Holly Jones PSY 304 Professor Fryxell Integration of Adolescent Psychology The Adolescent: Development, Relationships, and Culture

Kim Gale Dolgin Culture and ethnicity are very important aspects of a students personality and overall identity. Culture is defined as the knowledge, attitude, values and customs that characterize a social group and ethnicity is a persons ancestry and the way individuals identify with the nation from which their ancestors came. Adolescence is the period of growth between childhood and adulthood (Dolgin 4) and marks the point in a persons life when they mature, explore, rationalize, and (attempt to) attain autonomy, physically, financially and emotionally. It is not unwarranted then that persons undergoing such a monumental shift would need specific guidance and support in order to best navigate these new and sometimes treacherous waters of life. Throughout this class I have approached the material as an aspiring teacher, trying to justify some of the actions of students that Ive worked with in the past and to prepare for future experiences in my classroom. There have also been times that the information has affected me in a more personal, maternal fashion and I found myself thinking about utilizing the material and skills in my own home, whether it will apply to my step-daughter or to my future child(ren). For these reasons I feel that I have gained a huge advantage by participating in and learning from this class, as it is my belief that it does indeed take a village to raise a child. By tapping into different parts of my mentality (one part teacher, one part mentor, one part sibling, and one part mother) this text has activated many ways in which I will be able to positively affect the lives of children and adolescents that I encounter in my future. Although it was no secret to me that there are a multitude of family structures and lifestyle backgrounds that children come from, it helped to explore a deeper understanding of the intricacies of each. Several chapters identified the influences of longer workdays and mothers (or primary caregivers) working outside of the home and the relationship to childrens development. Understanding that some children come from not only blended households, but drastically broken homes (if they are fortunate enough to not experience homelessness) reminded me to be sensitive to the fact that often the learning environment doesnt extend beyond the school setting. Access to computers, technology in general, and/or positive and supportive role models is an area where many children are severely lacking. I plan on working with under-privileged children from low-SES backgrounds and this is something that I will deal with constantly. This makes me think about how I want to structure my classes to ensure that my students are receiving the best use of time and resources available and to be conscious about homework assignments and other projects that would traditionally extend beyond the classroom to ensure that all students are given a fair chance for the best education. I dont ever want to put any of my

students in a situation where they would be embarrassed about their family/lives or create an environment of frustration and hopelessness based on situations that are beyond his/her control. Socio-economic status the combination of parents income, level of education, and the kinds of jobs thy have and poverty levels also have a significant impact on students abilities in the classroom, but as with all of the other issues presented in this chapter, they are not allencompassing and limiting. Although low-SES consistently predicts intelligence and achievement test scores as well as increased rates of drop out, there are always those select few who defy the odds and make it through usually thanks to a committed adult who continually pushed them to do their best. Linguistic diversity discusses the importance of and origination of different dialects and the importance of Standard English in respect towards the economic opportunities. Teachers need to understand the different dialects of students and the ways to integrate Standards English into the curriculum, without isolating certain students and making them feel like they are wrong for the way they naturally spoke when they came to the classroom. Keeping in mind the demographic of students that I wish to work with, the sections pertaining to violence, nutrition and other dangerous factors truly impacted me. Knowing the stresses that I face as an adult with somewhat financial security and a supportive home life, it is easy to overlook the threats and despair that are everyday life for some children and adolescents when they leave school. This brought up a correlation to the section regarding youth and community service and the positive relationships that these experiences instill in young people. I have worked with low-SES students before and each semester I challenged them to pick a cause to benefit, whether that was through raising awareness, raising funds or donating time and manpower. I found that the actual face to face experiences had the most impact on my students, which supports the research cited in this text. I would love to be in a position to continue this type of work and educational partnership as I believe that it is especially important for students who come from less-than-desirable situations to realize that they can still make a difference to someone, have an impact with their presence, and effect positive change through hard work, empathy and commitment. I found the research regarding the biological and psychological differences between boys and girls very intriguing. I realize the stereotypical differences and even understand the predominance of preferences, but there was a section that I highlighted that made something extra finally click for me and force me to think about how I would handle situations in the future differently than I have in the past. In reference to Sigmund Freud and his belief that biology is destiny: That is, he believed that males and females, because of differences in the anatomy of their genitals, would necessarily have dissimilar experiences and hence turn out different from each other. (Dolgin 34) I have typically found much of Freuds theories and research to be very chauvinistic and dated, containing many absolutes that have since been affected by the changing of times and new norms of both technology and society, but something about this sentence jumped out at me. When I

