In the teaching profession, understanding the transitions students undergo during their time at school and being able to help them develop into well-rounded adults is an extremely important and sometimes an overlooked aspect of the job. When I say this is overlooked, this is not (usually) in reference to the teachers themselves; rather, I find the general public infrequently thinks of the critical role teachers play in student development, outside of what is in the subject-based curriculum. Whenever I am asked about teaching, I get questions like “What subject are you teaching?” Rarely do I get questions like “How are you going to teach kids in a way that foster healthy development?” Yet, skills such as critical thinking, creativity and reasoning are critical for youth to learn, progress and become active members of society. The readings this week focus directly on youth development, discussing what changes youth are expected to undergo, how teachers can work toward positive youth development, and how the curriculum can work to assist with or impede the development of different skills in youth.
The first two pieces of work, including Stepping Stones and a video titled Insight into the Teenage Brain (Insight), discuss physical and emotional changes youth undergo during adolescence. The video focuses on specific changes the adolescent brain undergoes during development. Through MRI testing, there is evidence that the brain reacts more strongly to reward than adults or younger children. The presenter in the video indicates that during adolescence, the brain is at a stage that causes youth to seek risky experiences, without thoroughly thinking through the consequences of their actions. Teens also tend to have a harder time controlling their emotions. The findings of the study discussed are also supported in the reading Stepping Stones. In the chapter dealing with adolescent development, it indicates that the brain is developing in a way that allows for more complex, abstract and logical thought; however, the ability to control emotions and assess risk are still lowered in comparison to a fully developed person. It is much easier now to understand why I felt and did certain things throughout my time of transition as an adolescent. During high school, I was much more emotional than I am now, and I did certain things that I wouldn’t think to do now. Overall, I was a good kid, but when I think about the time I decided to pierce my own ear, all I can think is “that was stupid”. But, as was described in the texts, I didn’t evaluate risk the same way I do now. As a teacher, Stepping Stones is a great tool to understand not only how people change, but why they change and what we can do to ease their process. Also, as was mentioned in Insight, by being able to understand how students think (and why they think that way), much good can come out of these youth. Although teens are often associated with taking negative risks, risk-taking can also be a great characteristic to have. Furthermore, students during adolescent development generate amazing new ideas and promote creativity through innovative thinking. Therefore, the way teens tend to function can actually be a great thing, and importantly contribute to their development as active and good citizens. The importance of understanding and supporting the development of young people is further highlighted in the next reading, What is Positive Youth Development?(PYD) by William Damon. Here, Damon presents the PYD approach, which focuses on using young people as an invaluable resource in society instead of regarding them as a problem (which is often what occurs both in and outside the classroom). Damon begins by discussing the debate of whether children are naturally delicate or resilient. Here, it is explained that resiliency is a natural part of being adolescent. Resiliency is linked to vast potential which must be maximized in order to ensure that not only problems are prevented, but also so youth can positively contribute to their communities. The author also describes how empathy is a natural component of human emotion which can be changed only by external belief systems. I would agree that potential requires resiliency. If not, all potential would be lost if there was one hiccup down the long road of development. Also, empathy is required in order for people to make whole, complete and just decisions in a community; therefore, supporting and maintaining natural empathy should be a main concern when working with youth. Although, I think limiting the nature of a child to these characteristics is not accurate. Of course resiliency and empathy are required and should be maintained; nonetheless, so many other natural characteristics of adolescence, such as creativity or risk-taking, as mentioned in the other texts, also contribute to the nature of a child and should be considered during positive youth development. When discussing how children interact with their communities, these key characteristics of children help define this interaction. I also very much agree that a more holistic relationship between adolescents and their communities should be taken into account. I find that, most often, the abilities of a child (whether they be good or bad) are the main focus. The capabilities of a young person are often measured in terms of what they will one day be able to achieve for themselves. For example, when I was in school, there was a repetitive narrative of “do well and go to university”; however, we were not encouraged to be smart and go to university because that would benefit the community. Instead, we were told to be smart and go to university because it would get us a good paying job. Not only is this approach focused simply on academic achievement (without any focus on the many other skills that are required for positive youth development), but it also is a selfish view of why and how people learn the way they do. By encouraging interaction between students and the community, the students can then be seen as an active member in that community. Then, students would not be acting simply out of selfish wants, but rather considering what they would be able to achieve as a good public citizen. When children are given rights and responsibility as a member of society, they then can truly advance their academics along with their character. The final reading for this week was the first portion of the book What Kind of Citizen by Joel Westeimer. The first few chapters focused on the importance of character growth as seen in PYD, with more focus on the role of curriculum and education specifically. The main message, which I found was overly repeated in chapters 2-5, was that the shift in public education toward a narrow, math and literacy-based curriculum is restricting the character and emotional development of young people as whole contributors of society. Westheimer finds that the stricter guide lines of curriculum in the US and Canada limits both teachers’ abilities to teach students to critical think and students from becoming critical thinkers. Much of these limits are strung from the ever-growing trend of standardized testing. I agree that standardized tests are a limiting way to assess knowledge and capabilities of students in adolescence. These tests tend to focus on a very small range of the curriculum; furthermore, they completely disregard many other forms of thinking that are critical for students to use. Even so, unlike Westheimer suggested, I do understand how standardization of knowledge has been established over time. There are many factors that put pressure on members of the education system to ensure that all students are treated fairly and, sometimes, this is not the case. So, standardization has been put in place to ensure all students are tested in the same way and are therefore judged justly. This seems like a reasonable argument, until it is considered that not all students learn the same. If we all were able to perform the most efficiently in one form of assessment, it makes sense that one form of assessment would be used to see if students understood the concept; however, we don’t all perform the best in a certain form of assessment. Furthermore, not all teachers (I would argue most teachers) are unable to instill appropriate implicit and explicit teaching in a standardized, notes-to-test format. By making all teachers teach all subjects the same, while blatantly making certain subjects appear more important than others, teachers are seen as undervalued and replaceable, while certain types of thinking and learning styles are placed above others. This means that those who think in a different way are automatically seen as wrong or stupid. In addition, the skill one can gain from different styles and subjects is diminished. In the last chapter, Westheimer categorically reflects upon three types of citizens: the personally responsible citizen, the participatory citizen and the social Justice-Oriented citizen. All of these citizens are considered good in some form of the word; however, the focus of their citizenship is different. By examining the three types, I would say that citizenship is not mutually exclusive. Rather, I would argue that each degree of citizenship is built upon the foundation of the former. In order to prepare and support our students as active good citizens, we must first be able to distinguish and explain the duties of a good citizen. Likewise, we must recognize that good citizenship is sprung from more than math and literacy. Of course, these aspects are important; however, we must foster an environment that allows students to think critically and be responsible, innovative, and socially aware. Students require more than the standardized ways of learning that have recently out in place. The education system must begin to move toward a curriculum that promotes adolescent self-expression and human agency. Once teens realize their thoughts matter, they are able to contribute to society in a meaningful way, and they are able to gain skills and learning styles beyond what is being assessed on a standardized test, they can then develop a sense of identity and moral compass that will allow them to reach higher levels of active citizenship. References
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