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PEPSI Report and Observations

Richard Rodriguez
Dr. Rochelle Hooks
College of Southern Nevada
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Biography

I am observing a student by the name of Nick. He is 13 years old and the 6th grade. To be

clear I work at a teacher’s assistant at a therapeutic boarding school so I cannot go into too much

detail about him for legal reasons. I picked him to observe because of a few things he is in my

youngest class, or behaved, and is diligent in his class work. Most kids that come here have

disciplinary issues, but with Nick I have never had a single issue. Every kid that comes to the

school is trying to do the same thing, which is leave as soon as possible. So I can understand why

he is behaving this way. I have no problem with this whatsoever because it is refreshing to see a

student that does not cause any problems during his class. He is also the third child the youngest

in the family. He has two older siblings. They are in their late twenties so he really is the baby of

their family.
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Observations

I will start off with “P” in PEPSI which stands for physical. Nick is Latino which needs

to be stated because physical traits normally have a great deal with someone’s genetics. He is

tied for the shortest little man in his class. We do a lot of things in my class academically as well

as physically so it is quite interesting to see the difference in Nick based on his environment.

From my point of view I do not believe Nick has started going through puberty quite yet.

He shows no signs of an Adam’s apple or growth in height or body parts. To be honest you can

mistake him for a fifth grader and not feel bad about it. “ For boys, the onset of puberty can be

early as age nine or as late as age thirteen and a half,” (Snowman & McCown, 2015, page 95).

Considering his age Nick is on verge of becoming a late bloomer. Yet, I see only a few of the

characteristics and him that are listed in the textbook. The characteristics I see in him now are

“energetic and bouncy,” (Snowman & McCown, 2015, page 94) These are dealing with him

currently. He is energetic in class, but he has a Rubik’s Cube that he uses to refocus himself for

each class. When we take his class to the gym even though he is physically outmatched he is so

bouncy that it makes up for some what he lacks. I personally feel that Nick when he is an adult

who be able to “cope with new situations,” (Snowman & McCown, 2015, page 94). Due to his

calm demeanor and ability to get stuff done.

Nick is one of the very few kids at the school that comes into the classroom and

immediately gets to work. He doesn’t need to be reminded or even asked to do so. It is like

clockwork that he does this every day. All of this leads into what I would say as an adult he’ll be
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fine because he knows and understands the saying “work hard, play hard”. Once all work is

completed he goes and does any activity that is classroom appropriate.

The next part that I want to relate as in regards to Nick, is emotion, the second part of

PEPSI. As I said Nick is one of the better students at this facility. Yet, I can admit he has

changed since his first day arriving. This is not to say in a negative light, but rather a positive

one. When he first arrived he was very quiet dare I say a mute. I thought he was scared of his

classmates because he would always sit in the back face down and homework or a book. I

remember his first week where I did not even hear his voice due to him being so shy. I figure he

was shy for a couple of reasons these were due to “having several teachers who vary in their

demands and teaching styles, having to make friends, being picked on by other students,”

(Snowman & McCown, 2015, page 98).

It has been a few months since then and he is now quite open with everyone . “One key to

being able to cope with these demands is a strong sense of self-esteem and self-efficacy,”

(Snowman & McCown, 2015, page 98). He is very priority driven to say the least. His self-

efficacy is quite high when it deals with class work. I hardly see this student wasting time in

class if he knows there’s something from another class that could be done now. The group of

students that Nick is in are quite close with one another. I believe there is about 20 of them in

total. I would say that from that 20, 15 of them are really good friends they hardly bicker and

want the best for each other. Among them is Nick, although he might not be the strongest or

loudest he definitely is the standard holder. More than once he has told other students who are

off task to get their work done, and what is truly surprising is that the kids actually do it. He is a

quiet leader and that’s cool group. He might not talk much, but when he does they listen.
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Nothing seems to get to him. He is very even-tempered to be honest and his five months

of being at the school I have never seen him go to detention or get into an argument with another

student nor staff. I find myself quite often pondering as to why is he even here? Most students by

now in their stay have done something, yet Nick has done absolutely nothing wrong in my mind

when comparing him to anyone else. And my honest opinion he has truly flourished or being a

student here. This is due to the program’s goal which is “recognizing and measuring emotions,

creating positive relationships, making sound decisions, and getting along with others,”

(Snowman& McCown, 2015, page 98).

The second “P” in PEPSI stands for philosophical. To me, my understanding of this

concept is such that mindset one takes to complete a task. Nick has the mindset of a lone wolf,

yet just another one of the guys when it comes to academics. He is never pressured into blowing

off class work for side activities, yet he does not think himself as anyone better from the others

because they cannot focus on a class work like he can.

