Meta Reflection #1
When we teach young adolescents, we need to take into account who an adolescent is. As defined by the World Health Organization, adolescence means "the period in human growth and development that occurs after childhood and before adulthood, from ages 10 to 19. It represents one of the critical transitions in the life span and is characterized by a tremendous pace in growth and change that is second only to that of infancy." (WHO, 2015). I used this definition in my flex learning activity in preparation for my post on Topic 1. As a teacher, we have a huge amount of influence on the adolescents in our classroom. At this point of a child's life, they are undergoing major developmental and behavioural changes, some of which are shown through mood swings, changes in peer interactions and even identity formation: some of the major characteristics that come to mind when you think of the word "adolescence." This is seen in my past post on Topic 1: What is Adolescence? Included in this post are the many ways that teachers can influence adolescent development, and also the interconnectedness between the many aspects of adolescence, but primarily the connection between what adolescence is and adolescent cognitive development.
We, as teachers, can positively influence adolescent development by promoting differentiated learning (Tomlinson et. al., 2015). By differentiating instruction, students are given a chance to form their learning identity. Often, students are just entering Junior High or Middle School when they begin adolescence, the first time for many students to get a full taste of what studying and homework is really like. Teachers providing opportunity for varied versions of assessment and learning helps adolescents to figure out where they excel. For example, if a teacher gives two different methods of instruction, one lecture and one movie, a student is then give the opportunity to figure out what method of learning is the best for them. Or another example is group work vs. independent work; it gives students a chance to figure out which way of learning suits them better, and it also gives them a chance to interact with their peers and create relationships with people their age, which is really important, especially at this stage of development.
Teachers can also help students to understand what adolescence is and how to cope and deal with it by teaching them about it. For example, having them learn about the different stages of bodily development by bringing in experts on the topics, or having them do presentations about it. Everybody's brain is "wired differently," which means that everybody learns differently as well. An important part of adolescence is not only hitting a milestone in our life, but it is also the age at which you start experiencing a lot of changes to your body, your behaviour, how you interact with others, and of course the changes that are associated with forming your identity.
As a teacher, creating a "brain rule friendly" classroom can be instrumental in helping students during this stage of life (Medina, 2015). Some adolescents learn better by music, or movies, or acting out what they learn. Other adolescents need a sense of "challenge" or "exploration" to truly get the most out of what they are learning. Others just simply need non-stressful environment in order to be successful. It is our duty as teachers to provide this inclusive and stimulating environment for our students. This should always be the case, but when students are going through such a huge stage of development in their life, it makes it even more important for a teacher to accommodate and provide opportunities for students to figure out their most successful method of learning, and of course having the supportive environment to do this. For example, if a student likes to learn with music, allow the use of iPods or music players during work time (with rules to what they can use them for of course). If students prefer learning through visual methods, such as videos and visual presentations, provide alternative resources to your students that cater to these preferences. By accommodating for these differences in learning, we are promoting our students' development, and we are contributing to their path of identity formation, sometimes without even knowing it.
It is interesting to see how much the different aspects of adolescence intermingle with themselves. This post has and is specifically looking at how Topic 1: What is Adolescence? relates to Topic 3: Cognitive Development. Without understanding how students develop and what skills they attain, we don't know what adolescence is. A students cognitive development is what contributes to the diversity of adolescents that we see in a classroom, and contributes to the important factor of reality, which is that "every brain is wired differently" (Medina, 2015) Without understanding how our students's brain works, or how each of our students prospers, we don't know how to teach them. This is why every year our lesson plans change, and why we have to alter the way we have to approach different topics and materials in our classrooms. As teachers, we play a big role in how our students learn, and how they develop. Our behaviours need to be positive and we need to be supportive. Adolescence is an extremely influential point of a child's life. The smallest issues can negatively influence a student, which is why us, as teachers need to be careful in how we approach a lesson and how we design out classrooms. Providing a non-stressful classroom and lesson, and providing enough homework so that students can practice what they learn, while not having too much, so that students can get an appropriate amount of sleep is important for students. These small factors can influence the way a student sees themselves, the way they interact with their peers, and how they react when in the classroom setting Maybe less homework will positively affect their mood when they get to school, potentially minimizing unnecessary controllable mood swings and bad behaviours. Cognitive development and who adolescents are is tightly interconnected, which makes our jobs as teachers even more important. We need to foster classrooms and lessons that are beneficial and carefully crafted to suit an adolescent.
The following links are interesting and helpful resources that I found while searching the web on potential techniques that could help teachers craft lessons to better suit adolescents: Brain Rules, Teaching decision making to adolescents, Teaching ten to fourteen year olds., Turning points 2000: Educating adolescents in the 21st century. Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. These books and studies provide teachers with the resources that could potentially help teachers lead their students through a successful and developmentally appropriate transition from childhood to adolescence ( Baron et.al., 2012). They also provide different techniques on how to approach an adolescent class. By using these kinds of resources and techniques, it can help us to be as helpful and successful in teaching adolescent students, and positively influence their development through this critical stage of development: adolescence.
Resources:
Baron, J., Brown, R.V. (2012, Nov. 12) Teaching decision making to adolescents. eBook.
Blackwell, L.S., Trzesniewski K.H. (2007, January/February) Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Research Paper Publication: Child Development.
Jackson, A.W. Davis, G.A. (2000, Nov.) Turning points 2000: Educating adolescents in the 21st century. eBook.
Medina, J. (2015) Brain Rules. Website.
Stevenson, C. (1992) Teaching ten to fourteen year olds. eBook.
Tomlinson, C.A., Hutchinson, N. (2015). Inclusive Education: Second Custom Edition for the University of Alberta. Pearson. print.
World Health Organization or WHO (2015) Adolescent development. Website.
*Note: The chart on the right was created by me, using Apple Pages. This was used to show the flow and connection between the topics discussed in the meta-reflection. It shows the connection between Topic 1 and Topic 3, while also connecting those topics to how we as teachers are influenced by adolescents and what we can do to help adolescent development in our classrooms. This is just a nice way to visualize how everything is connected. Like mentioned in the post, everybody has different learning profiles, and it is important to try and cater to as many as possible.