Observation Portfolio 

Observation #3: For my third observation I observed a little girl who is about 5 years old and her mother from a small video clip form Youtube.com. During this video clip the little girl and her mother were playing with play-dough and a variety of toys that went along with the play-dough set. Throughout the video clip the mother’s sister I assumed was recording this observation video and there was also another little boy who was in the video but he only showered up in the camera a few times and the video was mainly about the little girl and her mother having fun and playing with the play-dough set.

 

I used two methods, the first one was a Running Record for the detail and the second method I chose to use was the Rating Scale for the purpose of a quick measure of different moods.

 

Rating scale:

Behavior #1: Moderately Happy/Sad (In the middle)

Behavior #2: Strongly Happy

Behavior #3: Moderately Happy

Behavior #4 (last mood change): Mainly sad & a little bit happy.

 

Side notes: Throughout the observation video, the little girl in the middle if happy and frustrated you could say. Her mood while playing with her mom and the play-dough never really changed, unless something went wrong. The girls mood also rarely changes throughout the whole video clip.

 

Running Record:

During this observation video I come across online, there were a number of multiple actions I noticed the little girl was doing throughout the video clip. Also what her mother was doing and the surrounding people. In the beginning of the this observation video it started off showing a little girl and her mother sitting down on a colorful blanket, and I think it was a Disney’s Princess blanket that probably belonged to the little girl. The mother and her daughter were playing with a play-dough set, they had the actual play-dough and about 4 or 5 objects that went along with the play-dough. This helped them cut the play-dough or make shapes out of it. The little girl was very engaged throughout her whole time playing with her mother and it was a very hands on activity that got her to really pay attention and be creative as to what she was making with the play-dough. And to make sure it came out exactly the way she wanted it to be. The little girl would occasionally stop what she was doing and get caught up into what her mother was designing with the play-dough. While she was engaged in what her mother is doing, the mother occasionally asks if her daughter needs any help. The little girl gets snappy a couple of times when her mother asks if she needs any help because she is about 4 or 5 years old and at that age kids like to do things on their own to let themselves know they can accomplish something by themselves. Also so show others that they can do things without any grown-ups help, to make them feel accomplished. After the little girl is done watching what her mother is making, she goes back to what she was doing. She focuses on her own playing but when another character in the video asks her a question or tries to her out she gets upset and stops what she’s doing. After about 7 minutes into the video clip, I noticed there were a few other people talking and interacting in the background. Throughout the video the mother occasionally would talk to the other adult and ask if the other child was doing okay. The other little child would sometimes walk into the camera shot to go into the kitchen or he was just curious as to what the main characters of this video were really doing, and it seemed like he wanted to get involved. The interacting of the other child by the mother and it seems like to be her sister would get the little girl mad because he liked the attention she was getting.

 

I chose to use a rating scale for this particular video because I thought it would work properly to show and explain how this little girl was actually feeling throughout this mini video clip. The rating scale and the running record both went together well to incorporate why and how the little girl was feeling, and as to why she reacted the way she did. Finally, I also think that a rating scale and a running record are both excellent observation methods to show in depth as to really why a child was feeling upset during that observation time period and the explanation of that outcome.