Portrait of My Learners

RUNNING HEAD: PORTRAIT OF MY LEARNERS 1
Portrait of My Learners
Edrienne Brown
Wesleyan College
PORTRAIT OF MY LEARNERS 2
Portrait of My Learning
Beginning process: for my first step into seeking out a smaller group to work with, I
schedule to do a socio-gram with the entire second-grade class. They were given a choice to
write three people names down that they thought they wanted to sit by. This process took a long
time and I noticed that the students only wrote the names of the classmates that was there on that
day. One student was absent while another moved away. After I collected their cards, I graphed
the results. My goal was to pick three girls and three boys who were picked the less in their class.
After I have discovered who those students were, I worked with them for the rest of my studies.
True Colors: all six of my group members were present on this day. We took a vote on if
we wanted to read the two page package together or by ourselves. The vote to read together won.
I started explaining the number scaling and the reason for the True Color test. While I was
explaining, two students decided to turn to the next page and complain about all of the words on
the page. They did not listen to the instructions and put down mostly 1’s and 2’s instead of 4, 3,
2, or 1. In the end, they both scored an orange. One of the characteristics of an orange is “to not
pay attention to directions given because you’re already doing it your way.” It was very
interesting that their results matched their actions even though they did not do the scoring the
right way. For the rest of the four students, I had two blues and two golds. One of the similar
characteristics of a blue and gold is that they “usually goes along with plans to avoid conflict” or
“needs to learn step-by-step.” Doing a True Color test first was very helpful to understand my
group’s ability even though it may not be 100% accurate. After doing this assessment, my secret
focus was on the two students who did not follow the rules. I want to compare their results in the
remaining activities and see what level of brain development they are. They both showed signs
of not following directions, so what if they are blocking out information that the teacher is giving
them in class because they don’t want to be grounded by rules? So I continued to work with my
group for the remainder of my assessments and took notes on their response.
Conservation of Liquid: For this experiment, I measured out the water in front of the
students individually. When I poured one cup of water into the cylinder and asked which has
more water, two students answered correctly and said, “All you did was pour the water into the
cylinder.” A third student answered correctly, however, their answer had a stronger analysis as to
why the water looks different. This student said, “Both because the cylinder is tall and you just
poured the water in it. The cylinder makes the water look taller.” The other three individuals did
not get it right. Their answers were, “cylinder, because the cylinder’s water stops at a higher
point,” “cylinder, because it is taller,” and “cylinder because the water is higher and is not in the
same cup.” One of my students that scored an orange got the answer right while the other orange
got the answer wrong.
Conservation of Solid Amount: In this experiment I allowed the students to add or take
away some clay if they did not believe that the two ball of clay was the same size. After the
student has adjusted the two clay balls, I rolled one of the balls into a snake figure and asked if
there were more clay in the ball, snake, or do they have the same amount. The first student
answer was correct and well thought out. This student said, “Both. The snake was a ball first and
had the same amount but now it is laid out.” One of the students who was an orange answered,
“Same amount. The ball has a little more amount because it is fat.” I do not believe that he was
so sure about his answer. The next student said that the snake had more because it was longer
and it looked like I added more green. My concern about this answer is that I used blue and
purple clay and I allowed the student to add or take away clay before I changed the shape. The
next student who scored an orange said that they both had the same amount of clay because the
snake is longer. I am not so sure if he realized what he had said at the beginning of his answer.
Another student said, “Same amount because the ball is bigger, the snake is smaller but they
have the same.” Only the first student gave me a fully developed answer in this study.
Egocentric Perspectives: In this experiment, I placed five different animals on the
student’s side of the folder and five on my side. After they told me what they saw on their side,
we switched seats and I asked them what they saw now. Then, I asked them what do I see. Every
student answered by memory instead of looking over the folder. One student forgot an animal
and some called the animals the wrong thing, but this activity provided evidence that they are
learning how to remember things that they have seen.
Conservation of Weight: This was the last experiment that I did with my students due to
the amount of time I had left. I allowed them to adjust the ball of clay like the previous
experiment then I flatten one into a pancake. Then I asked if the ball weighs more, the pancake,
or do they weigh the same. One student gave the right answer and said that they both weigh the
same amount. One student said that the pancake weighs more because it is flatter and looks like
it weighs more. A different student said, “The ball, the pancake is light and the ball is heavy but
they both have the same amount of playdoh.” The rest of the students’ answers were wrong as
well.
Results: After comparing all of my experience, I did not see a direct correlation between
the true colors and developmental ability. However, if I was a teacher who assessed this kind of
experiment in class, I would see what the students need to work on the most. They have
memorization down, but they do not have the ability to compare weight and amount. The clay
experiment was the hardest for the group. If I were to do this with the whole class, I would give
the students enough clay to make two balls of the same amount, then I would tell them to make
one ball flat or into a different shape. Afterward, I would ask which one has more or weigh more.
Depending on the assignment that they choose. Doing this will allow them to see that the clay is
the same, they just made it flat or into a different shape. If a student fails to understand, then I
would explain it to them on a one-on-one basis. These experiments are really good to do to see
where the students stand on the development scale and how to assess them in the later class
assignment.

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RUNNING HEAD: PORTRAIT OF MY LEARNERS 1

got the answer wrong.

Egocentric Perspectives: In this experiment, I placed five different animals on the

learning how to remember things that they have seen.

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