Nicole M.

Gabinski C&I 210, Section 9 April 30, 2010

Observation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Date 2/14/2012 2/14/2012 2/21/2012 2/22/2012 2/22/2012 3/5/2012 3/5/2012 3/6/2012 3/8/2012

Time 9:00-9:55 10:00-10:40 9:00-9:55 9:50-10:35 11:55-12:25 9:35-10:30 11:00-11:50 8:00-8:45 8:30-9:35

Grade Level 12 4 11-12 9 3 5 6 8 1

Teachers Room UHS 232 MLS 203 UHS 216 UHS 316 MLS 121a MLS 234 MLS 216 MLS 240 MLS 106

Gabinski 1 Observation Notes Observation 1 2/14/2012 9:00am- 9:55 am 12th grade UHS 232 Developmental domain: Cognitive and Social Possible theory: B.F. Skinners Operant Conditioning and Eriksons Psychosocial Theory of Identity verses Role Confusion Examples of student development and/or behavior: This class consisted of 13 students who had a sub for this class period so all that they did was work on a packet the whole time. All of the students worked independently on it and got right to work after the sub instructed them to do so. Had the freedom to listen to music if they pleased. Most of the students worked on the assignment the whole time but one student decided to act up and not work on his work, go to the bathroom for 20 minutes and then have an attitude with the teacher later for being on his phone and not working. I think he was trying to prove his image to others and didnt want the teacher to seem superior to him.

Observation 2 2/14/2012 10:00am- 10:40 am 4th Grade MLS 203 Developmental domain: Cognitive and Social Possible theory: Operant Conditioning by Ivan Pavlov Examples of student development and/or behavior: The teacher asked students to come up to the board and show their work for the specific questions that were assigned as homework the previous day. To encourage the students to come up and show their work, she used the idea of positive reinforcement by giving them a piece of candy after, no matter if the answer was right or wrong. This was showing operant conditioning because in order to get the students to do the task, she offered them a reward in exchange, which was candy. This encouraged them to be confident and show their work and also helped with any mistakes that were common among the students as a whole. The teacher also used negative reinforcement when students in the classroom were talking while this process was going on. It was meant to be a learning process for everyone so if you were not paying attention then you were not learning. To use this she used green, yellow, and red cards and when the students first got in trouble, they got a

Gabinski 2 warning and the card changed to yellow. Then if they continued they changed their card to red and got a more severe consequence.

Observation 3 2/21/2012 9:00 am- 9:55 am 11th-12th grade UHS 216 Developmental domain: Cognitive Possible theory: Constructivist Teaching Examples of student development and/or behavior: After the class starts and the teacher gives directions on what to work on, most of them just keep talking and do not review for their test the next day. A lot of students were texting or listening to music on their phones or netbooks. All of the students are comfortable with each other and talks to the teacher like she is their friend. But, when she does ask the class to be quiet so she can go over something, they all listen and participate. The students are also very quick to help one another when they have questions instead of asking the teacher to explain the work. Teacher trusts them enough to let them sit by their friends and not have assigned seats. They are also allowed to retake tests if they do poorly on them. Observation 4 2/22/2012 9:50am -10:35 am 9th grade UHS 316 Developmental domain: Physical and Social Possible theory: Theory of Biological Aspects Examples of student development and/or behavior: It was very clear that the students were still very immature. They were all very energetic and talkative as they came into the classroom. The students also had a comment to say back to everything that the teacher said to them. The students also had very bad posture and were fidgety the entire class period. Many of them asked a lot of unneeded questions and were very loud and confused about everything. The boys wanted to show off for the girls and disrupted the class a lot and used fowl language. These students bodies have also changed a great deal since middle school. They had all grown a lot and the boys had gotten deeper voices, and the girls had started to care about their image more than they did before.

Gabinski 3 Observation 5 2/22/2012 11:55am -12:25 pm 3rd grade MLS 121a Developmental domain: Physical and Social Possible theory: Abraham Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Examples of student development and/or behavior: In the 3rd grade PE class, the students were challenged to do activities that made them think but also made them physically active as well. They worked in small groups of about 5 at each station and did activities with rackets, beach balls, kin balls, baseball and kickball. During the demonstrations of the activities, the students got very excited and clapped and cheered for their teacher. This goes along with Maslows theory because the most important need is the physiological need, which includes exercise. This gym class kept the children active for the full half hour and involved them in every activity. This also meets the needs of belongingness because they were all in groups and worked with everyone and got along with everyone. Exercise is very important for children at this age because it distracts them from their schoolwork for a while and will help them focus better later. Observation 6 3/5/2012 9:35 am- 10:30 am 5th grade MLS 234 Developmental domain: Emotional Possible theory: Self-Control Examples of student development and/or behavior: At this age, the students knew what was right and wrong in a classroom and were able to control their behavior and their emotions based on what they knew was expected of them. They know when is the right time to talk and when it is not. They were all very talkative before class started, but then got to work once they were supposed to. The students at this age know that if they act out of line, then they would be punished and not get the normal privileges that they are supposed to. The students were looking at a page about zodiac signs at the end of class, and they proved their cognitive skills at this time to be more developed than the younger children. They all participated and had comments to say back to the various meanings of the signs that were read, which showed they cognitively understood all of the information and was able to relate to it and give feedback.

