How to Write a Case Study " ken Man only"

PART 1:

1. Target Child: Jacob Birthdate: April 14,2012

Classroom: Pre-K Chronological age range 3years 5mos-3years 6mos

Week#	Date	Time	Total Time	Area Observed	Children/Teachers
1	9/14/15	12:56-1:33	36 minutes	Whole classroom	All children(class list log)
1	9/16/15	12:15-12:22	7 minutes	Classroom and cubbies(for spelling of names)	All children (class list log)
2	9/21/15	11:50-1:00	1hour 10 minutes	Lunch table, carpet area, block area, sink area	Jacob, Kaylee, Jane, Michael, Miss Stephanie, Miss Ashely and Trent
2	9/25/15	11:04-12:07 (11:15-11:50- Outside time)	1hour 3 minutes	Playground, carpet area, lunch table	Jacob, Miss Ashely, student teacher, Mikey, Dominic, Kaylee, Farouq and Quinn
3	9/28/15	10:04-11:10	1hour 6minutes	Block area, dress up/kitchen area, art table, bathroom	Jacob, Miss Ashley, Student teacher, Kaylee, Dominic, and Jane
3	9/30/15	10:01-10:46	45minutes	Kitchen area	Jacob, Kaylee, Jane and Alexander
1-3	Total time for Weeks 1-3 (in hours & minutes) = 4 hours 47 minutes Inside:4hours 12minutes Outside: 35 minutes
Week#	Date	Time	Total Time	Area Observed	Children/Teachers
4	10/5/15	9:58-10:54	56minutes	Art table, Kitchen/Dress-up area, Hallway	Jacob, Miss Holly, Kaylee, Dominic, Jane, Mikey, Alexander, Farouq, Victoria and Caliana
4	10/7/15	10:48-12:15 (11:06-11:43-Outside time)	1hour 27 minutes	Playground, carpet area, lunch tables	Jacob, Kaylee, Caliana, Trent, Michael, Student teacher, Alexander, Quinn
5	10/13/15	9:16-10:30	1hour 14minutes	Carpet and kitchen area	Jacob, Miss Holly, Michael, Lucy, Dominic, Kaylee
5	10/15/15	9:15-10:30	1hour 15 minutes	Easel, water station, art table, block area	Jacob, Student teacher, Jane, Caliana, Michael, Trent, Victoria and Dominic
6	10/19/15	10:00-11:55 (11:00-11:55- Outside time)	1hour 55minutes	Kitchen area, playground carpet area	Jacob, Miss Stephanie, Quinn, Kaylee, Trent and Jane
6	10/21/15	10:00-10:50	50minutes	Kitchen area, playground paint table	Jacob, Kaylee, Victoria, Joshua, Miss Stephanie, Miss Kelly, Harper, Quinn and Alexander
4-6	Total time for Weeks 4-6 (in hours & minutes) = 6hours 37 minutes Inside: 5hours 9minutes Outside: 1hour 28minutes
Week#	Date	Time	Total Time	Area Observed	Children/Teachers
7	10/26/15	9:53-10:33	40minutes	Block area and Kitchen area	Jacob, Miss Stephanie, Miss Ashley, Trent,
8	11/2/15	11:17-12:10 (11:17-11:43- Outside Time)	53minutes	Playground and lunch table	Jacob, Trent, Harper, Miss Holly, Kaylee, Michael and Jane
8	11/4/15	11:02-12:45 (11:06-11:50 Outside Time)	1hour 43 minutes	Playground, lunch table, and carpet area	Jacob, Kaylee, Miss Ashley, Trent, Joshua, Quinn, Farouq, Dominic, and Lucy
8	11/6/15	2:07-3:00 (2:19-2:49 Outside Time)	53 minutes	Carpet area and playground	Jacob, Miss Ashley, Kaylee, Caliana, Harper, Quinn
9	11/9/15	10:53-12:00 (11:01-11:43 Outside Time)	1hour 7minutes	Playground, lunch table	Jacob, Kaylee, Miss Holly, Miss Lauren, Joshua, Quinn, Jane, Victoria
7-9	Total time for Weeks 7-9 (in hours & minutes) = 5hours 16minutes Inside:2hours 54minutes Outside:2hours 22minutes
Total time for entire semester (in hours & minutes) =16 hours 40 minutes Total of Inside hours (minimum of 2): 12hours 15 minutes Total of Outside hours (minimum of 2): 4hours 25minutes

