How to observe a child without interrupting

Observation is how a guide learns what a child needs next. It's also easy to do badly. You sit down near a child to watch, the child looks up, and the work stops. Where you sit, what you watch for and how fast you write decide whether the child keeps working.

Pick a seat that doesn't change the room

Children notice an adult who stops moving. Settle next to a child's table and most children will look up, and some will hand you the work.

Choose one or two observation spots before the children arrive. A good spot has these qualities:

• It's a chair at adult height or a low stool against a wall, where you've sat before
• You can see two or three work areas from it without turning your body
• It's out of the main walking paths, so children don't have to step around you
• It's far enough away that you can't reach the child's work

Sit in the same spot often, even on days you aren't writing anything. Children stop noticing a guide who sits there every morning. In the first weeks of the year you may need to sit for several days before the room ignores you.

Keep a clipboard or notebook on your lap before you sit down. Getting up to fetch a pen draws eyes.

Decide what you're watching for

Ten minutes of watching everything usually produces a note that says "worked well." Go in with one question. Some examples:

• How long does this child stay with one piece of work before getting up?
• Which shelf does this child go to first after arriving?
• What does this child do when the work goes wrong?
• Who does this child watch while other children work?
• Does this child return the work to the shelf, and in what condition?

Pick the question from something you already noticed. If a four-year-old has walked past the sensorial shelf every day for two weeks, your question might be what the child does instead.

Write the note while you watch

A short note written in the moment is more useful than a long one written at nap time from memory. Write only what you see and hear. Leave out how you feel about it.

Use the same four parts every time:

1. Time and place. "9:42, at the practical life shelf."
2. What the child did. "Took the pouring tray to a table. Poured from the left pitcher to the right six times. Spilled twice on the fourth pour."
3. What happened next. "Got a cloth from the basket and wiped the tray. Kept pouring."
4. How it ended. "Returned the tray to the shelf at 9:55, pitchers dry."

That note takes about a minute to write. You can add a line at the bottom marked with a symbol you use for your own thinking, such as "Next: show the funnel?" Keep that line separate so a colleague reading the note knows which part you saw and which part you're wondering about.

Use short forms you'll recognize later, such as the child's initials, the time and a few verbs. Fix spelling when you copy the note into the child's record.

When a child pulls you in

Sometimes a child walks over while you're writing and asks what you're doing, or wants you to look at their work. You have a few options.

If the child is just curious, answer plainly and briefly. "I'm writing about the classroom." Then look back at your page. Most children wander off.

If the child wants you to see their work, look at it and name one thing you see. "You traced every letter on the card." Then return to your notebook.

If the child you're observing stops working because of you, stop writing. Look somewhere else for a minute. Move to your second spot if you need to. Come back later in the morning.

If another child needs help and no other adult is free, go help. You can finish the note afterward, with a line that says when you stopped.

Make it a habit

Observation time disappears first when the morning gets busy. Put it on your own plan for the week, with a child's name or a question next to each slot. Ten minutes on three mornings is enough to start. Share the plan with your assistant so they know to cover the room while you're sitting, and so they don't come over to talk to you.

At the end of the week, read your notes for each child in order. Patterns show up across three or four notes that you'd miss in one, such as a child who always stops working at the same time of morning, or always after the same classmate arrives.