Midterm Test

Read the following anecdotal report. Identify the 6 types of errors made, and explain
the errors, including examples from this report. Identify 5 types of bias in this report,
and explain the inappropriateness of the comments, including examples. Rewrite
the report without errors or bias.

Date of Report: Wednesday, January 20th, 2021

Student: Dylan Buchanan, 4 years old
Context/Setting:

I have been observing Dylan’s peer interactions (Co-operative play). Dylan was
playing in the block area with Mrs. Smitt, Taj, Michael and some other children from
the class. They were using a variety of materials to build a fort including chairs,
blocks, boxes, blankets, masking tape and scissors. They boys were acting a bit wild
as the weather was too crummy for outdoor play time. Dylan is a super cute little kid,
although he needs to bathe more often. During the observation, Dylan demonstrated
communicating his needs. For example, he said “Get off there guy!” when Taj was
sitting on the blanket which was to be the roof of the fort. Mrs. Smitt said “I noticed you
started to yell, but then your voice got softer, good using your words”. Dylan was also
able to express his emotions. He said “Guys, you making me angry”. After this, there
was some conflict as Dylan only wanted some children to enter the fort, and not
others. When the EA said “What do we need to do Dylan?”, Dylan responded by said
“(Taj) can come in, but only him because he (referring to Michael), keeps wrecking it
all day long.” This is pretty normal for Dylan, he can be a bit of a control freak lol. Mrs.
Smitt said, "You know what, we need to figure out a way to stabilize this”. Dylan
responded by saying “can someone build this”, while holding up a corner of the
blanket up and over to Mrs. Smitt to put the roof on together. He invited ONLY Taj to
come into the fort again. When Michael responded by saying “but not me?”, Dylan
said “you can't come in” while shaking his head and pointing towards Michael. Michael
said “Anyone can come in?” to which Dylan said “NO”. The children were given tape
and scissors to secure the blanket roof. Giving JK students scissors seems like an
accident waiting to be happen. Given my experience, I would be a much better EA for
this class. When Mrs. Smitt asked Dylan what was his idea for the tape, he
responded, "Tape it on". His tone and volume would be considered appropriate for
this setting. Owen used scissors to cut the tape, while Dylan held it. Dylan took the
cut tape and stuck the blanket roof to the fort. When Mrs. Smitt reported that the fort
roof collapsed slightly, Dylan said “That’s okay!”. Mrs. Smitt asked if the fort was
ready to go in, as Taj was really anxious to get in. Dylan responded “Well, not yet”
and skipped away to fix another part of the roof. Taj and Dylan continued to work on
the fort, cutting and taping the blankets to the structure. Dylan asked Mrs. Smitt “you
cut this?”. Mrs. Smitt responded that Taj has scissors. Dilan showed Taj where to cut
and rudely said “Cut it right there.”. Dylan and Taj continued to cut and tape together.
When the tape got twisted, Dylan screamed and forcefully pulled at the tape. Mrs.
Smitt said “Okay, settle down, I know it’s frustrating. How can we help you?”. Dylan
pointed at the fort and growled like a maniac. Mrs. Smitt said “Taj has some scissors
here. You know what, it is tricky with tape, sometimes it gets twisted. Dylan worked
alone for approximately 10 seconds, then continued to work away at constructing the
fort with his classmates. Taj used the scissors instead of Dyl, which was probably a
good idea given Dylan's anger issues.
Summary/Analysis. Dylan has anger management issues and does not have the
skills to respond appropriately to peer conflicts. This might be because of his parent's
recent separation. His language development is poor for his age, my four-year-old
speaks much more clearly than Dylan.

