Topic 1: What is Adolescence?
What is adolescence? I think that is a fantastic question. We had a very long chat about this in class, and I think the discussion was quite interesting. For today's post, we were asked to reflect and discuss on what characteristic of adolescents todays is most "defining" and how this characteristic can influence the way that we teach. In my flex-learning activity, I talked about mood swings being one of the most defining characteristics of adolescents. This characteristic was supported as being a key characteristic in Sanstrock's textbook: Adolescence. This didn't really change after class where we got the opportunities to talk to each other about why we chose what we chose. I think that mood swings fits into many different aspects of adolescence. Mood swings, which ties together with behavioural changes result from "fluctuations in hormone levels" (Sanstrock, 2001) which leads to many different aspects of adolescence. Mood swings/ behavioural changes affect our peer-interactions, which affects our self-image and how others see us, which effects what we post on social media, which leads to poor health choices, etc. Adolescence isn't really defined by one characteristic; it is a whole web of characteristics that intersects with each other at various times.
However, let's focus back onto mood swings. I think it very much has an influence on how I will teach. If student are going through many different behavioural changes, it is bound to come up in the classroom, sometimes in more negative forms such as frustration and aggression. For example, students acting out during group work and assignments could negatively influence my teaching and instruction. I think it's important for teacher's to be able to accommodate for these hard times for adolescents by being a little bit more understanding. However, that being said, I think it is important to explain to students what is going on in their body so that they understand what is going on. Great resources, such as the powerpoint linked here: Adolescent Literacy Guide - EduGAINS would help to teach students what is happening to them, and how they can prevent having this effect their school, relationships and lifestyle. This powerpoint could also be incredibly helpful to other teachers because it goes over different ways that teachers can help and "tap into this development" when teaching adolescents. Also, showing students the different resources that are available for them, such as the Depression Resource Centre, Teen Mental Health, and OAH Initiatives - The Office of Adolescent Health - HHS.gov could help students get support during this time, if they are having a hard time or feel like they are losing control of their emotions. Sometimes students just need some help with dealing with what is going on in their lives, so providing a supportive environment, and providing the resources that they might need to get help is the best way to aid students through this stage in their life, as their teacher.
Resources:
Adolescent Literacy Guide - EduGAINS (2012) Online Document.
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (2015, March) Depression Resource Centre. Website.
Office of Adolescent Health (2012) OAH Initiatives - The Office of Adolescent Health - HHS.gov. Teen Health Resources Website.
Teen Mental Health. Website.
Sanstrock, J. (2001, January 1). Adolescence print.
*Note 1: The worldle presented below (on the left) of my response were the selected characteristics of adolescents that we, as a class, selected as the top characteristics of adolescents. This worldle was taken from the extra slides from Topic 1 that was posted to eclass. These were all of the topics that came up from our class during the flex learning activity for this week.
**Note 2: The worldle presented below (on the right) of my response were the top characteristics of adolescents that we talked about in class. I created this on http://worditout.com/word-cloud/make-a-new-one . It is important for this topic because these were the most common words that came up during our flex learning activity due on Monday. It is interesting to see and discuss how adolescence has evolved over time. "Puberty" was the most popular choice on this list, as seen from the class discussion and the results from the flex learning activity.
