Classroom Observation Paper

During my time at Pine Meadow Elementary I volunteered with Mr. Hager, a physical education teacher. The gym is shared with the other physical education teacher Mr. Severson. The gym is fairly large with a large blue line that runs along the outer edge of the gym. The children follow this line when they run or sit on it when they first come into the gym. I volunteered from 10:15-11:25 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Each gym class lasts 25 minutes and two classes have gym together at one time. During the 70 minutes I’m there, 8 classes have gym, which is more than a 140 students. The age range of children varies from Kindergarteners who are 5-6 to 2nd graders who are 7-8. Most often children of different grades and ages have class together

The first theory I observed was Erikson’s theory of industry and Inferiority. Erikson stated: ”Industry means working hard and having a sense of accomplishment from work.” While playing the game battleship, students had feeling of accomplishment when they would knock the other teams pins. This was the same for children of all ages and genders playing the game. The next theory I observed was Piaget’s theory of Preoperational Period. Piaget stated: “think of things only in terms of own activities”. During a hula-hoop game when the class had to work together to put all the beanbags in one hula hoop. One boy kept taking beanbags out of the main hula-hoop to put in his own hula-hoop because he wanted all of the beanbags. Another theory of Piaget’s concrete operational period theory I observed was learning best through direct experiences. During an activity when they had to move across the gym only using mats the children used trail and error to find a way that worked best. Another theory I observed was B.F Skinners: “A behavior followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus results in a decreased probability of the behavior occurring in the future.” During the