The Old Mans Mitten - Essay Example

The Old Man’s Mitten Child Profile Mary is a 7-year-old girl who is currently a year 2 student at the Primary Public School. She is an only child and her parents moved from New Zealand to Australia before she was born. She lives with her father and she does not have a close relationship with her mother- a situation that affects her development as a child. She is a bright girl and understands the appropriate or proper way of behaving and is aware of her responsibilities. She loves going to school, where she has only one close friend despite being socially active. Her favorite activities include drawing, reading, writing, cooking and making things that she ahs watched from her favorite TV shows Play School and Back Yard Science. Unlike most girls her age, Mary does not like the colors pink and purple and movies or cartoons that have fairy characters. Instead, she likes chocolates, running on the grass and gymnastics. Her current interest is teaks with yo-yo. Mean people, bullies, falling over, mushrooms, nuts and onions are among the things that Mary does not like. She does well in subjects like Science and Technology, Literacy and Creative and Practical Arts. However, Mathematics, Personal Development, Health and Physical Education are among her weaknesses. Context and preparation Mary has been my neighbor for 9 months now. We talk about her progress in school about once a week. The reading activity took place in my house, where she had to come over on Thursday at 5:00 in the afternoon. Her father was not present during the activity so there was just the two of us. I had her seated behind a big dining table with the window on her left. To avoid distraction from the changes in the day light, I turned on the lights for her and sat beside her, on her right. To make her feel comfortable and more relaxed, I asked the child to pretend that I am a student and she is the teacher giving me a reading lesson. Mary loved the idea and was even enthusiastic about it. She asked me to sit on the carpet in front of her while she moved her chair in the middle of the dining room. Before moving on with the activity, I told her if it was Ok to record her reading since she is such a good reader. I then gave her two different books to read. For stage 1 of the activity, I gave her the book “Alison’s Dad is Lost” by an unknown author. Mary did not find any difficulty in reading and she did not commit any mistake. For the second stage, she read a traditional tale entitled "The Old Man's Mitten" by Yevonne Pollock, with illustrations by Trish Hill (Pollock, 1994). I gave the child 15 minutes in between the two reading sessions and another 10 minutes before proceeding with the interview. Observation One noticeable thing about Mary is that she always looks at the pictures on the cover of the book and then reads the title and the author’s name. She opens the book and points her finger on some of the pictures. According to her, this helps her predict the storyline and motivate her to read the text. She began her reading with confidence and at a good pace. However, she had the tendency to miss out some words and fail to notice the full stop marks at the end of the sentences. She never pointed at any word in the text. If the child encounters an unfamiliar word, she would sound it out by dividing the word into syllables. She keeps the book at a right distance and angle from her eyes. She also keeps the right posture for the first 10 minutes and then starts moving all over the chair, crossing and lifting her legs. She seemed very excited through the first half of the book but completely lost interest in ending the last two pages. Interview The child thinks that “reading” is not just running through the words in a text but entails getting smarter. She believes that she is a good reader and in cases when she doesn’t know a certain word, she would look at the pictures or sound it out. However, she thinks adults are better readers than children because when they were still young, they were taught how to read. She likes to read about aliens and robots and her favorite books include “Robots” and “That’s Not Santa”. She likes to read after finishing her school work and if she feels like it just before bed time. One of the things that she wants to improve with her reading is her vocabulary. The child says that she knows how to read but she does not always understand all the words. One way of addressing this problem, according to her, is having more books in her library. Summarize and Reflect The structure or situation of Mary’s family may have negative effects on her development. As a child, she has needs such as the feeling of belongingness and acceptance, and more importantly, a female role model. She only has one friend in school, and as an only child, does not have siblings that she can play with when she gets home. Mary acts more mature for her age. She engages in discussions that involve matters like drinking alcohol and her difficult relationship with her mother, who does not live with her. On the other hand, as a single parent, Mary’s father never leaves her unsupervised by an adult. He tries to create the best environment for her development as a child. He also disciplines her and helps her understand her rights, as well as her responsibilities. Mary spends most of her time alone. She usually reads books from her home library, all by herself. Once every two weeks, her father takes her to the library where she chooses and takes home some books. She can read independently and does need any for of reward system because she knows how to manage her own independent learning process. She loves going to school and has strong motivation to learn. She has a high intellect but the lack of a more pleasant learning environment at home presents fewer opportunities for her to reach her full potential. Based on Piaget’s developmental stages, Mary is in concrete operational stage, which means that she can apply logical thought processes but only with concrete objects or problems. She needs to use a range of concrete examples. For example, when asked about what she thinks reading is, she says “When you read the book..." or when asked about what she thinks is a good reader, she answers “adults”. Mary had difficulty in answering some of the interview questions and most had to be rephrased and simplified. The use of a book to explain the difference between a statement’s figurative and literal meanings was also necessary. Mary had difficulty to answer some of interview questions and i had to change it for a more simple language. For instance question "What would you like to improve with your reading?" I had to change it and to use an examples of concrete material - book. I gave her to read book stage 1 - "Alison's Dad is Lost" author is unknowing. Mary could read every word in book and she could understand what every word means. The reason I chose this book was that I thought Mary was going to enjoy the reading activity because it was about a little girl and her relationship with her father. However, it seemed that the child did not find it easy to connect or relate the book with her own life or experiences. Analyzing the story with her was of great help in making her appreciate the humor in, and understanding the story. WORKS CITED Pollock, Y (1994). The Old Man’s Mitten. Glen Head, NY: Mondo Publishing. February Anonymous. Alison's Dad is Lost. Read More