who is now studying upstate in college.

Child’s family atmosphere

Dmitri lives in a warm and carrying family.

Child’s relationships with relatives

Dmitri has a great relationship with his grandfather, grandmother, aunt, and uncles.

Presence/absence of child’s special need(s):

Dmitri does not have any special needs.

Presence/absence of IEP or any therapy sessions

Dmitri does not have an IEP, but receives individual support in the classroom to help him stay on task. Dmitri sees a social worker once a week to talk about his feelings. He started receiving help in the second grade when the teacher noticed he had some behavior issues in the classroom. Some of these behaviors included disruptive behavior like, fidgeting, playing with an object, making noises, or refusing to complete his work. Getting Dmitri to stay on task was a challenge, so the teacher and parent needed to come up with a plan to get him to focus.

The sequence of the child’s activities under observation

The teacher assigned the child to read a book, and then Dmitri answered questions about the book.

The main task the child is accomplishing while being observed

(describe in detail)

The main task is to observe how Dmitri will concentrate on the given task and assess his reading skills.

Something else what observer believes is important to know about the child.

Dmitri loves playing gambol, chest, reading books, creating comics of his own, drawing.

What an observer sees (it is reality, it is objective)

What an observer thinks about it (subjective opinion and interpretation)

1.

The teacher prepared several books and said: “It’s time for ELA. Choose your book” Dmitri picked up a book named “The golden sword” and sat down, waiting to hear directions from the teacher.

I think it’s a great idea to give choices to a child.

2.

The teacher says, “Begin to read,” and Dmitri read the cover page, then turned the page and begins reading the story.

Dmitri understood the instructions provided and was able to follow through.

Dmitri chose a book that sparked his interest.

3.

Dmitri stopped in the middle of the sentence on the second page of the book, and he looked confused. The teacher says, “Look at me one time, “If you run into a tricky word, and you can’t stretch it out, skip it.” Dmitri asked to skip the question.

Dmitri becomes frustrated when he is unable to pronounce a word. Or upset when he cannot read long words.

4.

Later, Dmitri reached a tricky word and asked to skip the word again. The teacher says, “Dmitri let’s try to stretch the word before you skip it” Dmitri does not want to try and said, “I don’t know, let just skip it.”

Dmitri lacks the confidence and motivation to try and correct himself, he would rather avoid it entirely. It is much easier to move on then face a challenge.

5.

Dmitri finished reading the book. The teacher says, “Okay, let’s close the book, and I will ask you some questions. Are you ready?” Dmitri closed the book, gave it to the teacher. He responded yes, by nodding his head, letting her know that he was ready.

Dmitri was excited.

6.

The teacher asked, “What is the name of the story? Dmitri says, “The golden sword.”

Dmitri demonstrated his listening skills by sharing the name of the story.

7.

The teacher says, “Good job! Could you tell me what happened at the beginning of the story?” Dmitri answers, “I forgot because I was not looking at all the pages.” The teacher looked at Dmitri and said: “Remember when you are reading a book, it is important to look at the words, listen to it and look at the pictures so that you can understand it.”

Dmitri did not pay attention to key details in the story, and he got upset that he wasn’t able to answer the question. 

The teacher tried to settle his emotions and gave him instructions for future reference.

8.

The teacher says, “Alright, let’s move forward. What do you think the book is about? Dmitri smiles and answers “Golden Sword”

9.

The teacher says, “Who are the characters in the story?” Dmitri took a pause and then said: “Sam, its Greg, Ruby, and Bob.”

Dmitri shows that he knew all the characters in the story.

10.

The teacher says, “Do you know where the setting was in the story? Dmitri asked a question, “What is setting? The teacher says, “A setting is where the story takes place. Where are the characters?” Dmitri gingerly answers, “They are in the backyard.” “Excellent, now you know what setting means,” the teacher says.

Dmitri shows that he is able to accept feedback from his teacher if he doesn’t comprehend the questions.

Dmitri demonstrated that he is able to use the information provided.

11.

