Jazmine Martin

11/1/14
Reflective Journal #4
Week of October 27

As my field experience observations is coming to an end, I have noticed how things have
changed since my first field observation. The way I have been observing has changed and the
notes I take have gotten better. I think I have gotten more out of my observation towards the end
of my experience as opposed to the beginning.
When I first went into Mrs. Pennys class, I was focusing a lot on what Mrs. Penny was
doing. I was watching how she was running her class and paying attention to the different
activities she was doing with her students. Much of what I was focusing on had to do with Mrs.
Penny and trying to find things she did that I would try out or change when I had a class of my
own. After about two weeks, I started to begin to pay more attention to the students in Mrs.
Pennys class and how they responded to the different activities she did with them. I also began
observing one student for my Child Study assignment and I was able to note where she was
developmentally in all of the domains.
When I first started observing my child for the Child Study, I found it hard to capture
many of her interactions with other children. I didnt want her to feel like I was watching her and
make her uncomfortable, so I tried to give some attention to the other students in the class by
doing some of their center time activities with them and asking them about their work. This
caused me to miss some of the dialogue she was having with her peers, which could help me
figure out where she is with her social development. I realized that I had to make myself stop
doing as much interaction with the other students so I could focus on my child and the things she

was doing. After I did this, I found that I was capturing many more social interactions and my
anecdotal notes were becoming stronger.
Something else I noticed while observing my child for the Child Study, was that after a
few weeks the little girl realized that I was watching her more than any of the other students in
her class. I noticed that she would look over at me as she was doing her work and sometimes she
would wave at me while I was watching her. She even started to whisper when she was talking to
her peers because she knew I was listening to what she was saying. I was surprised to see that
she realized that I was watching her. I didnt think children that young would pay much attention
to me in the class, much less notice when I was watching one student more than another.
After completing this field experience, I think I will be much more prepared to do more
observation of students in the future. I have been able to practice observing objectively and
making sure I do not include my opinion in the notes that I write about the child I am observing.
This practice will help me in the future when I become a teacher because a large part of teaching
is being able to observe your students in order to try to make adjustments in your classroom to
make it a more accepting environment that fosters positive growth from all of the students. I
know that no one will ever be a perfect observer and everyone can always improve, but I think
being able to start as early as my sophomore year in college gives me some experience that many
educators may not have had when they were in school. I will use this experience to my advantage
and be sure to take what I have learned during this field observation experience and in this class
and implement it into my own classroom when I become a teacher.