For me, an observation was always about ‘There’s more to it than meets the eye’. My observation was always contaminated with personal views. I would never take someone by the face value but will always add in my personal experiences and assumptions to the behavior. My beliefs, expectations, and perceptions about the other individual were shaped by the culture around me.
As a teacher, I now understand the art of observation in its true sense. I know that true observation should not be influenced by perspectives and should be clear. I believe that continued documented observation and reflection helps me understand the child better and build a strong relationship. I can understand the strengths and weakness, the interests, behavior, and also help me understand the progress of the child.
Behavior - If I observe a child taking a block home from the classroom, I do not make assumptions about the behavior. Rather, I try to understand the intention, the cause and try to address it in a more effective way so as to eliminate the behavior.
Social - If I observe a child less active in a group discussion, I do not make assumptions about the knowledge or understanding of the child. Rather, I try to further observe the child at different times, say during lunch/recess or with other teachers, and try to understand the underlying cause and work in collaboration with other teachers to help the child contribute socially.
As a teacher, I now understand the art of observation in its true sense. I know that true observation should not be influenced by perspectives and should be clear. I believe that continued documented observation and reflection helps me understand the child better and build a strong relationship. I can understand the strengths and weakness, the interests, behavior, and also help me understand the progress of the child.
Behavior - If I observe a child taking a block home from the classroom, I do not make assumptions about the behavior. Rather, I try to understand the intention, the cause and try to address it in a more effective way so as to eliminate the behavior.
Social - If I observe a child less active in a group discussion, I do not make assumptions about the knowledge or understanding of the child. Rather, I try to further observe the child at different times, say during lunch/recess or with other teachers, and try to understand the underlying cause and work in collaboration with other teachers to help the child contribute socially.
Observation Task - Student Profile
Joy - The First Grader
Joy is a first-grade student at an IB school in Mumbai, India. He is originally from the United States of America but he is born and brought up in Mumbai. He is a strong, slim, fair-skinned with curly black hair. He is the youngest in the family and has an elder brother in the higher grade at the same school. He is a blissful, confident and self-motivated child. He appears to be suitably dressed, with well-groomed hair and carries a trolley bag to school with a smile, each day. He comprehends the class routines and adheres to them most of the times. He loves art and craft and spends most of his free time, at school, drawing and making models out of paper. His love for music and singing is evident from his active participation in choir singing at school. He is quite approachable by his peers and shares a great bond with most of his classmates.
He is a well-balanced and principled learner who enjoys sharing his ideas. He is very expressive and candid and puts forth his opinion in the class or with the teacher. For example, there was a first-grade field trip planned and due to bad air quality, it was canceled. During the morning circle, he expressed his disappointment and he quoted “I wore my pyjamas for nothing today”. He raises his quiet hand and waits to be called on, during a group discussion. He is a patient listener. He takes turns when speaking with peers. He waits for a person to finish speaking. He gives relevant, appropriate and precise responses. He also actively participates in a discussion with the whole group, small group, and with partners.
Joy - The First Grader
Joy is a first-grade student at an IB school in Mumbai, India. He is originally from the United States of America but he is born and brought up in Mumbai. He is a strong, slim, fair-skinned with curly black hair. He is the youngest in the family and has an elder brother in the higher grade at the same school. He is a blissful, confident and self-motivated child. He appears to be suitably dressed, with well-groomed hair and carries a trolley bag to school with a smile, each day. He comprehends the class routines and adheres to them most of the times. He loves art and craft and spends most of his free time, at school, drawing and making models out of paper. His love for music and singing is evident from his active participation in choir singing at school. He is quite approachable by his peers and shares a great bond with most of his classmates.
He is a well-balanced and principled learner who enjoys sharing his ideas. He is very expressive and candid and puts forth his opinion in the class or with the teacher. For example, there was a first-grade field trip planned and due to bad air quality, it was canceled. During the morning circle, he expressed his disappointment and he quoted “I wore my pyjamas for nothing today”. He raises his quiet hand and waits to be called on, during a group discussion. He is a patient listener. He takes turns when speaking with peers. He waits for a person to finish speaking. He gives relevant, appropriate and precise responses. He also actively participates in a discussion with the whole group, small group, and with partners.
He demonstrates caring and empathy towards others and is eager to help those in need. During Creative Arts, he single-handedly rolled a big piece of log to help his friends construct a building. He shows excitement in learning to build a strong classroom community and participates in creating the classroom agreements. He shows interest to learn about different communities around us and can recognize that a community is a group that helps each other. He enjoys making connections to what he is learning and consistently follows classroom agreements.