Gabinski 4 Observation 7 3/5/2012 11:00am -11:50 am 6th grade MLS 216 Developmental domain: Cognitive and Social Possible theory: Vygotskys Sociocultural Theory Examples of student development and/or behavior: Vygotskys theory focuses on the cognitive growth of students from communication with parents, teachers, and peers. This was used in this classroom because the teacher conducted the class in which everyone was on the carpet and interacting with one another. The students worked with their peers to identify given countries on the large map at the front of the room. It was a class effort to identify all of the countries with the teacher using a pointer stick to point out the countries to the rest of the students in the class. This gave the students social interaction with not only their peers but their teacher as well. The students also had a discussion at the end of class talking about these countries and getting feedback from their teacher about the activity. Observation 8 3/6/2012 8:00am -8:45 am 8th grade MLS 240 Developmental domain: Cognitive, Emotional, and Social Possible theory: Vygotskys Theory of Scaffolding Examples of student development and/or behavior: Teacher was stricter with the students being quiet while they were supposed to be working. The students were supposed to be working on an assignment preparing them for the upcoming test. One of the students in the class was having a difficult time with the information and did not understand it as quickly as everyone else was. The teacher saw him struggling and went over by him to help him with the material. As a team, the teacher and the student went through all of the material slower and went in more depth with explaining the material until the student understood what was being taught. After explaining it to him in depth, she began to help him less and less until he was able to finish the rest of the packet on his own since he now understood the material.

Gabinski 5 Observation 9 3/8/2012 8:30am-9:35 am 1st Grade MLS 106 Developmental domain: Cognitive and Social Possible theory: Behaviorism Examples of student development and/or behavior: All of the children pay attention and are interested in the information that is being presented to them. I also noticed that these children were excited to answer questions, but when they did so they respectively and excitedly raised their hand and sat in their seats until they were called on. I also noticed that during this age they had not yet grasped the idea of cooties and only wanting to talk to and associate with people of the same sex. During the time I was observing, I saw that while the students were working on their assignment, they would lean over and see what their neighbor was doing or compare their work to friends. Where as at an older elementary grade they will associate themselves mainly with peers of the same sex as themselves.

Gabinski 6 Analysis and Application Introduction During the past semester, I observed students from Illinois State Universitys Lab Schools of all different age levels to look at their different developmental domains including physical, cognitive, social and emotional. These observations were to give me a better understanding of how the development of children differs as they grow older. First I will also be looking at specific grade levels by themselves, including elementary school, middle school, and high school to see the differences of the groups as a whole. Then at the end of the paper I will talk about the developmental changes that I saw throughout all of the grade levels as a whole. All parts of the paper will include theories to support why the children act and behave in the way that they do, and I will provide specific examples from my observations to support these theories as well. Elementary While observing first grade through fifth grade I noticed that there were a lot of developmental changes between the children. The students in first, and third grade all had similar physical developments. I did not see a large difference in the size of the children who were all an average of 3 or 4 feet. This is different from what I observed from the fourth and fifth graders who were a lot taller than the younger children. The cognitive developments of the students were noticeably different as well. The first graders took part in activities that were short and concise so that they did not lose interest. But as the students got older they were able to complete activities that were more complex and required them to think more or work in groups to accomplish the given task. Their verbal and enunciation skills got better at around the third grade but

Gabinski 7 even then when the children were excited about something they would should shout out yippee if it was something they liked. But you could observe the childrens ability to speak more fluently and in more complete sentences as you compared and looked at each of the grades. Finally, the social changes among the grades of the elementary aged students were very different. While still in first grade, many children do not really mind who they are sitting by or whether their friends are boys or girls. I began to notice mainly in the third grade that the children began to sit near their peers that were of the same sex, and really began to associate with them thinking the other sex has cooties. These social changes can be explained by using the Theory of Behaviorism because the students act in a certain way because of watching others behave in the environment around them. Their behaviorisms change as they grow older and there are new expectations of them. All of the grade levels I observed paid a lot of attention to what their peers around them are doing. For example, in the third grade gym class, the students would look to see how their peers were completing the activity before they started to do it. The children are beginning to realize how great of an influence that their peers have on their life. According to the theorist Albert Bandura, children learn through behavior modeling, which is when they mimic what they have seen others do. This is very apparent in the classes that I observed, a majority of the students would react in the same way that their peers had to the situation. Middle School There are a lot of notable differences that I gathered while observing the students in sixth and eighth grade. The physical difference between sixth graders and eighth graders is very drastic. For example, sixth graders average height was between high 4

