Read the anecdotal record below then answer the questions.
Anecdotal record: At free choice time, Asha was in the pretend play area. The area was recently set up as a veterinarian’s office, including different stuffed animals, animal care materials, etc. She clipped a dog leash onto Joshua’s shirt and said, “Let’s go for a walk, doggie”. She led him around the room with the leash, then returned to the pretend play area with him. She placed a food dish on the floor and said, “You must be hungry! I’ll take care of you”. She then looked up to me (the teacher) and said, “My mom takes care of the doggie at my house. His name is Sam.” … Later in the day, you observed Asha playing outside with two of her classmates. Asha said to them, “I’m the mommy bunny so I have to do that. Here, baby bunny. Here’s your little bed to sleep on. I will lick your fur clean.”
Based on what you read in anecdote 1, what would you choose as a topic to study further with the child?
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Early childhood educators often choose more general topics to study. Choosing a specific topic to study is often more in line with the observed interest. For example, if a child was observed using a magnifying glass to look closely at an ant that entered the classroom, a general theme an educator might choose is “Insects”. However, the specific observed interest is “Ants”.
With this in mind, and thinking about your response to question 1, what is a more specific topic of interest you might choose to study with children? (If you think it couldn’t be more specific, describe why.)
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Sometimes we (as educators) can also fail to observe closely enough, or not spend enough time interpreting what we observe, when we’re trying to determine what children are interested in. For example, I once had a child in my classroom that played with the train set (for all of free choice time) every day for a week. I initially assumed the child was interested in trains. As I watched the child more closely I realized he was always lying on the floor when rolling the train pieces on the carpet, and looking up at the train wheels. Later (after a lot of observing and conversation) I understood the child’s interest was actually in how things move, specifically the rotation of round objects.
With this in mind, and thinking about your responses to question 1 and 2, what other topic(s) of interest might there be evidence of in this anecdote?
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