The children in the sample group were observed and interviewed on February 16, 2016. The researcher received verbal permission of the ECE practitioner in the group. Based on the interactions with the students, I observed that the total number of students in the interviewed comprised of mixed gender. There were a total of eleven students in the group. The eleven students were separated according to their gender. The majority of students (7) were girls and the remaining 4 students were boys. The interview was confidential and the procedure was conducted at the left side of the school age room. This location allowed for privacy and limited distraction and disturbance from the other children who were not involved in the interview process. The interview was carried out on a one-on-one basis. The students were informed of that none of their answers would be shared with anyone outside of the interview. In addition, the students were reminded that all of their answer to the given questions would be treated confidentially and would not be shared with anyone else.
Writing Analysis
Each child who enters the classroom has a different personality as such teachers must become aware of these personalities so that they are better able to help the students to function in the classroom. The use of socio-grams allows the teachers to create a warm and friendly environment for the students. In other words, socio-grams allow teachers to provide a positive environment for the children. These socio-grams are created by the specific teachers and they help to meet the specific needs of the children they encounter. In order to develop the socio-gram for this group, it was important to garner the necessary data on the ways in which these children interact with each other through games and other means of communication.
Within this group of students, there is one male isolate that no one chooses to play with and who chooses to play with no other student. The isolate, Noel is a cause for concern as he is nine years old and is at a stage where he should be interacting with his peers. But he chooses not to participate in the activity because he notes that he does not enjoy these activities. In addition, Noel prefers to isolate himself from the others as he suggests that he does not like to select playing partners. The concern for Noel has intensified after the observation as he constantly talks to himself while he is writing or doing art. Children at this age are expected to form bonds of friendship and to play with each other, but Noel insists that he prefers to be alone. The interview revealed that Noel is an only child and this would explain his level of comfort with himself. But in a group of grade 4 and grade 5 students, it is unhealthy for Noel to want to separate himself from all of the other students in the class.
Isolates often display a lack of the appropriate skills that are required to facilitate the friendly encounters with their peers, but Noels inability to create friendships would suggest that he will become unhappy. Surprisingly, Noel does not appear to be unhappy at a first glance but careful observations and the interview process revealed that Noel has become shy after having been alone for so many years. Interestingly, Noel does very well at expressing himself through his art work as he creates pictures that often reveal his inner emotions, but becomes withdrawn when he needs to speak aloud to anyone else. The socio-gram allows the teacher to recognize isolates such as Noel and to help the child to deal with the problems he has interacting with the other students.
Gender
The observation of these students revealed that there were no great gender issues or barriers as the boys often play with boys and girls play with girls, but there are a number of occasions where the boys will interact with the girls at play time. The gender roles influence the physical and psychological development of boy and girls. Based on my sociogram, most of girls are like to drawing and making bracelet with a small group of friends. This observation is reinforced by Santrock who suggests that the girls and women generally have slightly better verbal skills than boys and men and are more likely to build friendships in the classroom (Santrock 2011). Nevertheless, the boys play card games with the large group of children. Only one girl, Alisa, in the sociogram plays frequently with the both boys and girls. She is outgoing and lively and displays a positive attitude towards all the children in the group. Based on the interviews, I was able to ascertain that much of Alisa’s behavior stems from the fact that she is sociable and the fact that she has both an older sibling and a younger sibling. This family bond allows her to interact well with the students of her age group.
Based on my observations, the girls interact more openly with boys. According to Santrock, girls also are better at reading the emotions of those they interact with and more likely to show empathy than the boys (Santrock, 2011). Therefore, it was no surprise that these girls were more open and interacted quite easily with the boys in the room. The art tables always are girl’s area, but despite this position of the art table, Noel does not attempt to socialize with Alisa or even Anna Nicole who is the most popular girl in the class. Anna Nicole is quite popular and is always smiling. Additionally, Anna Nicole speaks quite intelligently and reflects the common principle that persons are often affected by the smiles of others. Her smile is infectious and most of her peers show signs of being comfortable in her presence.
According to the ELECT, "popular children tend to be seen as actively participating in group activities, cooperative; often have higher intelligence" (Santrock 2011). The arguments from this group suggest that Alisa’s actions at school are the results of her actions at home as she shows a willingness to help others without reservations. At nine years old, she is also helpful with the other children and is remarkable in the way that she helps others to work together. She offers her assistance to the other students and this suggests that her development will take a positive turn as she already possesses the skill to build solid relationships with those around her. Santrock highlights the beliefs that the popular children are frequently nominated as a best friend and are rarely disliked by their peers (Santrock, 2011). Based on my observations, Alisa and Anna Nicole are well socialized in their classrooms and this will have a positive impact on the way that they continue to increase their popularity.
On the other hand, there are children who are often rejected by their peers because of the level of aggression that they show towards each other at work and at play. These children are the opposite to the popular group of students. Based on their aggressive behaviors, these children are more likely to be rejected in the popular social circles in the classroom. Clearly, rejected children who are overly aggressive or shy in their actions are more likely to violate the norms of the society or their classes as they often display aggressive behaviors that lead to mental health problem through adulthood (Santrock, 2011). Sadly, Yohan, at age eight and a half years old, fits perfectly into the negative group in the class. Yohan is rude and does not do very well in group activities. Even though the teacher makes every effort to correct his negative behavior, Yohan dwells on his unacceptable behavior and only changes his behavior for a short while. Similarly, Simon displays negative and unacceptable behavior and he is one of the controversial children that show his disruptive behavior throughout the designated activities.
Additionally, my observation revealed that most of children in my sociogram are average in that they behave as normal as is expected of children within this age group. The positive attitude towards work has a higher scale in terms of outstanding behaviors. But, the aggressive students do stand out against the high number of students who are positive in their behaviors. The aggressive and shy students do not have many friends as was clear with Leona. In fact, these children do not have many friends, and also not so little the number of the friends they have is just at middle of the number. The aggressive behavior is one of the factors that help to determine the selection of friends in the sociogram as children will choose specific genders to play together (Santrock, 2011). My sociogram also illustrates that girl associate with girls and boys associate with boys. Moreover, social and emotional feelings also influence children's choices because some children might make choices that depend on their emotions about how they feel about their peers. For example, children will feel good or positive about the different choices that make and this leads to positive outcomes. In contrast, children who do not feel comfortable about their friend and the choices that they make will become uncomfortable with each other and act out the opposite behaviors.
