diff --git a/activerecord/CHANGELOG b/activerecord/CHANGELOG
index 74226bb147aae21e342c4924ce6a75aee7e07bdc..27c4168c63d8f5c308c9573ec4870a7062077033 100644
--- a/activerecord/CHANGELOG
+++ b/activerecord/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Observers can observe model names as symbols properly now.  Closes #9869  [queso]
+
 * find_and_(initialize|create)_by methods can now properly initialize protected attributes [Tobias Luetke]
 
 * belongs_to infers the foreign key from the association name instead of from the class name.  [Jeremy Kemper]
diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/observer.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/observer.rb
index 9803155f2d45f37e16852424f2af3b82dbe88a38..745ab96f0fee1abe6a25488cb18d3019100abf26 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/observer.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/observer.rb
@@ -131,7 +131,8 @@ class Observer
     class << self
       # Attaches the observer to the supplied model classes.
       def observe(*models)
-        models.flatten.collect! { |model| model.is_a?(Symbol) ? model.to_s.camelize.constantize : model }
+        models.flatten!
+        models.collect! { |model| model.is_a?(Symbol) ? model.to_s.camelize.constantize : model }
         define_method(:observed_classes) { Set.new(models) }
       end
 
diff --git a/activerecord/test/lifecycle_test.rb b/activerecord/test/lifecycle_test.rb
index 2fdeb4181e023c05da0c2c11d651f9bb52bd4310..5f9e12a7e23352dd09d74d1e043d03149e554249 100755
--- a/activerecord/test/lifecycle_test.rb
+++ b/activerecord/test/lifecycle_test.rb
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ def has_been_notified?
 end
 
 class TopicaObserver < ActiveRecord::Observer
-  def self.observed_class() Topic end
+  observe :topic
   
   attr_reader :topic