P.E.P.S.I.

Screening: Kate Burak

P.E.P.S.I. Screening: Kate Burak

Ryan Schulhauser

EDU 220 – Hooks

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P.E.P.S.I. Screening: Kate Burak

Biography

My niece, Kate Evelyn Burak, was born on a Thursday, September 27, 2007.

She is the youngest of three daughters, all of which were born here in Las Vegas, NV.

Her parents are Jill and David Burak; the same as her older sister Samantha Dawn

Burak. However, her eldest sister Taylor Marie Yasukawa has a different father (Mike

Yasukawa). Taylor is already grown and moved out of the house, living with her fiancé

Amber in an apartment in town here. Samantha is only a year older than Kate, so Kate

always seems to be following in her sister’s footsteps through school, that is until

recently.

She is in the fifth grade at Frank Kim Elementary and is now part of their Gifted

and Talented Program. Before this year, she almost always had the same teacher that

her sister had the previous year. She is an eager learner and really interested in

science and technology. Typically, after school she eagerly does all her homework then

spends a voluminous amount of time online. She typically uses her iPad to go online

but also her new iPhone. She loves all things Minecraft, and will typically go out of her

way to read every tidbit and watch every video on YouTube she can about the game.

Physical

Kate, at 10 years old, is currently 4ft. 11in. tall and 85 pounds. But that

information in its own right is hard to understand until you put it into context of the

statistical averages of other children in her demographic group. To do this I looked up

the growth charts and body mass index charts through the Centers for Disease control

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P.E.P.S.I. Screening: Kate Burak

for the United States. Using Kates height in inches (59 inches), I find that she is in the

95th percentile for girls aged 10. Then I calculated her body mass index (which basically

is a measurement of how healthy your weight is for your age). Using her height in

inches, and her weight in pounds you calculate by the following equation: 85 lbs. % 59

in. % 59 in. x 703. This gives you the body mass index value of 17.16. Using also the

Centers for Disease Control charts for percentiles, you find that Kate falls in the 50-75%

group. This means that she is basically the same height as 95% of the children her age

ang the same size as just a touch over half of them. Now in less scientific terms,

basically she is a tall, typical weight American little girl.

Although she loves to spend time online and on her iPad and iPhone, she equally

loves being outdoors having fun. Some of the things she loves to do outside are play

tennis and soccer. Also during recess, she loves to play the game “four square” with

other kids. She mentioned that she tries to always tries to play with different people

every day. She doesn’t really like to ride bicycles or skateboards because, and this is

her phrase, “she always skins her knees”. According to Heart.org (the website for the

American Heart Association), “Childhood obesity rates are at an all-time high: today,

nearly one in three kids and teens in the United States are obese or overweight.” They

have a program partnered with the NFL called Play 60 which suggests children try and

play 60 minutes a day of physical activity. Although Kate doesn’t really knowingly follow

this program, she does so on her own accord. She stays active at least 60 minutes a

day. This suggests, they say, as an active child, she will become an active adult later in

life. This is good news for her health. According to the textbook Psychology Applied to

teaching “Obesity can become a problem for some children of this age group”. So

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P.E.P.S.I. Screening: Kate Burak

considering how obesity can be a problem this is additionally good news that she is of

average BMI and an active child.

Emotional

As an avid animal lover, Kate cares a great deal for them. Kate and her sister

have cats at home. Kate loves to read with her cat around her. According to

parents.org, a Mary Renck Jalongo, PhD suggests that pets can aide in making a child feel

more confident in their reading aloud. She is also very much concerned about other

people’s emotions and all people’s feelings. In fact, she doesn’t even like to watch sad

movies because it upsets her to the max. She is very kind and considerate of others

and loves interacting with other kids as well as teachers. She loves to talk regarding

just about anything with anyone.

Kate seems in my opinion to have high self-esteem. Our textbook suggests one

of the reasons for this emotional characteristic could be indicative of the fact that she

sees her performance in school and has pride in her achievements. According to the

National Association for Health Esteem, “Having quiet confidence in one’s potential ability to

cope with life’s challenges contributes to feelings of competence.” This is evident in her

behavior and confidence level.

Philosophical

According to Kate, rules are very important and is very concerned about following

them strictly how they are told or written. If she sees someone else like one of her

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P.E.P.S.I. Screening: Kate Burak

peers breaking the rules, she feels it is important to point this out and tell them they are

breaking the rules. So far according to our textbook at this age “Peer group influences

become strong.” (Ross & Spielmacher, 2005). This starts to become apparent in their

moral development as well it states. So far that is not the case for Kate, as she keeps

her own council so far in these matters. She very fully much follows what is known as

the morality of constraint as per its definition the Psychology Dictionary.

At an early age it was very evident that Kate was eager to learn. She is always

craving new information, and probably learns 50 to 100 new things a day. According to

Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial behavior she is in the stage of Industry vs.

