Field Notes Essay, Research Paper

As

I entered Club Proteo on Thursday, May 27th I noticed that there were about 20

children there today. Today is the "all you can eat pizza day" for all

the children who completed task cards. As I walked through the door the first

kid I saw was Jesus. I told him that I liked his new hair cut and with a big

smile he responded with where?s your friend? I told him that Ashley was in

Mexico and then asked if his two sisters were here today. He replied with a half

grin that they were in Mexico. He then began to laugh and gave me a big hug

while trying to crawl around my body onto my back. When I asked him to mellow

out he laid his head on my shoulder and in the next instant he jumped into the

seat next to me and began repeating over and over again, "help me with Club

Proteo" I asked him to hold on a second after the tenth time and he said

"why do you have to be so mean," then laughed loudly and climbed onto

my lap. I then helped him read a problem in the game Outnumbered and before I

had the time to begin explaining what the question was asking he had already

typed in the correct answer. I continued reading questions as he tried to figure

them out on his fingers. Chris then made an announcement that everyone who had

completed a task card should go get it and then line up single file in the

hallway for the pizza. All the children, about 16 went to the art room. There

were two tables set up and everyone sat around them. The experience was being

videotaped by a girl in the U.C San Diego Graduate Program. The children were

then asked questions about their task card experience. The question "What

is a task card?" was asked and a young boy named CJ answered. He said that

a task card was a piece of paper folded in half that was later opened by someone

else and it contained a secret message on the inside. I sat next to two young

girls named Melissa and Sarah who were both six and a half. Melissa sat sucking

her thumb in between trying to answer every other question. When the questioning

was over the task card were collected by Sarah. Everyone was given a plastic cup

and a paper plate. Everyone got pizza and soda. Melissa ate her pizza by first

dipping it in her soda. When the cups went around Melissa was left with the

extras and began putting the extra cups in a circle in front of her. She then

proceeded to say who they were for. One for her mom, her dad, her sister, her

brother, and herself. She had two left over and asked Sarah who the other two

were for. Sarah said what about your grandma? Melissa replied yah, my grandma

and my grandpa even though they live in Missouri. She smiled and then look

around the table still grinning. After the pizza party I went back to Club

Proteo. There were not many children left, almost all of the children who ate

pizza and drank soda were running around outside and in the game room playing.

PERSONAL FIELDNOTES: I thought today was a pretty good day. I found it

interesting that CJ described a task card like a card with a secret message. He

had made a task card and it was sitting in front of him. His task card was not

folded in half and had no secret message inside. It was interesting that he

didn?t make the connection.