He likes to fiddle with his shoes (laces and velcro) and socks most of the times while seated on the floor. He likes to sit on the floor with his head rested on his arm(arm resting on the knees in upward position). During recess, he is active and participates in different activities or games with peers across first-grade. He often carries a healthy and nutritious lunch packed from home. He demonstrates appropriate table manners while eating at the table.
He is an enthusiastic problem solver. While investigating how humans are inspired by animals and their characteristics to solve human problems, he demonstrated his understanding by creating a baby carrier so people could use their arms and hands for other things while still carrying a baby. He was inspired by the pouch of a kangaroo. He very confidently presented and explained the connection to his peers.
He can demonstrate his math thinking by adding and subtracting numbers up to 20 independently. He can apply this skill when solving word problems as well. He displays his conceptual understanding of operators very distinctively. Joy can solve problems and explain his thinking by using pictures, words, and numbers. He uses different strategies to solve math problems efficiently. Joy will continue to develop strategies to solve math problems. Sometimes, he writes a mirror number but once pointed out is able to self-correct the number.
He has been immersed in a reader’s workshop and follows the routines and procedures independently. He continues to build his reading stamina, independently apply a variety of strategies to help understand the text, and talks about and answers questions about the text he reads. He uses many strategies to build his vocabulary knowledge and is beginning to think beyond the text. He will continue to work on choosing just right books (as per his reading level) and strategies for thinking beyond the text and about characters.
He has been immersed in writer’s workshop routines and procedures. He is excited about being an author. He reflected on his writing journey and
identified many craft moves that he tried as an author. He independently follows the different stages of the writing process. In his expert writing piece on “All About Dogs”, he tried different moves as a writer such as hooking the reader, including an introduction and conclusion and including facts and
nonfiction features. He will continue to add more details to his words.
He is able to identify the first word of a sentence, capitalize the beginning of most sentences, and end most sentences with punctuation. He is confidently able to identify and explain why we use capitals and punctuation. During the morning message, he identifies the different features of a sentence like start of a sentence and proper nouns or name of a language (student’s voice) in capitals, and punctuations. He is able to understand letter sounds (vowels and consonants) and independently sort them based on long and short sounds.
He has been immersed in writer’s workshop routines and procedures. He is excited about being an author. He reflected on his writing journey and
identified many craft moves that he tried as an author. He independently follows the different stages of the writing process. In his expert writing piece on “All About Dogs”, he tried different moves as a writer such as hooking the reader, including an introduction and conclusion and including facts and
nonfiction features. He will continue to add more details to his words.
He is able to identify the first word of a sentence, capitalize the beginning of most sentences, and end most sentences with punctuation. He is confidently able to identify and explain why we use capitals and punctuation. During the morning message, he identifies the different features of a sentence like start of a sentence and proper nouns or name of a language (student’s voice) in capitals, and punctuations. He is able to understand letter sounds (vowels and consonants) and independently sort them based on long and short sounds.
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Observation on values - Task to observe one colleague
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Honesty
Courage
Committed
Passion
Sharing
Mindful
Observation on values - Task to observe one colleague
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Honesty
- During the Tottochan discussion in the wagon wheel, she honestly said that she has not read the book completely so cannot contribute much to the discussion
- I like the way she keeps recapitulating that this journey is all about learning and growing, reflects positivity
- When she was asked to introduce her partner S, during our session with Tapaswini, she was honest about her, saying “She is loud"
Courage
- She is 50, and it takes someone really courageous to start afresh at this age
- Its quite evident that she is not afraid of changes and is definitely ready to take up the challenges head on
- She is not well-versed with technology, but she still tries to get a hang of it
- During the Fire walk, she volunteered to step forward without having to call out for
- She is a true inspiration
Committed
- She is always on time/before time to school
- If she commits to meeting at a common place, she’ll make sure that she reaches there before time, incase of any changes she communicates proactively
- She is committed towards her family as a mother and as a wife
- She has cook for herself and her kids but she cooks for her husband
Passion
- Her passion for teaching is quite evident from small talks that we have every now and then
- She is also passionate about learning new things
Sharing
- She shares a very good bond with her colleagues
Mindful
- She makes sure that nobody keeps waiting for her and communicates accordingly
- When she was asked to introduce her partner S, during our session with Tapaswini, she was very mindful about her choice of words, saying “She is loud”
- She does not take anyone for granted