Building the classroom for prosocial development.

a. Observe two children in a class, what who is at a beginning point in prosocial development and one who is making clear progress. Watch for each child’s use of caring, sharing, cooperating, or helping behaviors. Record one typical situation for each. Without comparing the children, hypothesize about each child’s progress with each of the four prosocial skills. Compare and contrast your findings with ideas from the text.

b. Interview a teacher about how she structures her classroom to encourage proactive development. What are the teacher’s priorities for individual children in her class who are at different points in prosocial development? How do the teacher’s comments compare with ideas from text?