Observations collected during 7 of the 9 weeks: YES _X_ NO __

At least 3 hours during each of the three sections above: YES _X_ NO __

2. Throughout the two- three-month time period of observing Jacob, there have been children that he closely connected with to be considered inside of his micro system. Kaylee is one of the two children that Jacob interacted with almost every day. Jacob enjoyed playing with Kaylee, she is a little older then him and I think that had a lot to do with why he enjoyed being with her. Selected times that they were outside he would follow her every move and do the exact same thing she did. For instance, on September 25, I observed while they were outside and Kaylee was running around doing various activities on the playground. Jacob was running around right behind doing the exact same thing as her. She impacted what Jacob chose to do because he enjoys being in the company of her and they play well together. Her age I think has a lot to with it, since she is older Jacob maybe looked up to her and she is able to do things that he cannot do yet. When you are young you like hanging out with the older kids and that’s exactly what this is. Overall, I believe that she has a positive impact on Jacob and could possibly in the future push him to be more advanced.

Trent is the second child in the classroom that Jacob closely connected with. Jacob and Trent are close in age only differing in a couple of months with Trent being older. Whenever Jacob and Trent were together them seemed to always be in some type of mischief that gets them in trouble. On September 21, Trent and Jacob were playing in the kitchen area throwing fake food out of the cabinets into other areas of play. While they were throwing them they were also laughing and screaming in loud voices. They were excused from the kitchen area by a student teacher and were asked to go play something different. On October 26, Trent and Jacob were playing in the kitchen area once again, now they were talking into the play phone and slamming it down on to the table. Miss Stephanie asked them to stop and they were excused from the kitchen area for the rest of choice play time. I believe that Trent’s influence on Jacob is in out of the ordinary one. I say that because a majority of the time that they play with each other they do get in trouble. But, at the same time whenever they are playing together Jacob appears to be having a lot of fun and laughs the most when he is playing with Trent.

Throughout the semester I believe that Jacob is a very mellow child and causes very little disturbance within the center. Jacob can be considered quiet in comparison with the children in his class. With him being one of the youngest in his class, he is pretty advanced for his age. He is able to articulate multi worded sentences and his speech is easily to understandable. Jacob can be one of those children that are over looked because he is so quiet and “under the radar”. I think that the center is a great facility for Jacob. The preschool environment is good for Jacob, him being one the youngest actually helped to advance him in all areas of development because he is around children who are older so then he learned more from them. The other children in the center are all very diverse from each other and I also believe that has a good influence on Jacob. Because he is able to interact with children of all different personalities and back grounds. The teachers inside of the classroom do a remarkable job especially Miss Holly. She appeared to have a different and effective job at communicating with the children. They show her a lot of respect and adore her a lot. Her communication skills with them had a lot to do with how smooth the class is operated. Jacob connected with Miss Holly, Miss Ashley, and the student teachers all at an equal amount.

Part 2:

Area of Development: Social Development

Interaction with children in the center: Jacob is very interactive with the children inside of the center. On October 5, Jacob was playing in the kitchen area with Dominic. Together they decided that they were going to pretend to have dinner at the table with pizza and apple juice. They were then pretending to drink out of the cups saying “That is good apple juice”. On November 2, during outside time Jacob worked together with Trent and Harper to put together a puzzle. As Trent was trying to fit a piece in a particular spot Jacob said, “No Trent that piece doesn’t go there”. Working all together they were able successfully put the puzzle together.

