November 9, 2011

Today was a very interesting day in my life as an active observer. For the past few weeks I have noticed some concerning behavior with one of the students I have been working with. As I have been working with him outside of my weekly observation, I feel that I know this student quite well, thus this behavior has become a concern recently. This particular student, whom we shall call Sven, is what I would consider an average fifth grader. The last few weeks I have noticed increased fatigue and lack of enthusiasm for general activities. At first I just assumed it was a busy week for him and was causing some irregular sleep patterns. As the behaviors persisted in the following weeks, I began asking why he was so tired, Sven replied, "I didn't sleep last night because I was worrying about stuff". I left the conversation at that and made a side comment to my supervising teacher, who said that it was normal for him to come to class fatigued. In the next few weeks I observed Sven becoming withdrawn from his friends and opting to stay in during recess when it was not necessary for him to do so. When I asked him why he did not want to go out with his friends he replied, "I'm just really tired and don't want to be around my friends today." I persisted this time by asking, "Did you and your friends have a disagreement?". He thought about it and responded, "No, I just don't want to be around anyone today. I just want to go home and go to bed and not be around anyone." This statement really set off some alarms for me, as I recognize this as a sign of depression, and as I myself have struggled with depression since I was 10, I felt it was important to get the opinion of another teacher. After stating my concerns to K. Rob she promptly marched me down to the guidance office and said that anytime I have these kinds of concerns no matter how minor the guidance counselor needs to notified so they can assess the situation. After speaking the the counselor I felt better that someone had been notified and would be looking into the situation more intently then I would be capable of. I feel that although we are told to report any kind of abnormal behavior or concerns, we are never really taken through the process so I feel that today served as a great learning experience.