Angela Smith PED 3305 4/3/2013

Developmental Description of a Student (DDS)

The student that I have chosen for this study is a very bright and friendly seven-year old first-grader named Ana. Ana is one of three sisters who all attend Northline Elementary. Her older sister, who was also taught by Ms. Dorsey, is a year older and in the second grade. Anas younger sister is in kindergarten, and will possibly be in Ms. Dorseys class next year. Although I have not had an opportunity to observe Anas interaction with the oldest sister, I have seen the younger sister on numerous occasions during lunch, as well as in the halls during the restroom break. This sister always appears excited to see Ana, often getting out of line to run up to her and hug her. Ana seems to enjoy these encounters as well, and seems to view her younger sister as a friend. Based on conversations that I have had with her, she is extremely protective of her little sister. She helps her with her homework on a regular basis. She also does nice little things for her, such as giving her stickers and pencils that she received as rewards at school. She seems to have a better relationship with the younger sister than with the older, and enjoys the role of big sister. She has never mentioned having arguments with the younger sister, but she has had fights with the older one, whom Ana has described as bossy. Ana is an extremely likeable girl with an engaging personality and a friendly, outgoing demeanor; she is well-liked by the other students in the class. As a student, she is intelligent and confident. She is a strong reader and speller, and she often readily volunteers answers. In terms of behavior, she can be a bit rambunctious at times, particularly at lunch. The other UHD intern and I usually sit with the students and monitor them in the cafeteria, and Ana is often one of the group of students who need constant reminding to stay seated or speak in an inside voice. She complies with any redirection of behavior, but she often repeats the behavior within a few minutes. In the classroom, she is somewhat more controlled, but there are times when she has to be reminded to stop talking. Based on my observations and interaction with Ana, I have concluded that she may be in what Piagets theory of cognitive development would classify as the

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concrete operational stage. This theory states that children between the ages of seven and eleven display an ability to think logically. New abilities include the use of operations that are reversible. Thinking is decentered, and problem solving is less restricted by egocentrism. Abstract thinking is not possible. (Slavin, p. 33) It is my opinion that this classification is more appropriate than the preceding stage, preoperational, in which childrens thinking is egocentric and they lack the ability to focus on more than one aspect of a situation. I have observed several instances with Ana that lead me to this conclusion. One example is her various interactions with her classmates. She demonstrated an awareness of the fact that other students may view situations differently, and she seems to respect the opinions of others. She also possesses the ability to apply critical thinking to solve problems, such as figuring out solutions to her sisters various dilemmas. In addition to being able to use logical reasoning, Ana has demonstrated the ability to use seriation. For instance, during a lesson on antonyms, which I was conducting for my formal observation, I asked the students to cut and paste pairs of antonym into a booklet that I had made for them. I noticed that Ana was not only able to correctly complete this task, she had also neatly arranged her pairs of words according to size (she had cut the slips of paper in different sizes.) She did this completely on her own, because in my instructions at the beginning of the activity, I simply asked the students to make sure to glue the pairs of words together, but I did not specify any particular order or format. Vygotskys social cognitive theories also allowed me to better understand Anas learning processes. The only private speech I noticed with Ana was during spelling tests. All of the students tended to sound out each part of the word they were writing, including Ana. No other instances of private speech were noted. I believe that the lessons of Ms. Dorseys that I have observed are within Anas zone of proximal development. The material that she presents to the students is usually just challenging enough that most of the students are able to grasp the concept after it has been modeled several times, and with the assistance of the other intern and me. I have seen several instances of scaffolding in Ms. Dorseys class. Her usual routine when introducing new material is to model for the students, and then have the students answer questions as a whole class, and finally work independently as we all walk around the room providing assistance as

