Running Head: Behaviours of Students

Child Observation Projects

Lineiry Campos
University Of Belize

Behaviours of Students

School: Corozal Community College

Class: 1Y
Subject: English (Reading)
Amount of students: 30
Observer: Yasmari Barrera, Lineiry Campos and Manuel Tzul
Classroom observations recorded:
1) Students reached on time
2) The class was organized
3) Interactive
4) listen to instructions at the beginning of class
5) students are curious, asking questions
6) positive classroom environment
7) students were engaged
8) students formed groups and were assigned to read in their little groups
9) student were reading loud
10) some were following instructions; some were not
11) some students were distracted
12) students were whispering, drawing and not practicing their reading assigned to them
13) became noisy
14) students reading aloud at the same time was confusing
15) some students finished earlier and were distracted doing something else
16) students now read again but quietly, some did follow instructions but didnt
17) students behaviour was positive, were engaged on their reading at some point
18) noticed that students asked the teacher how to pronounce words they did know
19) when reading some students were shy
20) students were keenly listening to their peers read now
21) others were practicing their readings were practicing their own reading when it was the
turn of a group to read aloud
22) students were sighing
23) attentive to teachers conclusion
Rewriting the Observation Notes:
The child observation was held at the Corozal Community College this institution is located in
Corozal town, San Andres Village. The classroom that we observed was an English class with
approximately 30 students. The observation was conducted on the 19th July 2016 from 11:10am
to 11:40 and each the lessons observed was for 40 minutes. The reason why this setting was

Behaviours of Students

chosen was because it was the most approachable and also this institution seemed quite
interesting and active.
While observing the classrooms, there were diverse behaviours encountered as students came
from diverse backgrounds with different ways of thinking. Some students followed instructions
others were doing their own thing and/or didnt payed attention to the instructions of their
teacher. While observing the English class, the students reach on time and it was clearly noticed
that they were hyper active students. As they entered the classroom, in an orderly manner, the
students went to their assigned seats and settle down ready to listen to the teacher. Moreover, it
was noticed that as soon as the teacher entered the classroom, the students were being quite
respectful to him. As the teacher proceeded to give his objectives of the class and started giving
his instructions, the students were keenly paying attention to him. The teacher instructed students
to form groups of four and it seemed that the students were well organized. It was observed that
there was one student in particular who was very talkative among his group. Moreover, it was
quite impressive to notice that when the teacher asked to take out their previously given handout,
the majority of the students had it. In those groups students were supposed to read aloud their
passages assigned to them. The classroom became productive and students were busy reading but
the reading aloud caused the classroom to become too noisy. Since it was noisy some students
werent reading as assigned. It was observed that some students were not following instructions
as they were drawing and chatting with others. It was observed that some students didnt know
how to pronounce a word they asked the teacher for help and he was there to help the students.
Students then were assigned to read but this time in quietly, eventually, students started to
become board. Again it was observed that some students were not following instructions and
when the teacher passed by the started to read or so it seemed. After the students finished

Behaviours of Students

practicing their reading quietly, the teacher explained that each group will have a chance time to
read their passages. Some students read really low, some couldnt keep up with their colleagues
and got lost. It was noticed that the other students who were listening to their colleagues read
were starting to lose interest after a while as it was noticed that some students were sighing.
Students were then asked to fix back their rows and the students started to interact while setting
down. At the end of the class, students were attentively listing to the conclusion of the lesson and
were asking about their future test. Furthermore, it was observed that the teacher was providing
feedback both positive and negative to the how the students read and advised the one who were
shy and weak when reading.