think of the many students that Ive had that dont fit neatly into the boys world or girls world of stereotypes I believe that each child is unique and will gravitate towards their own interested based on a particular skill set that is affected by each experience, relationship and situation that theyve been faced with throughout their individual life. I was always the girl who played with sports balls and built forts outside, always dirty and rough and it isnt uncommon for me to correct grown men when it comes to the rules and specifics regarding this sport or that sport. But I never stopped to think about the other outside influences that guide younger children and adolescents towards certain tendencies. I started to think about all my friends throwing baby showers and immediately two colors and themes popped into my head pink and blue, dolls and sports. Nice and neat categories one for a boy and one for a girl. Although I often find Freud sexists, I really think he has a point with this and one that holds steady to a certain degree within our society today. This just reminded me to not always take things at face value and to continue to work towards diversity and exposure for my students because, for some, the first time they are introduced to this may be in my classroom. Eriksons stages of personality made an impact on me as well, as I like information that is compartmentalized and broken down into understandable segments (who doesnt like a chart?). Better understanding the developmental processes of ego, identity, and extrinsic interest and relationships is the key to understanding behavior, which allows one the power to better influence and guide children and adolescents through such a hectic and confusing time in their lives. Albert Banduras social learning theory provided many obvious explanations regarding specific behavior and relationship correlation. This section made me think of the phrase monkey see, monkey do and reflect on how many times I have seen this manifest with students (and adults!) in my life. What adults do and the role models they provide are far more important in influencing adolescent behavior than what they say. (Dolgin 41) I have often heard that one of the most frustrating parts of being a teacher is to see the progress that a student makes and then having to send them home to a toxic environment where you know that some (if not all) of the positive work that youve just affected will be undone. I have experienced this myself, unfortunately, with many students. Although it can be difficult dealing and working with some parents and caregivers, establishing a positive and communicative relationship between the school and home is so beneficial for students and can help to alleviate some of this disunity. Here I was reminded that I need to always be positive, supportive and available for my students, but also for their parents, caregivers and role models, as they are a reflection of all of us working together. Robert Havighurst outlined eight major developmental tasks that all adolescents face. He also talked about a teachable moment, which I am in complete agreement with. I have worked with many students who came with (or severely needed) IEP and 504 plans and one of the ways that I was able to help these students the most was to understand and recognize the teachable moments and, in a sense, learn to pick my battles (which is a life skill beneficial to all people,

regardless of age or circumstance). It is easy to look back and remember middle school (and for many even high school) as a stressful and awkward experience that we are just glad to have made it through. But it is not as easy to remember all of the specifics that negatively affected each of us and Havighursts eight tasks helped to bring some of the most important transitions and struggles back to the forefront of my mind. I believe that this outline will help me to remain sensitive to what my students are living and not just going through, because we know that it gets better, but our patronizing, belittling, and writing off as typical does them little good in the moment, which is when we secure our impact on their (and our) future. The specific information and statistics pertaining to individual minorities is something that I was very grateful for within this text. My fianc is in the military so it is inevitable that we will be moving around quite frequently, possibly from one side of the country to the other (as was the case with my transition from Hawaii to Georgia). As a result of this, it is likely that I will be working with children of all races and ethnicities within different geographical settings, increasing the importance of my understanding of their situations and realities. Each child is unique and each cultural group also is distinctive, bringing with them their own struggles and triumphs to my classroom, wherever that may be. By becoming more knowledgeable about each minority I will be better suited to help them achieve their educational goals, whether they realize that they are capable of that or not. It should be a partnership in education and we should learn from each other in order to best facilitate a positive end result. While not all of this information was entirely new to me, I was able to form a more solid educational foundation of knowledge based on the scientific rationalizations and theories presented within this text. I believe that I am better prepared to professionally work with adolescents as a result of this class and will carry with me many valuable lessons and important information that will positively affect not only my classroom and immediate students, but my entire life as it relates to children and adolescents.