Interaction with teachers, parents and other adults: Jacob has a good relationship with adults, he listens when he is given direction to do something. On September 25 a student teacher told Jacob not to climb up the slide and that he can only go down the slide. Jacob listened and did not continue to climb up the slide the next time. Another interaction occurred with a teacher on October 26, when Jacob was unable to find his journal he said, “Miss Ashley, I’m looking for my journal but I can’t find it”. Miss Ashley helps Jacob to find his journal throughout the pile and they find it together. Once he finds it he said “Thank youuu!” while smiling and gives her a hug. On November 6, Jacob’s mother was outside of the classroom waiting to pick him up. When he came out the door he ran into his mother’s arm with the biggest smile on his face, he was very happy to see her.

Ability to share and take turns: Jacob has demonstrated growth in sharing with others, at the beginning of observation time he had a hard time sharing but as time has gone on he has learned to share. On September 25, Jacob was outside playing on the spinney chair by himself until Farouq came up to him. Farouq asked Jacob if he could have a turn and Jacob said “No this is mine, and I’m not done.” On October 20, Jacob was drawing at the art table using the only pencil that was there. Victoria joins him at the table and asks to use the pencil that he is using when he is done. Jacob simply says to her “Yes, you can use it”. He finished drawing his picture and then gave the pencil to Victoria to use.

How do other children and adults appear to relate to this child? The teachers see Jacob as helper, he is always willingly to help them with various tasks. On October 4, Jacob asked Miss Kelly if he was allowed to help her clean up after lunch. She allowed him too and Jacob helped her role the lunch cart back into the kitchen. On October 6, the student teacher asked “Who wants to help dry off the playground?”, Jacob raised his hand and said “Me!”. He willingly volunteered to help, and began to dry off all the parts without the student teacher having to make him help.

Self-concept: how does the child seem to feel about relating to others? When relating to others Jacob related a lot to Kaylee. On September 28, during choice time, Jacob was playing with cars on the table, while Kaylee was in the dramatic play area. He moves from the table to the dramatic play area continuing to play with his cars but is now in the presence of Kaylee like he wanted to be. (HELP WITH WORDING) On November 2 while outside, Kaylee was getting traced by Miss Holly with the chalk. After Kaylee was done Jacob ran immediately up to Miss Holly and said “Can I get traced just like Kaylee did?"

Summary of Development: In the social development area, it was discovered that Jacob is on track for his age range. Jacob is able to correctly interact and communicate with the other children in the center as well as the teachers and his parents. He listens well when given directions and follows them out the correct way. Although, he was not keen on sharing at the beginning of the observation time now, he is able to take turns and share with his classmates. From the perspective of his teachers Jacob is seen as a helper, he likes to help clean up the most, which you do not see in most kids that are his age. From all of the children in the class it seems as though Jacob strongly related to Kaylee and enjoyed being in the presence of her.

Red Flags: There are no major red flags in the area of Social Development for Jacob.

Theoretical Correlation: Jacob has now in a way grasped the concept of sharing with others, which at this age is something that he should be able to do. Jacob grasping the concept of sharing is heavily connected to Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligence specifically dealing with interpersonal which is in the social category. Jacob in this instance was sensitive to the feelings of the people around him. He was aware that he was using the only pencil that was there and willingly shared it with Victoria.

Theoretical Correlation: According to Bronfenbrenner’s thought of the microsystem, in a child’s life connects with the classmates that Jacob related too and his classmates that he interacted with. Kaylee is in his microsystem; she is someone that he comes in contact with on a daily basis as well as who Jacob prefers to be around. People in your microsystem directly affect your daily actions. Kaylee’s actions determine what Jacob will do and that is the exact definition of what a microsystem does. She has a big influence on Jacob’s socialization because he likes to do what she does and that effect what he does socially.

