Relating Behaviors to Observing
Behaviors, something that is key to understand when observing. But first let’s define behavior, according to the textbook behavior is “anything that can be seen, heard, counted, or measured (Cartwright & Cartwright, 1984) (Pg.44)”. For a better understanding of what behavior is here are some examples of behaviors we see children do daily: kicking legs, talking back, giving a hug, and sucking thumb.
Understanding what behavior means is key as future early childhood educators we must be able to infer what the behavior’s mean and give a logical conclusion. By doing this it opens another element and perspective to what is happening. Now how does this relate to observation and why is this important? Firstly, as a child develops their behavior changes and develops over periods of times. It is essential to reflect on this to see how a child has progressed or not over the time period. Secondly, we can also see what activates a child behavior and see why they chose to react that way in given situation. This can help us see later if they react the same way or if they go about it another way. Lastly, children talk with their bodies, this important to be aware of as stated in the textbook “young children communicate much of what they think and feel nonverbally”. This is important because children have not developed as much proper communication as we have thus being we need to use our expertise in this subject area and apply it when observing. Next we need to be aware of what can affect a child’s behavior and change the way they act. One example would be environment, with change of a child’s environment (especially a new one), we must take into consideration the change and how they may feel and act. Looking at the first day of kindergarten it may be the first time a child is away from home for a long period of time if they did not do any day-care or camps yet. Most children are going to be cautious and shy and not themselves, compared to the last day of kindergarten most children have started to develop a sense of self.