The teacher says, “Could you tell me what happened in the middle of the story?” Dmitri answers, “They trade it.” The teacher asks, “Who trade it?” Dmitri explains, “Bob!” The teacher asks, “What did he trade?” Dmitri answers, “sword.”

The answer is short and does not have more details. Dmitri focused on the pictures more than the text, his response was more related to what he saw in the images then the plot of the story.

12.

The teacher says, “Alright, we are almost done. Do you remember what happened at the end of the story?” Dmitri answers, “Yes, Greg swung his sword at up to the sky.”

Dmitri became distracted, he didn’t seem interested anymore.

13.

The teacher praised Dmitri and went over the story one more time. Then the teacher went over all the skipped words together. Dmitri was able to read the tricky words.

I believe the teacher used a good strategy to come back to words he has difficulties with reading.

Dmitri accepted help from his teacher and demonstrated his comprehension of retelling events in a story. However, he can use support in prompting to retell a story using more words.

Text of Inferences:

Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who “developed the central thesis of cognitive theory: How People think changed with time and experience, and though processes always affect behavior” (Berger, 2019). Piaget believed that children think differently than adults. He developed his theory by observing his own children. According to Piaget, there are four stages of cognitive development. The first stage is identified as the sensorimotor stage from birth to two years old. Children begin to explore the world through different actions and interactions by manipulating with objects. The second stage is pre-operational, which has two sub-stages: preconceptual from two to four years old and intuitive from four to seven years old. In this stage, “thinking dominated by perception, but the child becomes more and more capable of symbolic functioning; language development occurs; the child still unduly influenced by own perception of the environment” (Cohen, 2017). The third stage is concrete operational that continues from seven to eleven/twelve years old. Logical reasoning begins to develop, but children can apply them to the objects that they could personally see, hear, touch, and experience. The fourth and final stage calls formal operational, which occurs at eleven/twelve years old through adulthood. In this stage, the individual starts to think more analytically, and “they can be logical about things that they have never experienced” (Berger, 2019). According to Piaget's theory, Dmitri, who is eight years old, is currently at the concrete operational stage of cognitive development. In this stage, the child is able to apply the logic towards the objects that can be seen. So even though Dmitri can identify concrete events through visual images, later, he is unable to sequence a story without verbal prompting. “Because their representations are limited to the tangible, touchable and concrete, their appreciation of the consequences of events is similarly limited, local and concrete in scope” (Cognitive Development: Piaget's Concrete Operations - Child Development Theory: Middle Childhood (8-11). (2019).

Lev Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist who developed a social developmental theory. He believed that social interaction is essential for a child's cognitive development. “Human babies are not born with tools of labor (hammers, spades, etc.) in their hands. These tools are invented by human society, and children acquire and master them” (Karpov, 2009). The second aspect of Vygotsky's theory explains the zone of proximal development (ZPD). The level of each zone of ZPD can be achieved when children engage in social behavior. “The purpose of assessing ZPDs, according to Vygotsky, is to identify maturing intellectual functions. The assessment goal is to externalize the learner's internal cognitive processes” (Gredler, 2012).” When observing Dmitri, Vygotsky's theory was prominent. During his reading, Dmitri skipped some words because he was not able to read it and did not know how to stretch them out. Later, when the teacher came back to the words he had difficulties with, she assisted him, so Dmitri was able to read the skipped words. It shows how Dmitri transitioned from the stages of "What I can't do" to "What I can do with help."

References:

1. Cognitive Development: Piaget’s Concrete Operations - Child Development Theory: Middle Childhood (8-11). (2019). Gracepointwellness.Org. https://www.gracepointwellness.org/1272-child-development-theory-middle-childhood-8-11/article/37677-cognitive-development-piagets-concrete-operations

2. Cohen, David. How the Child's Mind Develops, Routledge, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central,

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/tourony-ebooks/detail.action?docID=5185495.

3. Gredler, M. E. (2012). Understanding Vygotsky for the classroom: Is it too late?

Educational Psychology Review, 24(1), 113-131.

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10648-011-9183-6

4. Karpov, Y. V. (2009). A Neo-Vygotskian Approach To Child Development. Cambridge University Press.