Janea Van Natta

EDT 473E
Critical Witnessing Paper
4/19/3015

Child Selection & Initial Impressions

I am at Linden Elementary in a kindergarten classroom. When I walked into the
classroom on the first day, I was able to pick who I wanted to observe very quickly. D
was sitting separately from the rest of the group. His desk was placed right in front of
the teachers desk. D is an African American and he is 5 years old. As I watched D
come into the classroom, he walked very slowly with his backpack dragging on the floor
behind him. It was a task for him to come inside the classroom and begin his morning
work on his own. D needed several reminders from the teacher to sit down and begin his
work. After morning work time was over, I went to see how he did. All that D was able to
complete was putting his name on the top of the paper.
I watched closely as D moved to the carpet for circle time. His teacher also gave
him an assigned seat on the carpet to try to keep him focused on what they were talking
about. It was clear that D has a very difficult time sitting still for a period of time. At one
point, D was completely laying down on the carpet. D was easily distracted by the other
students on the carpet. D completely missed what the class did with the calendar

because he was too concerned with what the little girl was doing next to him. I observed
as my teacher often gave D the look, throughout their time together on the carpet. He
would respond by getting himself back into, crisscross applesauce, and later return to
his position laying down.
After circle time, D works with a title one teacher. When he came back to the
classroom, his class was working on writing the letters of the alphabet. I went over to
Ds desk so I could get him caught up on what he missed. It was clear to me right away
that D needed an alphabet strip on his desk so he could have a visual of what the
letters he was writing looked like. When I gave D an alphabet strip, he was able to write
the letters with no problem. When I worked on D with one on one, he thrived off of this
attention that I was giving him. It seemed as though he needed reassurance that he was
doing a good job. Whenever I would tell D he was doing a good job he would get the
biggest smile on his face. This made me begin to wonder if D lacked some of this one
on one attention at home. This type of behavior repeated through other subject areas
throughout the day. When I would sit down and spend time with D, he seemed very
engaged in the work that he was doing.
I asked my cooperating teacher about D to find out a little bit more about him.
When I asked her what he is like in school, she said, It seems as though he has no
interest in being here, he has told me many times that he hates doing school work. She
also shared with me that D never brings back any work from home and often times
forgets to return his folder from school. It was really sad to hear that D has such a bad
attitude about school already in kindergarten. The other children in the classroom seem

to like D and enjoy playing with him. During free time, D went straight to the dramatic
play area where he played house with a couple of other children in the classroom. D
picked up a baby doll and placed it in the highchair. He kept placing food in front of the
baby and said, My baby is so hungry! I also noticed that after I gave D that one on one
attention early in the day, he would often come up to me throughout the day like he
wanted more attention from me.
My initial impression that I formed from observing D the first couple of days is
that he is a very active child. He seems as though he has a bad attitude about school
already at a young age, however, I know this is just an initial assumption so I am excited
to continue observing D to understand more about him.
Childs Testimony and Softening Lens on Other Source Testimony
Now that I have observed my child and gathered my initial impressions about a
student that I have picked out, I want to really begin to understand this childs story and
learn more about him. According to Dutro, Analysis across the multiple data sources
revealed the various ways that children testify to their own life stories in various contexts
including informal conversations with teachers and peers, class discussions about ideas
and shared texts, and informal and formal writing. (Dutro, p.175) I have gathered most
of my information through discussions with D as well as more observations. Since my
cooperating teacher shared with me her concerns about Ds attitude towards school, as
well as witnessing this myself, I wanted to really begin finding some more information to
help me understand this child more.

D continued to be one of the last students to enter the classroom each day, and
many times, with his backpack dragging on the ground behind him. I jokingly mentioned
to D, You better pick your backpack up off the ground, its going to trip you! He replied
back with a smirk and said, Its just too hard to make it stay on! I wanted to begin
forming a relationship with D to build some trust before I began really gathering more
information. According to Ayer, Observing children purposely and carefully is a way to
get to know them, a way to look more deeply (Ayers, 47) I think carefully is the key word
in Ayers words. I have observed students a lot while at Miami, however, I have never
carefully observed a student as I have D.
I noticed right away that D really gravitated towards me after the first couple times
in field. I often times saw D out of the corned of my eye watching me as I walked around
helping the other students. When I would get closer to him, he would call out, Miss.V I
need help! I went over to D and ask him what he needed help with. Instead of
answering my question right away, he pointed to the picture on the worksheet of a dog
and said, I have a dog that looks just like him. At first, the teacher side in me thought
about almost reminding D that he needed to stay on task and begin his worksheets
because he was already so far behind everyone else that morning. But instead, I
responded with, Oh really? I also have two dogs that look kind of like that puppy on the
page. D smiled at me and turned back to his worksheet. Periodically while instructing
him what to do on his morning work, he would stop me and ask little questions. I would
answer him and then he would begin working again.

