I Spy With My Beautiful Eye

Cory Hall, M.Ed.Service Coordinator/Educator

Infant and Toddler Connection of Hanover

My motivation?

The winner is…..

Why do we observe?

• Discover children’s interests and preferences

• Assess developmental levels• Discover what strategies children are

using to reach their goals• Discover what skills children need to

learn/practice/use and their accomplishments

• Learn about children’s personalities

Keys for success in the observation process.

• Definite Purpose• Objective Descriptions

• Interpretation/Explanation– Cause or motivation

• Evaluation

Define, Please

• Observation is NOT just looking at something, but is looking FOR something

• In other words, look at what is happening, but more importantly, look for what is not happening.

WAKE UP!

• Who likes to observe?

• Who likes to be active?

• Who knows “Drive By” By Train?

What was your purpose?

• What did you look for?

• What happened?

• What didn’t happen?

• With the people at your table, create a list of items to observe during our “Drive By”

Factors that affect observation

• Sensitivity and Awareness

• Fatigue, Illness and discomfort

• Influence of self or personality

• Personal biases

• Setting or situation

Look, Watch and Think..

Now this is real……

• We are going to see a video of two infants.

• Think about the purpose for your observation……

Observe and record….

Watch this video of two toddlers….

We will watch twice…

once to see

once to record what we see

What did you think?

• Subjective observations or recordings

• Objective observations or recordings

Errors in recording

• Omission

• Commission

• Transmission (transcription)

Time to move!

• Let’s play a game about typical development!

• Volunteers?????

Interpretation of data

There is no prescription on how to interpret data!– But, there are things to consider

• A particular theory OR• What has taken place in the setting.

Let’s Practice…

• Purpose ?

• What factors affected the observation?

• What did your record? Any errors?

• Framework for interpretation?

Recording methods

• Narrative Descriptions

• Time sampling

• Event sampling

• Anecdotal records

• Frequency counts or duration records

• Checklists and rating scales

Evaluation

• Placing a value or judging the worth of something

• Look at data and draw conclusions

• Best done with teammates…

Let’s complete the observation…

• What about the evaluation piece for the baby eating green beans?

• What do you think?

In summary…

• What did you learn?

• It IS all about having the biggest pile!

• Let’s give out some prizes!