Watch the video one or more times. Select one child as your focal child, meaning the child you will focus on in your paper. Take notes on the child’s behavior and the relevant behavior of peers and/or caregivers. Then, make notes of ways the child’s behavior serves as an example of specific concepts we have covered or does or does not fit with course material. Take the time to watch the child’s behavior multiple times and think this over carefully.

Writing the Paper
Make up a name and refer to the child by that name throughout. This will be more succinct (shorter) and flow better than having to write something like the “child I selected…..”

Begin your paper with a brief paragraph describing the child you selected and the setting. Note age (you may need to estimate), sex, size, physical characteristics, and clothing. Briefly describe the setting including the time of day, the place, available materials, and whether or not other people are present.

The rest of your paper should focus on the child’s behavior. Your paper should not include a minute by minute summary of what the child did. Rather, it should be organized into important categories. In each category, you should give a brief description of relevant behaviors and then discuss those behaviors in relation to concepts covered in class. Back up your impressions with clear examples—e.g., what about the child’s behavior makes you think he or she has achieved object permanence or is socially competent? Examples of good categories and content follow.

Social-Emotional Development: Describe how the child interacts/plays with others-children and adults. Does the child play alone? Stay near adults? Interact with the same child or multiple children? Demonstrate social competence or aggression? Engage in different types of play? Which of Erikson’s stages is the child currently experiencing? Did you see behaviors typical of or relevant to that stage?

Personality/Temperament: Did you observe any behaviors that give you ideas about this child’s temperament? How does the child react to change or stress? How active is the child? Does the child appear to regulate his/her emotions? How?

Cognitive Development: What behaviors did you observe that indicate levels of thought? Think about how play behavior, use of language etc. may demonstrate cognitive ability. Which of Piaget’s stages or substages is the child in? What specific behaviors serve as examples of characteristics of that stage?

Language Development: In what ways does the child communicate: sounds, words, phrases, gestures, private or social speech? Does the child use language to communicate ideas and get what he/she wants? Does the child appear to understand language? What types of language errors does the child make?

Physical Development: What fine and gross motor skills does the child possess? Is the child ambulatory, etc? Did the child demonstrate handedness? What did you observe about the child’s senses?

Conclusion: End your paper with a brief summary paragraph. Comment on the overall observation. Is the behavior what you expected to see? Did the child behave as you would have expected given age, setting, etc? Was there anything you didn’t understand, that concerned you, that you wanted to know more about? What did you learn from the observation?