Professional Recommendations: Jacob did a great job at showing progress throughout the last 3 months. He struggled with the concept of sharing with his classmates especially when it came to things that really enjoyed. However, as time went on Jacob is now grasped the concept of sharing and is sharing with his classmates effectively. To keep that behavior going every time that Jacob has to share it needs to be explained to him why it is important to share with others. Jacob should seek to relate closely with other students in the class. In order for that to happen the classroom teachers should limit his time with Kaylee, so that Jacob can closely interact with other students in the classroom.

Area of Development: Independence

Do you observe evidence of: growth in confidence & ability; growth in ease of relating positively to others? : Yes, Jacob over the time grew confidence in himself as well as relating to other students in the classroom. On October 15, during choice time Jacob was at the art table playing with play- doh. After he cuts the play- doh by himself without any assistance. He looked at the student teacher and says “Look I can cut it all by myself!!!” with a smile on his face. On November 4 right before lunch, the children were following the dance steps of a video. Quinn is unable to do a particular part of the dance and throws a mini fit about it. Jacob turned to Quinn and said “I’ll show you how to”, Jacob shows him how to correctly move his feet and they continued to dance with the rest of the class.

Can the child play comfortable alone?: Jacob was very comfortable with playing by himself. He in fact spent a lot of his time playing various things on his own. During choice time on September 28, Jacob chooses to play by himself in the kitchen area. He pretends that he is cooking on the stove pour salt and pepper into the pots. He sung, “Fa la la la la” to himself while he played .On October 15, Jacob decided that he would play at the water station during choice time by himself. He played there for 5 minutes, he brushed the animals that were located in the water with his hand. He was also singing to himself saying “Fa, la, la, la, la”.

Can the child welcome others into his/her play? Even though Jacob played by himself a decent amount of the time he still was able to welcome other children into his play. On September 25, during outside time Jacob was played inside of the red house alone. He was pretending to paint the inside of the house, Kaylee walked pass the house and Jacob called her name and said “Do you want to help me paint?” Kaylee then came over and they started to play with one another. On October 19, during choice time Jacob played in the kitchen by himself pretending to eat the fake pizza. Quinn comes inside of the area and asked Jacob if he can play with him. Jacob said “yessss” and then they both started to pretend to eat the pizza saying “Mmmmm this is delicious!”

Is the child an effective playmate? : Yes, Jacob is an effective playmate he had the capability of both playing by himself and playing with other children. On September 30, Jacob took turns using the camera with Dominic. They are taking pictures of each other, saying “Say cheeseeeee!”, both of them were laughing and smiling at the poses they decided to do. Both were having a good time and did not get in trouble. On October 26, Jacob was playing with Joshua inside of the block area. They were working together to build tower on the carpet. Jacob would place one block then Joshua placed the next one on top. When they finished they boy ran to the student teacher and said “Come look at our tower”.

Summary of Development: Jacob was very comfortable playing with himself and had the ability to effectively do it. Every choice time that he had, he chose to play alone first primarily in the kitchen area. He also is very confident in the tasks that he is able to complete alone and liked to show the teachers that he is able to do them. Although he preferred to play alone he is also able to play with other children in the center effectively. Jacob liked to help other children as seen in the above example. He can do a great job at both playing by himself and playing with other children.

Red Flags: There are no red flags in the Jacobs development in the independence area.

Theoretical Correlation: Vygotsky’s concept of Level of Mastery is deeply connected to Jacob’s performance within the independence area. Jacob not only chooses to play alone without the teachers having to encourage or sway him to do it, but he did it effectively. While he played alone during observation time the teachers never had to speak to him because he was doing something that was disruptive. Inside of Jacob’s level of mastery also had the ability to invite other children into this play. As I stated above Jacob is able to play alone but once he sees someone enter into his direct environment, he will invite them to the play with him in an effective way. Jacobs has accomplished a lot in his development within the independence area.

