Observing and Recording the Behavior of Young Children

This classic text has been helping teachers better understand young children’s behavior for over 6 decades.

Now available in an updated seventh edition, this popular resource is designed to deepen pre- and inservice teachers’ understanding of children (birth–age 8) as unique individuals within a developmental context. Observation notes recorded over time reveal patterns in children’s behavior, as well as ways in which behaviors may change. To strengthen teachers’ efforts to better understand children as individuals, the authors provide a timeless methodology for documenting young children’s behavior as they actively engage in classroom life. They outline methods for record keeping that capture children’s interactions and experiences in the classroom. Numerous examples of teachers’ observations of children enrich this work and make it accessible, practical, and enjoyable to read.

Book Features:

• Provides early childhood educators with a guide for observing and recording as a way of better understanding children, while holding judgment in abeyance. 
• Examines the need for teachers to reflect on their own experiences, even as children, and how these may influence their reactions to children’s interactions and behaviors. 
• Focuses on the centrality of family, community, and culture in children’s lives, reflecting the diversity in contemporary early childhood classrooms. 
• Explains the imperative for teachers to observe and record the behavior of young children as a means of interpreting their developmental capacities and abilities.

Dorothy H. Cohen and Virginia Stern, both of whom passed away before the fourth edition, held faculty positions at Bank Street Graduate School of Education. Nancy Balaban is retired from Bank Street, where she was the director of the Infant and Family Development and Early Intervention Program. Nancy Gropper is retired from Bank Street, where she held positions as associate dean for academic affairs, department chair, and director of student teaching programs. Jane Andris, a Bank Street alumna, is a clinical assistant professor in the Early Childhood Research Center at the University of Louisville.

PRAISE FOR PREVIOUS EDITIONS—

"The sixth edition adds to the remarkable history of this volume with nuggets of updated insights reflecting the changing environments in which our children develop and grow."

—Jon Snyder, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (for sixth edition)

"Responds to new knowledge about how children think, learn, and develop language, and about the influences of families, culture, and other environmental influences."

—Zero to Three (for fifth edition)

Contents

Preface to the Seventh Edition  ix

1.  Getting Started  1
Why Records?  1
Keeping Records  6
Language as a Tool in Recording  9
Importance of the Environment  12

2.  Recording a Child’s Behavior During Routines  14
Organizing the Information  14
The Meaning of Routines to Young Children  18
Recording Eating Behavior  19
Recording Toileting Behavior  23
Recording Behavior at Rest Time  25
Recording Behavior During Transitions  27
Patterns of Behavior During Routines  28

3.  Recording a Child’s Use of Materials  32
A Note on Technology  32
The Meaning of Materials to Young Children  33
What to Observe  38
Records of Use of Materials  40
How the Child Does What  41
Records Illustrating Detail  44
Interpretation: The Last Dimension  46
Patterns of Behavior in Use of Materials  47

4.  Recording Children’s Behavior With One Another  51
How Children Learn to Socialize  51
Do We Really See What Is Going On?  55
What to Observe  57
Patterns of Behavior in Children’s Responses to Other Children  63
Group Membership  65

5.  Recording Children’s Behavior in Dramatic Play  68
Capacity for Symbolic Representation  70
A Framework for Recording Dramatic Play  75
Focusing on Dramatic Roles  78
Social Aspects of Dramatic Play  84
Patterns of Behavior During Dramatic Play  91

6.  Recording the Child’s Relationships With Adults and in Adult-Directed Activities  93
Teachers Observe Themselves  93
Recording a Child’s Interaction With an Adult  94
Gaining Information About a Child’s Larger Social World  99
Recording a Child in Teacher-Directed Group Activities  100
Patterns of Behavior in Children’s Relationships With Adults  102

7.  Clues to Cognitive Functioning: Developmental Approach  106
How Do Children Learn?  106
Developmental Approach to Thinking in Early Childhood  108
How Can We Know a Child’s Approach to Thinking?  112

8.  Clues to Cognitive Functioning: Individual Approach  122
Temperament of a Child  122
The Influence of Culture and Social Experience  123
How Do We Know What Children Are Thinking About and Learning?  124
How Can Teachers Discover What Children Know?  129

9.  Observing Children Develop the Power to Think  134
Forming Generalizations  134
Ability to Differentiate  135
Ability to Perceive Similarities and Differences  136
Ability to Draw Analogies  136
Ability to Perceive Cause and Effect  137
Time Orientation  137
Ability to Seriate and Classify  139
Perceiving Patterns  140
Understanding Spatial Relationships  141

10.  Recording Children’s Developing Language and Emerging Literacy  144
Language and Culture  144
Recording Children’s Use of Language  146
Observing Speech  155
Observing Emergent Literacy  160

11.  Recording Behaviors That Are Disquieting  163
Value of Gathering Information  163
Examples of Unusual Behavior  164

12.  Observing and Recording the Behavior of Infants and Toddlers  169
Making Sense of What You See  169
The Value of Recording  170
The Influence of Time of Day  171
What to Observe  172

13.  Patterns—Summary—Interpretation  200
Patterns  200
Features of the Final Summary  203
Interpretation  208
Final Summary  209

References  213

Index  217

About the Authors  225