Signature: Jennifer Tate

Name: Jennifer Tate
(Educational Assistant)
Date: November 5th, 2020
Response:
Error Type Give examples of this error
from the report
Clear (Mactaggart, Module 1. “They boys were acting
4, Slide 23, 2023). a bit wild as the weather
was too crummy for
outdoor play time”.
2. “During the observation,
Dylan demonstrated
communicating his
needs”.
3. “Dylan responded by
said”
Concise (Mactaggart, 1. “Giving JK students
Module 4, Slide 26, 2023). scissors seems like an
accident waiting to be
happen”.
Confidential (Mactaggart, 1. “(Taj) can come in”.
Module 4, Slide 31, 2023).
2. “When Michael
responded by saying
“but not me”.
Explain what was wrong
with this phrasing
Both examples from the
report include grammar
errors as the reader will not
be able to understand what
is the proper meaning.
“They boys were” in the
first example is a grammar
error, as the observer could
of write “The boys were”.
As the report should be
written in proper English
and has no mistakes
(Mactaggart, 2023). While
the second example can not
be easily understood. When
the observer writes a report;
it must be clear and written
in a proper language with
no mistakes and errors or no
idioms and slang so it could
be easy to understand
(Mactaggart, Module 4,
Slide 23, 2023).
The EA in this example
made a hypothesize about
JK students must not be
giving scissors. She made
an assumption that all JK
children’s ability are the
same and not able to use
their fine motor skills.
When writing an
observation report only fact
must be included that has
no personal opinion,
hypothesize, speculate, and
ramble on with insignificant
information (Mactaggart,
Module 4, Slide 26, 2023).
Every report must be for
each student; which means
no other student names
must be included in the
report. The information in

Confined (Mactaggart, “Hi Ali, can you please file
Module 4, Slide 32, 2023). this report for me? I need to
leave right at the bell today.
Or just leave it with Katie,
the secretary. She can give
it to the principal tomorrow.
Thanks”.
Complete (Mactaggart, 1. “His tone and volume
Module 4, Slide 29, 2023). would be considered
appropriate for this
setting”.
2. Wednesday, January
20th, 2021, November
5th, 2020.
Correct (Mactaggart, 1. “Were acting a bit wild
the report must remain
confidential. The EA had
included many students’
names like Taj and Michael.
As all the report must
maintain confidentiality
(Mactaggart, Module 4,
Slide 31, 2023).
The note that the EA left for
Ali was not professional as
all the reports must be kept
and locked in a separate
cabinet and not being left
over the desk that everyone
has accessibility to read the
information (Mactaggart,
Module 4, Slide 32, 2023).
By leaving the report for
Ali, the EA give an
opportunity for Ali and
Katie to read this
confidential information
that related to the student.
In this example the error is
that this sentence is not
related to an observation
about actions of the child,
activities, or even all of the
child interaction. Any report
must include only facts
about what happened so the
reader would have a clear
image of the event
(Mactaggart, Module 4,
Slide 29, 2023). In order to
for the report to be
complete; the date and the
signature must be included
(Mactaggart, Module 4,
Slide 29, 2023). In this
report there were two dates
included; one at the top of
the page and the other was
at the bottom. The dates are
not the same; the first one is
Wednesday, January 20th,
2021, while the other one is
on November 5th, 2020.
This indicates that the
report has an error and not
complete.
The report must be accurate
Module 4, Slide 30, 2023). as the weather was too with all of the information
crummy for outdoor that are included
play time”. (Mactaggart, Module 4,
Slide 30, 2023). In this
2. “Dilan showed child A report the EA manipulated
where to cut and rudely and gave assumptions that
said “Cut it right there” the students were acting bit
wild because the weather
was too crummy as the
information is not
significant. As the EA in the
report was describing Dylan
in a very negative way and
manipulating the fact of that
Dylan is not that rude in the
video

Bias Type Give examples of this type Explain why this statement
of bias from the report was inappropriate

1. Emotional Response “He needs to bathe more The EA made a negative

(Mactaggart, Module 6, often”. impression made by the
Slide 7, 2023). child’s appearance. The EA
said that Dylan needs to
bathe more often; the EA
made a negative judgement
about the child appearance
(Mactaggart, Module 6,
Slide 7, 2023).

2. Expectancy Error “This is pretty normal for Expectancy error means

(Mactaggart, Module 6, Dylan; he can be a bit of a that the EA makes
Slide 13, 2023). control freak lol”. assumptions about soothing
they do not actually observe
and added to the report
(Mactaggart, Module 6,
Slide 13, 2023). In this
report the EA made an
assumption that Dylan is a
bit of a control freak, in
addition of making fun of
him by writing lol, Laugh
Out Loud.

3. Prior Knowledge Given my experience, I In this report the EA

(Mactaggart, Module 6, would be a much better EA compared her prior
Slide 11, 2023). for this class. knowledge and her
experiences with Mrs. Smitt
as she said that she would
be better EA for the class.
She had compared her
performance to Mrs. Smitts’
which in order create a bias
 against Mrs. Smitt and
Dylan as well (Mactaggart,
Module 6, Slide 11, 2023).