Gabinski 8 feet tall and low 5 foot, and a lot of students still had their baby fat or rounded bodies. While on the other hand eighth graders who almost all were above 5 feet tall and are starting to slim out losing their baby fat. The signs of puberty are evident in these grades, becoming more apparent as the students get older. Another part of development that can be compared between these students is their advancement in language. The students in the sixth grade class were able to use more difficult words but their sentence structure while using them was choppy. I noticed that a lot of students had the correct idea but struggled with forming a properly flowing sentence while stopping to say um periodically. The eighth graders were able to speak better without pausing nearly as much to gather their thoughts. Vygotskys Sociocultural Theory could explain this advancement because the students could be advancing in their social skills from communicating with more people of various ages and of different backgrounds. This helps the students to learn more about others cultures and has them become more knowledgeable on various topics that they were not familiar with before. I also noticed that the eighth graders were beginning to use slang or shortened versions of words to describe things as cool and bro. This idea of using slang words comes primarily from their friend connections, which leads into the differences in social interactions between the grades. The sixth graders stuck primarily to their same sex friends and when topics of a girlfriend came up they all giggled. The eighth graders talked about the opposite sex more and showed more interest in it. The students in sixth grade all stayed on task and listened to their teacher, while the eighth graders really began to talk a lot and the boys struggled with listening to the rules. All of these students actions are based primarily on which friends that they choose to be around.

Gabinski 9 High School Just as there are changes between students in elementary school and middle school, there are a lot of changes that students go through in high school as well. The differences in physical growth from a freshman in high school to a senior in high school are very drastic. The students who come in as freshman are just beginning to grow and learn about the way their bodies move. They are tall and gangly, having difficulty moving about in fluid movements. The girls are just coming out of their awkward phase and are beginning to really care about their appearance, checking in their mirrors at their reflection and fixing their hair. But the upper classmen are all starting to look like adults. The boys are starting to fill out, have deeper voices, and can grow a beard, while the girls have finished going through puberty and have wider set hips and thighs than the freshman girls. These differences can be explained through the Theory of Biological Aspects because these differences are just because of their age and their development. It is natural for younger high school students to behave and look a different way than the upper classmen do. The social interactions between the different ages of the high school students were very similar. The students would all go sit near their friends to talk before class started and in the classes that have open seats, they would all sit near each other. There are the occasional students that would sit alone, for example, in the consumer education class a girl sat in the corner alone and read from her kindle the entire class. This could be explained by using the theory of Identity verses role confusion because the students were trying to become who they wanted to be but they are not quite sure who that is yet. They are trying new concepts and hanging around with certain people, which in the end shape who they are going to be. The students in

Gabinski 10 all of the high school level classes that I observed had a difficult time staying quiet while their teachers were talking. One aspect that contributed to the students loss of motivation was their personal computers, which many students played on during class going on social websites instead of doing their assigned work. Comparisons Across Grade Levels To see all of the developmental differences across all of the different grade levels as a whole was very interesting to me. Physical differences were very easy for me to distinguish. The growth difference between a first grader and a senior in high school was very large. It was also interesting to notice the growth differences between the genders of students of the same ages. Girls have a tendency to grow at a faster pace than boys do. This was apparent some in elementary school, especially in middle school and even still in high school. This is because the girls hit puberty first growing into women before the boys do. It was also apparent to see how the students grew and developed over the years. As they got older, they were able to be active in the classroom but also stay sitting in their desks without being distracted by everything. Just as the physical characteristics differ between the ages of the students I observed, their cognitive abilities differed just as much. It was neat to see how far the students grew cognitively from grade level to grade level, and how much more information and classroom mannerisms they knew as they went from one grade to the next. Students in elementary school could by no means do any of the work that the high school students do, or vice versa the work would be too easy for high school students. This is because as we age our cognitive abilities get greater as we learn new thing in each grade growing each year upon what we previously learned. I did notice though that the

Gabinski 11 students who were in sixth grade had very similar cognitive abilities to those students who were still in fifth grade even though they usually attend different schools. The idea of maturity goes hand in hand with the students social interactions as well, if a student is immature they are more likely to relate to a younger grade because they are at the same level of social and cognitive ability. The social interactions of the students in all ages were similar in the aspect that all of the students interacted with the people that were their friends. The interactions though in each grade had differed. The young kids played with toys together and had very simple conversations, while the older students had more elaborate conversations and no longer played with toys in the classroom. The style in which the students engaged in social interactions is based primarily on the culture that they had been raised in. For example, the students who sit quietly in class and do not disrupt their learning grew up from a family that puts a lot of emphasis on their learning, while the other students who are more disruptive may not have parents that are as strict or very involved so the students do not understand the proper way to behave. Also, the American culture places a lot of emphasis on the friendships that students develop at an early age encouraging play dates in elementary school, then outings on the weekends for the other students. The teachers all try to include the students and help them develop the friendships that they believe are important to their success in the future. By doing these observations it really helped me to notice the differences in the students as they grow older and the different expectations from the teachers at the various grade levels. I was able to use the concepts that I learned in class and connect them to a real classroom environment and see them in action. Overall I was able to observe the differences of the students in areas of physical

Gabinski 12 developments, cognitive developments, emotional developments, and social developments and how they differ as they go from grade to grade. It was neat to see how far the students grew cognitively from grade level to grade level, and how much more information and classroom mannerisms they knew as they went from one grade to the next.

Gabinski 13 Reference Bergin, C.& Bergin D. (2012). Child and Adolescent Development in Your Classroom. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning