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Different methods of observation - Coggle Diagram
Different methods of observation
Techniques
The child must be kept at the heart of the observation
observations should done ‘on’ children rather than ‘with’ them
Beware
Be wary of this becoming just a ‘box to tick’
Children have the right to say ‘no’ to being observed
Parents are a child’s first and most enduring educators
Tools
For short observations
Sticky back notes
not like to show to parents or Ofsted
For child
Taking an interest
Three levels
Being ready
Being willing
Being able
Being involved
Persisting with difficulty or uncertainty
Communicating with others
Taking responsibility
Learning story
Initiative
Engagemnet
Intentionality
Relationships with others
Dispositions and approaches to learning
Representation in other forms
Sharing wit others
Reflection
space for parents or carers to write their view of the learning story
First person: Narrator
own perspective, describing the things that the child does and says
who they play with, level of involvement, amount of enjoyment and any other contextual information
Have a title
First and foremost a ‘story’ about a child
less clinical, less concerned with keeping interpreta- tion out of the recording
more interesting and engag- ing than an anecdote and more lively and dynamic than objective field notes
recording episodes of sustained shared thinking, recording the dialogue as accurately as possible, including errors in grammar and syntax
Time sample
accurate, but could be brief
where the child is playing, the type of play they are engaged in or the toys they are playing with
gauging a child’s level of involvement and the types of play they’re interested in
for childminders or nannies to keep records of the child’s interactions throughout the day.
Disadvantage
observations can easily be missed
the practi- tioner has to be available to keep track of the child and be able to make notes
useful for evidence for children who have suspected SEN such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Tracking
a floor plan of the setting
can also be used to identify the areas of the nursery that are most used by that particular child
This can be interesting if a child’s behaviour has changed and evidence needs to be gathered to confirm this
Advantage
only takes a minute for the practitioner to make a note of a particular child’s movements
Disadvantage
have to be aware of what is happening in the room at all times
Sociogram
determining the social development of children
track a child’s social development and can give an indication of personal and emotional development as well
may not have been beneficial for that child’s self-esteem
useful for SEN evidence
ood for recording emotional devel- opment, particularly emotional triggers, which may not be immedi- ately obvious
Photographs and video
pick up the details that it is easy for practitioners to miss in the busy environment of a setting
They can look back
capture physical movements and fleeting gazes of even the youngest children