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needed. There is also a great deal of cooperative learning taking place in the classroom. The students are all grouped according to their academic ability, so the other three students that sit in Anas cluster are all at the same approximately skill level. Because of her outgoing personality, Ana is usually the most likely one of her group to offer assistance to her neighbors, whether they have asked for it or not. At times, she can be a bit overly enthusiastic in her attempts to help for instance, if she notices that someone has misspelled a word, she will loudly and urgently correct that student. There have been a few instances when Ana has been the recipient of help from her peers, which she has accepted without complaint, but most of her interactions involve her helping someone else. Erik Erikson theorized that everyone must pass through several stages in which psychosocial crises must be resolved. According to his theory a child between the ages of six and twelve years old is in what Erikson has identified as stage four, and the crisis at this stage is industry vs. inferiority. A childs teacher and schoolmates are very significant at this stage, and there is a need to successfully make things, which brings about a feeling of accomplishment. Anas performance in the classroom aligns with this theory. I have noted not only the care that she takes in completing tasks, but also her creativity. As in the example with the antonym activity, she will go beyond what is required in order to make something that she can take pride in. She clearly enjoys the satisfaction of doing a good job, and she takes pleasure in the approval of her teacher. Because of the positive environment that Ms. Dorsey cultivates in the classroom through encouragement and praise, I believe that Ana will successfully pass through this stage of development. In addition to his theory on cognitive development, Piaget also developed a theory on moral development. According to his theory, children Anas age are in what he labeled the heteronomous stage of morality. This first stage of moral development is also referred to as moral realism or the morality of constraint. (Slavin, p. 58.) During this stage, a child will judge the badness of their behavior on the basis of the consequence. I have seen this type of reasoning in Anas behavior. She is usually much more restrained in the classroom, where consequences can be enforced by the classroom teacher. On the other hand, in the cafeteria, she is aware of the fact that the other intern and I do not the

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authority to dole out consequences, so she is more likely to display inappropriate behavior. She does not seem believe that she is doing anything really wrong, because there are no consequences to face. This type of reasoning is in alignment with Piagets hypothesis. Maslows theory of needs classifies the needs of every person into a lower and an upper hierarchy. The needs in the lower hierarchy, or the deficiency needs, include needs that satisfy basic requirements for physical and psychological well-being such as being loved, safe, and fed. The needs in the upper hierarchy, or growth needs, include values such as an appreciation for beauty and the need to know and understand things. In his theory, Maslow hypothesizes that the deficiency needs must be met first before the growth needs are addressed. It is my opinion that Anas deficiency needs have been well-met, and she is in the process of satisfying her growth needs. She has the selfconfidence of a child who has been brought up in a warm environment with an abundance of love and affirmation. She also exhibits keen curiosity about everything, and shows a love of learning new things. Her creativity in completing tasks demonstrates an appreciation of beauty. I have only seen pro-social behavior in Ana. Her interactions with her classmates are always friendly and open. She is on good terms with the three students that she is grouped with in the classroom, but she enjoys socializing with different students at lunch. I think that friends and peers are very important to Ana. As I noted earlier, she has an affable nature and gets along well with everyone, both students and adults. Although Ana is bilingual (English and Spanish), she is fluent in English, both orally and in reading. Ms. Dorseys classroom instruction for her ELLs follows Krashens theory of second language acquisition the focus of instruction is on meaning rather than on form. (CAL). ELLs in Ms. Dorseys classroom are allowed to improve their language skills as the lessons are being taught. One final aspect of Anas learning experience that I have noted involves Fergus Kraiks levels-of processing theory. According to the textbook, the theory suggests that the more meaning that is applied to a concept, the more mental processing is required and the more likely the student is to remember it. (Slavin,

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p. 153). I have observed this phenomenon with Ana as I worked with her one-onone to help her prepare for her spelling test. While learning to spell some words, she would sometimes ask for clarification of the meaning of the word. After I had given her the definition, she would often give me an example or define the word using her own words. I noted that these were the words that she tended to remember better. I learned several valuable things during this study, most of which will be useful to me in my future teaching career. It will be helpful to have an understanding of where my students are in terms of their cognitive, social, and psychological development because being able to identify the various stages will enable me to address their needs more effectively. This study gave me an opportunity to actually see firsthand some of the theories that I have studied, which will further prepare me to be able to recognize the behaviors that indicate the stages of my future students.