Observation
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By: Kait Mackey
Below is an examples of an Anecdotal Observation being used to observe a child and explanations of how the observation relates to that child's development.
Many 16 year olds are comfortable in their own skin and can become moody and their comments can come off as rude. Teens will often speak their minds. They are typically trying to become more independent. Some may want a job and most want to get their license. The 16-year-old teenager is mostly interested in what is happening right now and doesn’t often look to the future. They also can fall victim of peer pressure.
When I observed Kally today, and when I have talked to her in the past, she is very worried when she is at the Pemi Youth Center. She has to call her mom everyday to remind her mother to pick her up on time. She often has to ask to know what time it is. From what I observed Kally is lacking in her social/emotional development. She seems to not be very comfortable in her own skin. She rarely speaks her mind but will ask what others favorite color is various times. She is very dependent on her mother it seems. Kally seems to have trouble with fine motor skills like writing and holding a pencil. She may even have a sensory issue toward noises but more observations would need to be done to verify.
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Example 1
At Pemi Youth Center I was observing Kally. Kally is 16 years old and goes to Plymouth High School. I chose to do an anecdotal record because we were working one on one together on a project she was doing for school. I first observed and wrote in a notebook.
After I worked with her and helped her with her project and jotted down some very messy notes I wrote out everything that occured and my thoughts. I was observing her Social/Emotional development.
Anecdotal Observations
Anectdotal observations are very easy to do. They are basically easy notes you jot down quickly. It is not usually a planned observation.
It is very easy to write an anecdotal observations and write many of them to track a child’s behavior. You could use your cumulative findings to see when and if a certain behavior occurs and to maybe figure out a reason why.
