I created this website as a project for one of my classes at Plymouth State University. The assignment was to gauge our understanding on some methods to observing school aged kids.

 

          These observations were somewhat easy. However I did come across some challenges. One major challenge I faced was finding places to observe. I observed at both the Pemi Youth Center and Top Gun Gymnastics. I did not enjoy observing at the youth center because it took me away from interacting with them. I feel pretty proud of my work on this observation project however my last observation was not as good as it could have been. The last observation was example 2 in the running record section of my website. When I observed I felt very awful and was on heavy medication for my back so it was hard to focus. If I were to do this project differently I would have had better places to observe. For the most part I was very organized with this project with the help of my computer. I asked for help many times because I wanted to get it right. I turned all but one observation in on time and I regret not turning them all in on time.

 

 

            I am very proud of this web site. I worked tremendously hard making it look welcoming and having my observations clearly displayed with explanations. I do hope that maybe once I publish it for everyone to see someone will find it useful. If I could change one thing about this assignment I would have utilized more days to work in class on this to ask for help. I found it challenging to put this online and I am not even quite sure I did it correctly.

 

 

 

         ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ I strongly believe this represents my skills as an observer. I believe I did a good job relating my observations back to child development. See, I enjoy projects like these that demonstrate my skills as a student rather than taking a test. Tests freak me out and I was really hoping this was our final.

 

 

       In the professional world if I were to use this project as part of a larger professional portfolio I think my employer would be proud. It shows that I am capable of multitasking taking notes while watching children is very hard to do. This website also shows that I am organized and have a good eye for detail. My website is neat and clean and displays my hard work nicely and I believe an employer would love this kind of work ethic out of their employee.

 

If I were a professional evaluating this project I would say that it is organized well however may need some editing. I have horrible grammar and cannot spell for the life of me. I would give myself advice to revise before I publish. I would suggest maybe a better more professional color scheme.

 

          For future educators this assignment really is beneficial. Before this class I had no clue that teachers went through so much trouble when they observed children. One piece of advice I would give to future educators is that observing children is very important but observing yourself is just as important. Having the power and knowledge of good observation skills can really be beneficial to any one.

 

        For me as an example I wish to become a therapist one day. I have learned vital skills that will help me succeed in my field of study. Therapists are constantly writing anecdotal observations and from those observations they can come up with a treatment plan that can help an individual. This assignment can help with any job that is out there. Everyone should know how to properly observe. Who knows maybe becoming a more observant person could save your life or somebody else’s one day.

 

                 I really enjoyed this assignment. It was fun to create a website. I am very thankful for all my professors’ help. One major challenge with this assignment is if someone isn’t computer savvy it would be very hard to complete. I tried my best on this assignment to observe an array of children. I also am thankful I had the opportunity to observe some kids with some types of disability. I believe that is going one step ahead.

 

       This assignment was very beneficial. If I were to make some changes I would have had a clearer objective and written out all expectations and a rubric. Those little things could have helped students like me who freak out if they think they are doing an assignment wrong.

         What I find most rewarding from this portfolio assignment is that maybe when I publish my website others will like it and find it very useful. I am very grateful from the knowledge I have learned and will be using the various methods of observation I learned again in the future. I hope you enjoyed my website as much as I do! Lets now all cross our fingers for the final!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​