Student Observation

This was the week that creeped me out the most as an adult.  To litterally stare or observe one single minor for 90 minutes, even to try and observe their behavior just isn't exactly easy for a 36 year old to do with respect to 14 year olds.  I lucked out in that it was a test and not a typical class period.  I felt I could best observe a student or two without them feeling that I was staring through them to figure out what was going on in their very active hormonal driven brains.  I observed one male student who I sit right beside.  

To aid me I made an ethogram, which is used in behavioral biology.  I essentially observe for a given time, choose relevant major behaviors, and than go back and re-observe and record the amount each of those behaviors occurs.  

Behavior	Staring	Pen Cap Closing	Notebook closing	Notebook flopping	Other
Occurrences	6	7	8	15	7

Staring: Blindly staring off test paper for more than 10 seconds
Pen Cap Closing: Taking cap of pen, putting it on
Notebook closing: Taking out notebook, looks up information, closes it
Notebook flopping: Taking closed notebook and flipping it over
Other: Behaviors observed not found to be repeated.

The student is easily distracted, staring off into space.  He frequently places the cap on and off of his pend.  He's distracted by the hallway traffic even though he is on other side of the room by a window (which is out to a field).  His notes are transferred because the handwriting in the notebook doesn't match the writing on the test.  I do know that he is a good drawer.  The artwork on certain structures they are being tested over is not as good as his own work that I have seen him do and other students have asked him to reproduce for their notes.  His handouts/assignments are disorganized and really slowing him down.  He does use the assignments to model and find similar problems for his test.  Drawing ray diagrams seems to give him more focus as all behaviors except test taking seem to go away.  His nose starts to run, but he returns quickly nad gets right back to work.  He appears confused (facial expression).  He does seem to fold his hands in prayer/mediation as if that will enable him to finish/know the answers.  He does have an internal clock begins asking how much time with about 15 minutes or so to go in class.