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Child Observation Essay

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Leroy is a 2nd grade African American student at Martin Luther King Elementary School. He is 8 years old and lives with his mother and two older brothers. His favorite school subject is math. He likes to play video games and basketball, especially when he is playing with his friends. Leroy’s favorite holiday is Christmas, for he gets to visit his grandma and enjoy all the delicious foods that his mom and grandma cook. When asked where would he go if he can go anywhere, he responded with Skate Park. He likes to skate around the park with his brothers. Leroy wishes to be like his older brother when he grows up. Leroy is a competitive student even among his friends. He likes to read at the same table as his friends or in the same …show more content…

If Leroy is able to shift his goal orientation, then he will be able to develop a growth mindset, which according to Dweck (2007) would increase his dedication to learning. He would change his perspective of effort as well and be able to view it as a possible way to increase his intelligence. As a result, Leroy will learn to take risks and not feel ashamed of his ability or inability to perform well on activities especially on reading games. When Leroy started to lose confidence in his ability to read, he would slide himself down in his chair. This behavior has occurred repeatedly during reading games when he could not fluently read the words on the cards. For example, when we played a reading game called Logic and Reasoning with another mentor and mentee, Leroy had to sound out every other word on his first card. Halfway through the card, he asked if I could read the rest to him, for it was too hard. When I told him he could do it, he crossed his arms over his chest, harrumphed, and slid down in his seat. The next time it was his turn to read another card, he continued to stay down in his seat. He even brought the card closed to his face so no one could read the words on the card. Sometimes, he refused to read the next time it was his turn even when he answered the question on the card correctly. In order to encourage Leroy to shift from a performance approach goal to a mastery goal, I tried to minimize the competition

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