Briel Observation

The student I observed in the infant and toddler room was a young girl named Briel. Briel had just turned two years old. She was much more interested in playing with the teacher than with the students. Briel is still developing her turn-taking skills. “Setting manner aside, it is likely that run-taking evolved because the human nervous system cannot simultaneously produce and understand speech.” (Steinberg, Bornstein, Vandell, & Rook, 2011, p.142) The teacher and Briel were having a conversation over picture day, when suddenly Briel was curious on where her friend was. Because Briel was so worried about the location of her friend, she began interrupting the teacher and stopped listening to the teacher talk about picture day. This is …show more content…
Children in this stage often engage in pretend play. “In pretend play, a block may stand for a telephone or a truck; a cardboard box becomes a fort or a tea table; a stick can serve as a magic wand, a broom, or a horse.” (Steinberg, et al., 2011, p. 202) Briel was originally playing with some blocks, when she saw the crate that the blocks were in; she got inside it and started to throw the blocks out. At first, I was unsure of what she was doing, but after she had finished throwing all of the blocks out, she laid down and “went to sleep.” I then realized that she was pretending that the crate was a bed. Her use of language and of pretend play told me that she was in the preoperational period. This is what I would expect of her age, and because she was on track in her other areas of development, it is not surprising that she is on track in her cognitive …show more content…
Harriet is a young girl; she just turned four years old. A good way to develop a child’s self esteem and help them learn is through scaffolding. “Scaffolding: Providing learning opportunities, material, hints and clues, when a child has difficulty with a task.” (Steinberg, et al., 2011, p. 206) Harriet was very curious about why the teacher did not have her hair up in a ponytail like usual. The teacher asked Harriet, “What is today?” Harriet answered “Wednesday.” The teacher replied, “Yes, you are right, but why are you all dressed up today? What is today?” To which Harriet replied, “Picture day.” “Yes,” the teacher responded, “it is picture day, that is why I do not have my hair in a ponytail, good job.” The teacher helped Harriet think critically without directly giving her the