Theoretical Correlation (NEED HELP): According to Piaget’s concept of adaptation, Jacob’s ability to go from playing with himself to playing with other is strongly correlated with it. Jacob, can be in the midst of playing by himself and when another child enters his area he welcomes them to either directly play with him or use what he is playing with. He is able to adapt to these type of situations because of a scheme that already exists in his world. Using the existing scheme, it allows his to go from playing alone to playing with others.

Professional Recommendation: Jacob has developed a lot in the independence area. To support him in this area I believe that we should still allow Jacob to play alone whenever he chooses too. But at the same time we need to make sure that he still is interacting with others on a constant basis because if he is not, that could lead to some regression in regards to playing with other children.

Area of Development: Physical Development

Characteristics: height, posture: Jacob from the beginning of the observation period till the end has remained the same height and posture has been good. On September 25 it was observed that Jacob is as tall as the end of the ramp outside leading to the door of the center. On November 6, Jacob is remains the same height as he did on September 25 and has not grown any taller. On October 13, during circle time Jacob sat straight up with his legs out in front of him. His body looked like a 90-degree angle. On November 6, during lunch time Jacob sat straight up in his chair, facing towards the table with his feet dangling in front of the chair.

Health: attendance, fatigue, vitality: Jacob was always up-beat and ready to go for what the next activity was, however he has had times where he appeared to be fatigued. On October 7 during the time between outside and lunch, he was very active on the carpet area waiting his turn to wash his hands and eat. He was enthusiastically talking to a student teacher about him riding the tricycle and racing with Kaylee. However, on October 19 while outside, Jacob rubbed his eyes and yawed for a total of four times within a 43-minute time period indicating that he was tired.

Rest: teacher reports of naptime rest or evidence of fatigue: In general, the teachers do not report that Jacob is fatigued on a regular basis. On November 4, when the children came back in from outside Jacob was very alert and energetic. They had a dance playing on the computer and he was following the dance moves, moving his legs and arms in all different directions. On November 6, at the end of the day right before pick up time they had the computer on playing the dance. Jacob was the first one to jump up and start following the dance moves with the biggest smile on his face.

Toileting: independence, terminology, attitude towards toileting: Jacob throughout the time did a great job with going to the bathroom with limited accidents. On September 28, during choice time Jacob was playing in the kitchen pretending to be a chef. In the midst of him playing he stops and runs to the student teacher and says “I need to go the bathroom” and she allows him to go to the bathroom. As well as on November 9, while outside playing on the playground he was spinning on the spinney chair and gets up in the middle of his play. He goes up to Miss Lauren saying “Can I go the bathroom?”. He will stop in the midst of his play to go the bathroom and puts up no fuss when it is time to use the bathroom. The limited times that he has had an accident was because he did not make it there in enough time. On October 19, after Jacob had just went to the bathroom he needed to use it again. By time he got to the bathroom, it was too late and he ended up using the bathroom on himself.

Motor Coordination: large and small muscle skills: Jacob used both his fine and gross motor skills daily, however he used his fine motor ones more. On October 21, Jacob was at the paint station with Miss Kelly and Joshua. He used his right hand to hold the paint brush and continued to use his right hand while he painted on the picture. On November 4, during story time Jacob held the marker with an adult grip as he drew his picture. On October 19, Jacob rode the tricycle around the playground on the “rode”. He was peddling the tricycle in different speeds jumping from fast to slow to fast and was able to change directions making left and right turns.