The “S” in PEPSI stands for social. Nick as I’ve said is a silent, yet powerful figure when

it comes to his class. He is very mature compared to his classmates. He has a very sound

understanding of the expectations placed in each classroom and holds them self and others to

those standards. This is most likely to because Nick has “become capable of taking a somewhat

detached and analytical view of their own behavior as well as the behavior of others,”

(Snowman & McCown pages 95- 96). Many times on Fridays when the teacher asks if everyone

has completed all their class work for the week, and other classes, and some say they have not

Nick will go and help them with their work so they can enjoy a weekend. To me that is so

surprising that he is so invested in their education to make sure they can benefit from a fun

weekend as well.
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As I have said he is a quiet leader in his school group. His demeanor is the old cliché

“cool, calm, and collected”. He has never gotten angry or flustered in any instance that I have

dealt with him. He actually is one of the few that shows appreciation for those that are trying to

help him with his problems. He always walks around with a smile on his face throughout the

school no matter what is going on in his environment.

There’s a saying that goes along the lines of “changing means change your environment”,

and I can say Nick and bodies that sentiment. As I have stated he is in the younger boy school

group that age range is 11 through 14. The culture one can assume is loud, rambunctious, and

lazy. Well Nick has single-handedly change that whole culture within that group of young boys.

He allows his classmates to feel as if they can be themselves, but he does not mind to counsel

them either publicly or privately to make them better. They say in sports it is the best of the best

that can make their teammates better. Nick does exactly that within five months have that class

has completely change from one of the most in behave to the most behave classrooms at that

school. Which goes against the belief “by mid-adolescence, they can, for example, understand

that offering unsolicited academic help to a classmate may embarrass that individual,”(page 96).

The “I” in PEPSI stands for intelligence. Just a reminder I work at a therapeutic boarding

school so all these kids suffer from one thing or another. They could also, need credit recovery

because they are so behind in school. So we give them condensed size courses to help them get

back on track. With Nick I am not sure for his exact reason to be sent to the school. I will report

under the assumption that is reason for being there is purely academic.

During his stay, in my class, he has little to no problems about his assignments. This is

mostly a independent study type of environment. Every kid is basically given quarterly syllabus

that need to be completed. They are expected to complete certain amount of class work each
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week to stay on track to get back to their regular schools. Nick has been at the school for about

five months now and I have never seen him fall short of making track in all of his classes. The

learning style that my job offers is the best described by Sternberg's Mental Self-Government

Styles. The style is definitely internal which “requires seat work, projects, and assignments, that

do not depend on others for completion”, (Snowman & McCown, 2015, dpage 134).

All students are required to do this, but Nick truly shines because of his diligence in time

management. He is never under the gun to complete his work. It is always done on time and it is

quite obvious he puts in the effort as well. His ability to not just remember information from

class work to the actual paper, but the ability to recall information is quite outstanding compared

to his peers.
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Graph of Nick's development VS average children

Average Age Line

Physical. Emotional. Philosophical. Social. Intelligence

Categories
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Recommendations for Parents and Teachers

My recommendations are for the five areas that I have observed above. For the physical

area I can really only say to wait and see. Yes Nick is a small child for his age, but he still is not

reaching that dangerous out flyers to put him behind others. Doctors might say take HGH, which

is human growth hormone, but I would say give him and sure and let time tell.

Emotionally Nick is Leaps and Bounds with other children in his class. My

recommendation for both parents and teachers are to praise his new Behavior. It is for one thing

for Nick to act like this, but if we do not positively back up his attitude then we might refer back

to his old ways. As for more classroom specific praise that the other students know that Nick is

behaving rather well and that is the new standard for our classrooms. Nick will be a Shining

Light to all that comply.

As for my feelings on his mostly Lone Wolf approach I would keep an eye on that at

home. That kind of behavior is hard to deal with in a relaxed setting. It could be hard to tell if he

is closing in on himself to emotional stress or if he’s just focus. I would recommend having a

break from stressful task every hour for 15 minutes to talk and get updates on him.

When it comes to social recommendations I would say get Nick involved at school or in

the community. They have clubs for just about anything nowadays. Or if clubs are not working

have him try out for a sport team. Where he will feel as he is an essential part of a closed group.

And class I would recommend at the teachers to make sure Nick acts as well as possible because

he will change the culture of said class.

Finally for intelligence I recommend that teachers challenge him to do above the standard

work. I’m not saying throw him into an advanced class right now, the challenge him to get that a
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rather than a bee. When he is ready recommend him to go to an advanced class for the following

year if he seems as if he can keep up and handle the work.

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References

Snowman, J., & McCown, R. R. (2015). Psychology applied to teaching. Australia: Cengage

Learning.