Guest Posted December 20, 2009 Posted December 20, 2009 Hi all, I need help with my assignment, I have to identify four ways (in 500 words) in which my observations and assessments of one child will contribute to meeting the childs individual needs. The problem is the child i chose to observe is a very capable child and meets all developmental needs if not exceeds most of them, so I am struggling to find enough to write about. Obviously if she was below average then I could write about planning activities to improve in her weaker areas, but she doesn't have many so I am struggling to find four things to write about (and in so many words). I don't have time to observe a different child unfortunately and I'm a bit annoyed as my tutor told me NOT to choose a child with problems that would have given me plenty to write about, and told me to choose a capable child instead, hence my choice! Had i realised I would have probably gone against her advice. Any ideas????
AnonyMouse_3139 Posted December 20, 2009 Posted December 20, 2009 Hi all, I need help with my assignment, I have to identify four ways (in 500 words) in which my observations and assessments of one child will contribute to meeting the childs individual needs. The problem is the child i chose to observe is a very capable child and meets all developmental needs if not exceeds most of them, so I am struggling to find enough to write about. Obviously if she was below average then I could write about planning activities to improve in her weaker areas, but she doesn't have many so I am struggling to find four things to write about (and in so many words). I don't have time to observe a different child unfortunately and I'm a bit annoyed as my tutor told me NOT to choose a child with problems that would have given me plenty to write about, and told me to choose a capable child instead, hence my choice! Had i realised I would have probably gone against her advice. Any ideas???? Could you write about ways in which you can challenge her and consolidate what she already knows? Could you try different activitites that cover the same areas? I recall one child who had wonderful conversational skills, if we were talking aout cars, any other subject was difficult for him.
Guest Posted December 20, 2009 Posted December 20, 2009 (edited) Perhaps this child meets the G&T criteria and you could suggest writing an IEP to meet these extra needs and interests. Or you could make it up a bit to suit your needs - no-one but you would know - lol Perhaps you could talk about how the adult role needs to facilitate the childs learning perhaps by using higher order questioning like Blooms Taxonomy or Lorenz's. Edited December 20, 2009 by Guest
AnonyMouse_15046 Posted December 20, 2009 Posted December 20, 2009 A capable child needs activities which challenge and interest them. You may find that this child finds little challenge in the everyday activities in your setting and her needs are for activities with a little more to them. Can you identify any schematic interests which you could use to extending her learning? If you can't pick any up yourself could you use input from parents? How does she cope socially and emotionally? Sometimes more able children find it harder to interact with other children.
Guest Posted December 21, 2009 Posted December 21, 2009 Thanks guys this all helps, She copes well socially and emotionally, from her first day she left her parents with a big smile on her face and didn't look back! She was the first to interact with others and although she has her best friends she still interacts with everyone in the class. She also seems to control the play and conversation with who ever she plays with. She's a very confident child! I like the idea of finding activities to challenge her, so thats one area I can write about and planning new activities to suit her. After watching the child over the last four months I can see that her main interests are in the role play area whatever it may be, where she would spend all day if she could. The problem is this didn't really come across in my obs, and I'm only supposed to write about what I actually observed. One area I could cover is that she can be quite bossy with the other children and doesn't like to be out of control. I could write about planning activities which allow her to take turns or share, which did show a little in the observations. I am still struggling for two other ideas and need to make up the word count cos I think that will only cover about two hundred words! Otherwise i think I may have to adapt my observations to find things to write about but i don't have much time to change things. I'm officially stuck!!!!
AnonyMouse_15046 Posted December 21, 2009 Posted December 21, 2009 If she is controlling in play and conversation could you seperate the two? Do one to help her with turn taking and one to help her to listen to others. Perhaps another activity could be to ask her to help develop the role play corner in cooperation with you. Use her ideas to extend her own play. If her liking for role play really doesn't come across at all could you cheat and add a bit? Maybe do a tracking observation too? I know it's not supposed to be like that but if you have not got enough in your existing obs you need to find something from somewhere. Have you thought of asking a colleague to read your obs and see if anything stands out to them?
AnonyMouse_18655 Posted December 21, 2009 Posted December 21, 2009 I agree with upsy daisy about adding a little bit about the role play stuff as you know that this interests the child, I embellished a little! with things I knew had happened, and this will help you to move on with this section. The more you can get in the observations the easier the whole assignment is and they are not in the word count so fill your boots!! I don't want to make you feel any worse but in core unit 2, I was recommended to use the original profile which I had written from the observations and show how the child had progressed over time. If you don't use the original child and profile it is difficult as it takes time to show progression. When I did core unit 2 it had been 6 months since I had done core unit 1 and my target child had progressed well. I agree that challenge is the key - what about setting up her own puppet show, storytelling and making up her own songs as part of the show. Maybe move onto the next section of your assignment and come back to this in a couple of days?
AnonyMouse_18655 Posted December 21, 2009 Posted December 21, 2009 Kelly is the NEC assignment or cache ? If it NEC I wouldn't worry too much about the word count, just do what you can and see what the feedback is
Guest Posted January 18, 2010 Posted January 18, 2010 Hi Thanks everyone this all helps. Sorry for the slow response I've not been on line for a while. Think I've just about finished the assignment now, just a few minor adjustments and its about done. Later than planned but I'm relieved I can move on to the next one now. Thanks again x x x
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