4. Confusing Performance Dylan pointed at the fort Confusing performance

with Competence and growled like a maniac. with competence means that
(Mactaggart, Module 6, the student might behave
Slide 10, 2023). differently than their usual,
that might misjudgment the
student’s competence level,
influenced by many aspects,
including mood, health,
environment (Mactaggart,
Module 6, Slide 10, 2023).
In this report, the EA
captured that Dylan is a
maniac when he pointed at
the fort. Which Dylan might
be influenced by his mood
as he was a bit frustrated.

5. Losing Sight of His language development Losing sight of standards

Standards (Mactaggart, is poor for his age, my four-
Module 6, Slide 6, 2023). year-old speaks much more
clearly than Dylan
means “making mental
comparisons against a
standard that may be unfair”
(Mactaggart, Module 6,
Slide 6, 2023). The EA had
compared Dylan’s poor
language with her four-
year-old child. Which
Dylan might be having
communication disorder
that prevent him to produce
his vocabulary well, or
might be having any kind of
verbal disability that would
be unfair for him to be
placed in a standard
comparison.

New Report:

Date of Report: November 5th, 2020

Student: Dylan Buchanan, 4 years old
Context/Setting:

I have been observing Dylan’s peer interactions (Co-operative play). Dylan was
playing in the block area with Mrs. Smitt and his peers. They were using a variety of
materials to build a fort including chairs, blocks, boxes, blankets, masking tape and
scissors. During their play, Dylan demonstrated his needs using his communication
skills. For example, he said “Get off there guy!” when child A was sitting on the blanket
which was to be the roof of the fort. Mrs. Smitt said “I noticed you started to yell, but
then your voice got softer, good using your words”. Dylan was also able to express
his emotions. He said “Guys, you making me angry”. After this, there was some
conflict as Dylan only wanted some children to enter the fort, and not others. When
the EA said “What do we need to do Dylan?”, Dylan responded by saying “(Child A)
can come in, but only him because he (referring to child B), keeps wrecking it all day
long.” Mrs. Smitt said, "You know what, we need to figure out a way to stabilize this”.
Dylan responded by saying “can someone build this”, while holding up a corner of the
blanket up and over to Mrs. Smitt to put the roof on together. He invited only child A
to come into the fort again. When child B responded by saying “but not me?”, Dylan
said “You, you can come in too”. Child B said “Anyone can come in?” to which Dylan
said “Yes”. The children were given tape and scissors to secure the blanket roof.
When Mrs. Smitt asked Dylan what was his idea for the tape, he responded, "Tape it
on". Child C used scissors to cut the tape, while Dylan held it. Dylan took the cut tape
and stuck the blanket roof to the fort. When Mrs. Smitt reported that the fort roof
collapsed slightly, Dylan said “That’s okay!”. Mrs. Smitt asked if the fort was ready to
go in, as child A was really anxious to get in. Dylan responded “Well, not yet” and
skipped away to fix another part of the roof. Child A and Dylan continued to work on
the fort, cutting and taping the blankets to the structure. Dylan asked Mrs. Smitt “you
cut this?”. Mrs. Smitt responded that child A has scissors. Dilan showed child A where
to cut and said “Cut it right there.”. Dylan and child A continued to cut and tape
together. When the tape got twisted, Dylan screamed and forcefully pulled at the tape.
Mrs. Smitt said “Okay, settle down, I know it’s frustrating. How can we help you?”.
Dylan pointed at the fort, Mrs. Smitt said “Child A has some scissors here. You know
what, it is tricky with tape, sometimes it gets twisted. Dylan worked alone for
approximately 10 seconds, then continued to work away at constructing the fort with
his classmates. Child A used the scissors instead of Dylan.

Summary/Analysis. Dylan needs to practice more of self-regulation on how to

interact with his friend easily without getting frustrated. Moreover, regarding Dylan’s
language, he needs to practice more to improve his communication skills.

Signature: Jennifer Tate

Name: Jennifer Tate
(Educational Assistant)
Date: November 5th, 2020
 References

Sheridan College. (2023). Assessment in Education Week 4 and 6: [PowerPoint Slides].

Oakville, Ontario