A great opportunity arose to allow me to really dig deeper in really understanding

this student. I was helping my teacher catch up on some assessments so I took D out
into the hallway. I think its important when talking with children about their lives to really
play attention to what they are saying and understand their testimony. According to
Dutro, These everyday testimonies to students lives and the ways such testimony is
witnessed can be insidious and consequential for how students are positioned within the
essentialized views of class, race, and what it takes to be successful student that are
often presented in school.(Dutro, p.176) I started out by just talking with him and
asking him how his day was. He responded with one word answers not really making
much eye contact. When I told D that we were going to do some activities together, his
unwillingness to want to participate was very obvious. He replied right away with, I dont
want to do all of this by myself. I took this as an opportunity to ask questions and really
figure out more. I began asking D about why he didnt want to do the activities and he
shared with me because thats all that they do while they are at school and they are too
hard.
I wanted to use this time to ask D about some things that he does at
home. I thought that by asking this, it may allow me to begin understanding what types
of things he does as home. I also wanted to see if I could begin to grasp a better
understanding of his defiance towards school. The first question that I asked D is who
lives in his house with him. His answer kind of surprised me, he answered with, My
mom, my moms friend, and my brother! I asked about his moms friend just to get a

better understanding and he shared with me that his mom friend stays with him because
his mom works a lot so she can buy him toys!
I then started asking D what he does when he is at home. He shared with
me that he usually watch TV or play video games with his brother. I asked him who work
works at home with him on his homework and he just looked at me with a blank face
and said, I know how to do it all by myself. I smiled at D and said that was great! This
really made me begin thinking. My cooperating teacher shared with me that D rarely
comes to school with his homework completed.

Analysis
Talking with D and really getting to know him better, it all kind of became clear to
me. Ds mother is a single parent who has to work long hours in order to support her
children. D is very much aware of this because it is obvious that his mother has shared
with him why she must work so much. It is clear to me that I made various assumptions
of this child before really getting to know who he really is as well as his story.
I immediately noticed Ds attitude about school without my teacher even sharing
this with me. It seemed obvious to me that D did not want to be at school the way he
carried himself each morning. He often shared with us that he did not want to do his
school work because it was too difficult for him and he didnt know what to do. I also
talked about earlier how D often would ask for help and seemed to thrive off of the

attention that I gave him. I immediately assumed that this need for attention was
because he must be lacking this attention at home. After really getting to know D and
talk with him further, I realized that this was not the case at all.
What I thought was Ds need for attention was actually his need for simple one on
one instruction. Whenever I would go over and show D what to do, he beamed with
confidence because he actually understood what he was supposed to do! Often times,
my cooperating teacher gives the students worksheets without really explaining to them
how to complete this worksheet. I made an assumption that D was thriving for attention
from me because he didnt get much attention at home. I realized that I was so wrong, D
honestly just wanted to be able to understand and be able to complete his homework on
his own. I would show D what to do and he would immediately get to work and seem so
excited. It honestly seemed like there was a new kid sitting right in front of me. D
seemed to have the best attitude about school and would often share his completed
work with the other students around him.
I also assumed that the reason D does not bring back his homework and folder
each day is because his mother may not be very much involved. After really getting to
know D and asking questions, I now understand. It is not that Ds mother is not involved.
His mother is dealing with the stress of raising two children on her own. She has to work
long hours in order to put food on the table each night for her children. Homework may
not be a priority because she is working day in and day out making ends meet for her
family with no support.

Realizing this honestly made me emotional. I thought for sure that I knew exactly
what was going on in this childs life just to find out that I was so wrong. Walking into
Linden Elementary, I picked out the student that I assumed came from a low SES
family. I assumed that all he wanted was attention because he lacked this attention at
home. I assumed that this childs mother was not involved at all because he came back
to school without homework being done. These were all assumption that showed me
the real truth behind this childs testimony. I had no idea what was going on in this
childs life. It took very close observations and discussions to really have an idea about
what he was experiencing.
This assignment has taught me more than I would have thought, I didnt
understand at first what it really means to critically witness and observe a child. Like I
said before, my time at Miami has been filled with child observations. I realize now that
those observations were made of many assumptions. It is so easy to assume you
understand what a child is like and where they come from. I realize now how wrong you
can be.
According to Ayers, Attending to the details of one child at a time can develop a
richer understanding of that person, of course, and it can simultaneously strengthen a
deeper and more powerful understanding of all children. Doing this assignment has
made me realized that as a teacher, you are going to have to critically whiteness not one
student, but a whole classroom. I now understand how important it is not to make
assumptions. These assumptions not only can be very wrong, but they can completely
alter your view of a child. I have learned through my education at Miami how important it

is to really get to know the students in your classroom. This idea is now intensified.
Getting to know your students is the most important part of teaching. It is so important
that you make a huge effort to really understand them and where they come from. This
critical witnessing paper has truly showed me how dangerous assumptions can be and
how understanding your students can take time, but is so beneficial.

Sources
Ayers,W. (2001). To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher. New York, Teachers College
Press.
Dutro, E. Urban Students Testifying to Their Own Stories: Talking Back to Deficit
Perspectives. Urban Students Testifying.