INDIVIDUAL STUDENT OBSERVATION

Preservice teacher: Student first name, year level, context:

Isabel Sarre Adam, Year 6, classroom
1.1: Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students 1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic
Graduate level: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of physical, social and backgrounds. Graduate level: Demonstrate knowledge of teaching strategies that are
intellectual development and characteristics of students and how these may affect responsive to the learning strengths and needs of students from diverse linguistic,
learning cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
4.1 Support student participation 5.2 Provide feedback to students on their learning
Graduate level: Identify strategies to support inclusive student participation and Graduate level: Demonstrate an understanding of the purpose of providing timely
engagement in classroom activities. and appropriate feedback to students about their learning.
Beginning placement observation:
Adam seems to be a relatively loud student in the class who fidgets regularly. After the first day I learnt that
Adam has ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). He struggles with the distractions of others in the classroom.
Whilst he doesn’t necessarily always initiate ruckus with his peers during lesson, he does find it hard to
concentrate with others around him. As a result of his sometimes-disruptive manner, some other students
react poorly and take their frustrations out on him.

Interpretation of observation (student needs):

When Adam has a clear task in front of him and knows that is within his ability to achieve, he does well to
complete tasks. However, he finds it difficult in a classroom setting because sometimes it can be
overwhelming. I think that he might benefit in some situations by not being so close to his peers in the
classroom.

Pre-service teacher action:

To help Adam, I observed that it may be helpful for him to sometimes do his work in other areas of the
classroom such as the marking desk to the side, the class desktop computer or out in the foyer (if no one else
is working out there). I asked Adam if working independently sometimes would help. He said ‘I think so’.
Following this conversation, in several situations he asked me to work in different areas. I noticed a
difference in his work ethic and he seemed more at ease in class and transitioned well into the next lessons
when he re-joined the group. Whilst this meant that I had to keep an eye on him depending where he was
situated, he always proved to me that could work well and on task (apart from a couple of times where there
were outside factors at play such as other students from other classes causing disruption where he was
working).
Mid-placement observation:
Adam struggles in some learning areas as a result of his ASD. In English his handwriting is barely legible
which makes it hard for him to succeed in this subject area. However, when he is focused and makes a more
conscious effort in his handwriting, he works well.

Interpretation of observation (student needs):

In this circumstance, I have noticed that Adam may benefit from finding another way to show his ideas rather
than using his own handwriting which is clearly prohibiting from focussing on his other learning needs.

Pre-service teacher action:

Adam was seen to perform better (particularly in writing lessons such as spelling) when using the classroom
computer. This was suggested with the help of SSO Kylie. She highlighted that if Adam is able to complete
some of his English tasks (or tasks that involve handwriting) on the computer, we may see better results
because in this way he can feel like he can succeed. For the rest of my placement I will make an effort to
End placement observation:
Adam had an incident last week which resulted in him not being at school for four days. As a result, at the
beginning of the last week of placement he had to transition back into the classroom and get used to being
with his peers again in a classroom context.

Interpretation of observation (student needs):

At the beginning of Week 8, Adam was back in the classroom. It was clear that he was having some
difficulty adjusting. For example, he pushed Logan and tried to start several fights. He also mentioned to me
that he felt dizzy, and felt sick for the first morning he was back. I observed that this may be a result of stress
relating to last weeks incident. It was clear that Adam would need clear boundaries for the week in order to
get back into routine.

Pre-service teacher action:

As a result of what has been mentioned above, both myself and my mentor teacher had to be strict with
Adam when it came to behaviour expectations. This involved using the ‘Blue Book’ a few times during each
day. This was necessary so that Adam could be reminded what was/was not okay in the classroom and that if
he was misbehaving it would not be tolerated by the teachers. Adam also was sent into Kylie’s room (SSO) a
couple of times to calm down when things got intense for him in the classroom.

Student outcomes:
Over the course of my time in Room 5, I have been able to develop a strong relationship with Adam and
have seen some really positive outcomes. In the initial phases of my placement, he did not warm to me
straight away (most likely because I was a new and unfamiliar face in the classroom). However, every day at
school I made a conscious effort to chat one on one with him and treat him fairly in the classroom in regards
to behaviour management and learning outcomes. This resulted in Adam feeling like he could confide in me
when he was going through hard times and also when he had any questions or queries. I felt a strong sense of
accomplishment when Adam started to address me when he had questions in regards to school
events/learning/behaviour, as well as his classroom teacher.
In regards to his learning outcomes, Adam was seen to succeed when using the computer-particularly during
spelling. When I was on placement Adam also presented two projects (Livability and 50 Greatest
Australians). Adam worked well to complete both of these. I particularly enjoyed watching him present his
Livability assignment as he made a great effort to explain his slides and face the audience. It has been
enjoyable seeing Adam develop over these past 5 weeks.

Supervising Teacher sign/date Pre-service teacher sign/date