Inferiority, and this is evident partially in her desire and drive to score high according to

her peers. She absolutely loves reading on her tablet. Even though she can easily be

distracted at other times, when she is reading, she is in her own little world.

Social

Every place she goes, Kate tries to please everyone around her. She enjoys

being around all types of people and different people on a day to day basis (in addition

to of course having her friends). She encourages others to include others and new

people around her in things going on. Our textbook suggests that children who are

accepted by their peer groups are more likely to have higher levels of motivation,

grades and test scores (Wentzel & Watkins, 2011). I believe this to be the case with

Kate. Our book also states that “Play continues to make numerous contributions to

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children’s development” (Bergen & Fromberg, 2009). She really shines socially around

her peers while at play.

She is not shy at all with those around her. In fact, the word I would use to best

describe how she interacts with new people is inquisitive. She loves to ask all types of

questions to new people she meets. Our book suggests however that friendships

become more selective and gender-based at this point in development (Ross &

Spielmacher, 2005). I don’t see this yet happening with Kate. Her best friend up to this

point has been a little boy and she doesn’t tend to discriminate friendship by gender yet.

Intellectual

This year, Kate is part of a new G.A.T.E. gifted and talented only fifth grade

class. She absolutely loves the class and scores off the charts in ELA (English &

Language Arts) and mathematics. That is according to the “Nevada Ready!” testing

from the Nevada Department of Education. Here ELA score is 2619/2663 and

mathematics is 2640/2659. She always has questions about things. Not just the typical

questions always either. Real intellectual questions with a desire to truly understand

how things work, and why they work the way they do. According to Piaget’s stages of

development she should still be in concrete operational stage of thinking (textbook page

92). However, I notice that she goes beyond this stage and is able to perform formal

operational thought. She is able to perform mental manipulations, understand

abstractions and test hypotheses. Our textbook suggests this is a stage usually present

in Middle School Students.

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P.E.P.S.I. Screening: Kate Burak

Recommendations

I know I may be a little biased because she is my niece, but I have tried to look at

her as objectively as possible. I would recommend that her parents and teachers

continue to nurture that desire to learn and enthusiasm for STEM (Science, Technology,

Engineering & Mathematics) subjects. Continue to reinforce the desire for physical

activity. Perhaps since she is interested in soccer and tennis, see if she can join a team

or league somehow. This would not only help her physically stay well, but reinforce her

good social behavior already present as well. Her view on philosophical and moral

views will continue to change and develop as she gets older, but I think that she is

ready to understand the reason why rules must be followed and the meanings of why

those rules were made. Overall, I think that she is doing well, and above average in all

categories, especially in Intellectual ones.

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P.E.P.S.I. Screening: Kate Burak

Graph

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Resources:

Physical:

Clinical Growth Charts. (Updated June 16, 2017). Retrieved From:

https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/clinical_charts.htm

Snowman, Jack & McCown, Rick (2015). Psychology Applied to Teaching, 14 th Ed., pg.88.

NFL Play 60 Challenge. (Updated October 3, 2017). Retrieved From:

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Educator/FortheClassroom/NFLPlay60Challenge/NFL-PLAY-

60-Challenge-Page_UCM_304278_Article.jsp#

Emotional:

The Benefits of Pets. © Copyright 2017 Meredith Corporation. Retrieved From:

https://www.parents.com/parenting/pets/kids/the-benefits-of-pets/

Snowman, Jack & McCown, Rick (2015). Psychology Applied to Teaching, 14 th Ed., pg.90-92.

How Self-Esteem Develops. ©Copyright 2016 National Association for Self Esteem. Retrieved From:

http://healthyselfesteem.org/about-self-esteem/how-self-esteem-develops/

Philosophical:

Snowman, Jack & McCown, Rick (2015). Psychology Applied to Teaching, 14 th Ed., pg.90.

Erik Erikson | Psychosocial Stages. By Saul McLeod, updated 2017. Retrieved From:

https://simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html

Morality of Constraint – Psychology Dictionary. © PsychologyDictionary.org. Retrieved From:

https://psychologydictionary.org/morality-of-constraint/

Social:

Snowman, Jack & McCown, Rick (2015). Psychology Applied to Teaching, 14 th Ed., pg.90.

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P.E.P.S.I. Screening: Kate Burak

Snowman, Jack & McCown, Rick (2015). Psychology Applied to Teaching, 14th Ed., pg.90.

Snowman, Jack & McCown, Rick (2015). Psychology Applied to Teaching, 14 th Ed., pg.90.

Intellectual:

Nevada Ready! – Student Assessment System. Nevada Department of Education.

Snowman, Jack & McCown, Rick (2015). Psychology Applied to Teaching, 14th Ed., pg.92.

Snowman, Jack & McCown, Rick (2015). Psychology Applied to Teaching, 14 th Ed., pg.93.

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