Interpretation
After observing students from English (Reading) class from Corozal Community College, I
gathered as much knowledge on the way they behaved in the classroom. Though this was a new
experience for me, it was quite interesting to have observed the way students interacted with
each other. I observed that the students reached on time. This could be seen as a routine because

Behaviours of Students

when the buzzer rang they already knew it was time to go to another class. This behaviour of
students can be related to Ivan Pavlovs classical conditioning theory since as the buzzer
(stimulus) rang, and causes the students to react, respond and know that it was time for another
class, although it was a regulation practiced by the school. Moreover, the students settled down
in an orderly manner and greeted their teacher. It seemed they have learned to respect their
teacher and vice-versa. The teacher stated his objective and gave his instructions; at first the
seating arrangement was in rows and columns and then they were instructed to form groups of
four. This caused the students to interact for a moment and exchange some words among
themselves. Furthermore, the students made some noise when pulling their chairs and forming
their groups and the teacher told them to keep their noise level down by raising their chair. This
can be seen as a positive reinforcement so in the future students would know that they will be
scolded if they pulled their chair. The classroom environment that was created was a healthy and
a positive one where students started listen for further instruction of the teacher. Students were
engaged in their class and were asking question to the teacher to clear off doubts they had. Since
it was a reading session, instructions were that students had to first read aloud to practice
pronunciation of words and overall their reading. In my view this caused the environment to
suddenly become noisy; thus, this could have caused the students to become perplex among each
other and also not to follow and understand what they were reading. In addition, I noticed that
some students were not reading as assigned by the teacher but rather they were drawing or
chatting with each other when the teacher was not looking around. Also, some students finished
reading fast so they started distracting the others since they were chatting. B.F Skinner states that
punishment weaknesses behaviour so by calling their attention, students can behave better and no
longer disrupt other students and the class (MacLeod, S. 2015). After some time the teacher

Behaviours of Students

assigned them to read quietly now, this was to further improve their reading and pronunciation of
words. The classroom environment became quiet and peaceful and students seemed engaged in
their work but again there were some students that werent. Moreover, at some point the students
were engaged in their reading and behaved in a positive way meaning that they didnt misbehave
in a way to challenge the teacher and other times when the students saw the teacher approaching
they acted as though they were reading just not to be caught doing anything by their teacher and
be punished. This behaviour by William Glasser, a humanist, points out that it is caused because
of the need to have fun (The Glasser Approach, 2010). Then the teacher asked them to stop and
each group had their chance to read aloud while the rest followed. While analysing the students
behaviour, it seemed they were getting bored since I noticed some students were sighing or
maybe other factors might have influenced students like maybe the night before they went
partying or lacked sleep and this causes student to lose focus in class. Furthermore, I also noticed
that after the students finish reading teacher gave appraisals to the students for their effort and
this is linked to B.F Skinner theory where the students are being positively reinforced
(MacLeod,S. 2015). I believe that this would help students to keep trying and improve especially
if reading is one of their weaknesses. It was also noticed that some students read really low,
mumbled since they were shy and I believe this behaviour is caused due to lack of confidence
and self-esteem. Moreover, I saw no favouritism displayed by the teacher to any of his students.
Finally, after all students completed the reading, they properly settled back to their rows and
listened attentively to the teachers conclusion/wrap up of the lesson. Here the teacher started to
explain that throughout the semester theyll receive books to read based on movies. I observed
that students because excited when they hear this since it sounded interesting to them and this is
an example of positive reinforcement since students will more than likely want to read the books

Behaviours of Students

thus, helping them improve vocabulary, pronunciation and reading. It is also related to Banduras
social learning theory since students expressions showed that they were eager to learn more
about the books theyll be reading.
To conclusion, in this era educational systems are highly complex and there is no one
instructional strategy that would work for all students as they are unique and dynamic human
beings. They all gather information is distinctive ways and that is why it is really important for
teachers to understand our students; humanist Arthur Combs states that we must walk a mile in
students shoes and I agree with him. All students have different learning styles from auditory to
visual to kinaesthetic, etcetera. Moreover, we need to instill our students with positive aspects
and help them become lifelong learning. At the end of the day, we teachers play a vital role in
nourishing them and helping them become productive citizen.

References:
McLeod,S.(2015).Skinner-Operant Conditioning. Retrieved from
www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html
The Glasser Approach.(2010). Retrieved from, http://www.wglasser.com/the-glasserapproach/choice-theory

Behaviours of Students

McLeod, S. (2016).Bandura -Social Learning Theory. Retrieved from

www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html