Running head: HD 450 EVIDENCE - OBSERVATION PROJECT

HD 450 Evidence - Observation Project

Pauline Abu-Tayeh
Luis Giraldo
Pacific Oaks College

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Observation Project
In my preschool environment, observations are a large part of achieving successful goals
for each child in the classroom. As I observe children, it may sometimes be easier to look at
things from a subjective view. In that case, children become prejudged by what they are saying
and doing throughout their daily routine. Their learning is shaped by opinions and feelings. As I
continue in my journey in working with children, it takes a lot of practice and skill to see the
actions of children in their environments. When I look at things objectively, I see children in
their natural environments. It is also easier to obtain specific goals of children so that their
outcomes are by what is seen. An objective method is viable to evaluate with purpose. For this
observation, I will write down what a child does in his environment and interactions with others.
I will connect my observation to a theorist, Urie Bronfenbrenner. This observation ties in with
how the child connects with other children, adults, and his community.
I observed a Head Start preschool program. This program served ages 3 to 5. As I
walked into the classroom, the children were sitting at the table. It was small group time. The
children were engaged in playing with foam dough. The teacher was walking around her table
and asked each student, Tell me what you are making with the play dough? Joey, a 3 year old,
said, Im making a Superman. See. Look. The teacher responded, I see. How did you do
that? Joey responded back to her, Look. Like this. He stood up and ran around the table
several times. The teacher said to him, Come and sit down. I have an idea. When we go
outside Joey, how about if we take out the scarves, and you and your friends can be like
Supermen? Joey answered, Yeah. Did you hear that Chris? Teacher said that we can be
Supermen, as he smiled. The teacher said, Its time to clean up so that we can go outside.

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Joey said, Hurry Chris so that we can play superheroes with the scarves. The children place
the foam dough into the containers. Joey pushed in his chair and went to get the scarves. Then,
he lined up at the door.
Next, the children walked outside the door. The teacher said, First, we need to do
exercise. Joey put the box of scarves on the floor next to his feet. The teacher said, This is
what you will do for exercise today. You will run two times around the bike path. Then, you
will hop two times around the bike path. Then, you can play on the playground. The children
ran around and hopped two times each activity around the bike path and went to play. Joey
announced, Who wants to play superheroes with me? Several children ran up to him and said
altogether, I do. Joey grabbed the red one. He handed the box to another child. Joey bounced
on two feet toward the teacher. When he arrived to the teacher, Joey vocalized loudly, Teacher,
can you put this cape on me. Im ready to play Superman. The teacher ties the cape loosely
around his neck, and he went running off.
In another part of the daily routine, the children came inside of the classroom and washed
their hands. Each of the children walked to the carpets at different times. It was large group
time. When the children were listening to the story, We All Sing the Same Song, Joey blurted out,
My eyes are the only blue ones in this class. And I have white hair. The teacher nodded her
head up and down and voiced, Yes, white hair. The teacher conveyed, Since Joey is talking
about the color of his eyes and hair, lets talk about our skin color. Everyone look at your arm.
Now, match it to the color of a friends skin or from this book we are reading. The children
held their arms out next to each other. One child stated, Look. Im darker than her. Her skin is
lighter. Joey said, Yeah, but I lighter than her. The child nodded her head up and down. The
teacher created a graph with each childs name, and she took the multicultural crayons and

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colored a circle with each of the colors under each column. As she called each child, that child
held their arm up to the skin color on the graph that matched the color of their skin. Then, the
teacher wrote their name under that skin color.
Finally, in another observation, it was dismissal time. Joey was being picked up by his
mother. He started crying at the carpet area. The teacher went up to him. She said, What
happened to you Joey? He said, I wanted my daddy to pick me up, as he puts his arms around
the teachers neck and hugged her. Joey added, I want my daddy. I want my daddy. Joeys
mother signed him out. His mother came to the carpet and said, Daddys at work. Hell be
home soon. He placed his head on his mothers shoulders as they both walked out the door.
Mother waved to the teacher.
This observation displayed a sense of engagement and security for Joey and the children
in this environment. As I reflect on the teachers way of thinking for her students, she was able
to take the activities and extend them. By adding extensions from one routine to the next to
minimize challenging behaviors, the children were able to further their play at outside time. The
teacher impacted her routine with importance to the children and an enriching lesson plan. For
example, when Joey created Superman with his foam dough, the teacher was able to sustain his
play when she suggested Joey take the scarves outside to play in order to prevent a challenging
behavior. I also think about how she encouraged Joeys expressions during large group and
created further discussion not only with the color of his eyes and hair but also the color of his
skin. This is quick thinking on the teachers ability to foster diversity with emergent curriculum.
I felt that the teacher knew how to connect with Joey and the other students. I think it is
important to maintain the childrens attention in order to have less social conflicts. In addition, I
think that the teacher followed Joeys cue for comfort when he wanted his father to pick him up

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from school. When I asked the teacher, How does she use reflective teaching for her
classroom? She responded, I think deeply about what I did or said. Then, I create a new way
to engage and talk with my students the next day.
Finally, I connected my observation with Urie Bronfenbrenners ecological systems
theory. His scientific research assisted in the formation of Head Start in 1965. Bronfenbrenners
theory was published in 1979. These ecological systems analyze the child or adult. Then, it
looks at the effects of the different environment systems that he/she encounters
(Bronfenbrenner, U. 1979). This observation was different for me. I thought more reflectively
about what was happening in each activity as well as seeing the environment objectively. I
observed teacher sensitivity with Joey throughout the observation. I think reflective teaching is a
good way to measure teaching styles. Then, it is up to the teacher to modify her activities with
his/her students so that the positive influences can flow throughout her classroom. A good
teacher has the ability to awaken a truth within us (Palmer, 2007).

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References
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development experiments by nature and
design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.