Physical Skills: independence, skill using materials and equipment: Jacob is able to use a decent amount of materials on his own, while there still are some that he needed assistance with. On September 21, Jacob used his right hand dominantly during lunch time. He used his right hand to pour water out of the pitcher into his cup. He also used his right hand to hold the cup while he is drinking from it. On November 4 during outside time, Jacob was able to ride a tricycle on his own without any help, he was also able to ride the bike at various speeds as well making controllable left and right turns. However, on October 15, it was recorded that Jacob is unable to use scissors correctly. He used the scissors with both hands, having one hand use one side of the scissor and the other hand on the other side. When the student teacher offered to help him he said “No, I can do it on my own”

Summary of Development: Jacob for the most part throughout the observation period did not show behavior that indicated he was fatigued. He was very active and upbeat always ready for the task at hand. When it comes to toileting Jacob can use the bathroom on his own and is aware of when he needs to go. When the teachers ask him to go to the bathroom he does not through a tantrum and willingly goes. Jacob was into using his fine motor skills more than he was into using his gross motor ones. Jacob was very active in the art activities throughout the time more than he was into throwing balls around and being more active. Jacob generally is able to use the equipment inside of the class with no help and the ones that he does need help with are with limited help from the teachers.

Red Flags: A red flag observed in this area is the lack of using gross motor skills. He does not use them as much as uses his fine motor skills and when he does use his gross motor skills it is the same activity. He needs a variety of gross motor skill activities to engage in.

Theoretical Correlation: Erikson’s stage of autonomy vs shame and doubt is connected to Jacob’s ability to go to the bathroom on his own as well him wanting to use certain materials without the help of teachers even it is the wrong way. As I stated in my above example even when he was using the scissors incorrectly he did not want the help, he wanted to do it all by himself and that is what children who are in this stage tend to do. He was able to go the bathroom on his own without any assistance nor did he want the assistance which is also part of being in this stage at this age.

Theoretical Correlation: According to Banduras Social Learning Theory the four step process to go through is connected to Jacob’s growth with riding the tricycle. The first time that I observed him riding one on September 25, Jacob was riding the tricycle not confident and was not moving as fast. Throughout the semester he went through the last two stages since the first two steps he had already completed. After he watched Kaylee ride the tricycle and saw how she moved her legs to make herself go faster and such. Jacob then gained the motivation to try it again himself and was able to ride the tricycle with more talent.

Professional Recommendation: In reference to the toileting section, Jacob does not need to be rushed to use the bathroom because that could have been the reason he used the bathroom on himself as I stated above. He had just gone to the bathroom and only five minutes later he had to go right back to it and was unable to make it there in time. Jacob needs to be introduced to more activities that will enhance his gross motor skills more efficiently. Showing Jacob how to do or use a material that he is unable to use by himself instead of doing it for him will benefit him in a positive way. He wants to perform tasks on his own, so showing him how to do things will be a great tactic for his development.

Part 3: Future Assessment

If I were to develop a full assessment on Jacob, there would be a lot more information that would be necessary to know to make it good. Jacob enjoyed playing alone a lot, so that intrigues me to what to know if he has any siblings and if he does how many and what age are they. He could possibly have a sibling/s but maybe they are not close in age so they do not necessarily play a lot together. I would be interested in knowing what his parent’s jobs are and what they like to do in their free time. I say that because Jacob enjoys doing a lot of play in the dramatic area and activities dealing with art. So, maybe at home he is exposed to a lot of that which is the reason behind what he enjoys doing. In his school background I would like to gather information that would tell me if he knew all his ABCs, how high was he able to count too.(ADD MORE)

One thing that I know for sure is that Jacob loves to do is play in the dramatic play area especially with the kitchen part of it. As well as drawing and do arts and craft activities. Almost every time he was given the choice of what to do he was doing one of those two things. I am also aware that his favorite color is blue. There is also this shirt that he likes to wear that says his name on it and has the number 3 on it, I think that maybe he wore that on his 3rd birthday. I would want to know if he likes or dislikes playing with cars and trucks. At this age a majority of boys love just playing with cars, yet I only observed Jacob playing with cars one time. I would want to know what his favorite type of books or even if really enjoys books.

The type of portfolio that I would use to gather would be a working portfolio. I choose that because if allows you to see a lot more than most other portfolios would. I would be able to collect a wide variety of work from Jacob and put it all together. It would give me the chance to show the growth in his work, because I would have information from previous years to current years. (ADD MORE)