Adolesence

Adolescence The term adolescence is commonly used to describe the transition stage between childhood and adulthood. Adolescence is also equated to both the terms “teenage years” and “puberty.” However adolescence is not exclusive to either of these terms. Puberty refers to the hormonal changes that occur in early youth; and the period of adolescence can extend well beyond the teenage years. In fact, there is no one scientific definition of adolescence or set age boundary. There are key development changes that nearly all adolescents experience during their transition from childhood to adulthood. Many researchers and developmental specialists in the U.S. use the age span 10 – 24 years as a working definition of adolescence. This age span can be further divided into sub stages. The table below, developed by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, describes the developmental characteristics of adolescents by sub stage specific to physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development.This table illustrates that adolescence is one of the most dynamic stages of human growth and development; and is second only to infancy in the rate of developmental changes that take place. You can obtain more information about adolescence from the following website: Adolesence ||
 * || What is Adolescence?

Approximately 11 – 13 years of age || Puberty: grow body hair, increase perspiration and oil production in hair and skin Girls – breast and hip development, onset of menstruation Boys – growth in testicles and penis, wet dreams, deepening of voice Tremendous physical growth: gain height and weight || Growing capacity for abstract thought Mostly interested in present with limited thought to the future Intellectual interests expand and become more important Deeper moral thinking || Struggle with sense of identity Feel awkward about one’s self and one’s body; worry about being normal Realize that parents are not perfect; increased conflict with parents Increased influence of peer group Desire for independence Tendency to return to “childish” behavior, particularly when stressed Moodiness Rule- and limit-testing Greater interest in privacy Growing sexual interest || Approximately 14 – 18 years of age || Puberty is completed Physical growth slows for girls, continues for boys || Continued growth of capacity for abstract thought Greater capacity for setting goals Interest in moral reasoning Thinking about the meaning of life || Intense self-involvement, changing between high expectations and poor self-concept Continued adjustment to changing body, worries about being normal Tendency to distance selves from parents, continued drive for independence Driven to make friends and greater reliance on them, popularity can be an important issue Feelings of love and passion Increased sexual interest || Approximately 19 – 24 years of age || Young women, typically, are physically fully developed Young men continue to gain height, weight, muscle mass, and body hair || Ability to think ideas through from beginning to end Ability to delay gratification Examination of inner experiences Increased concern for future Continued interest in moral reasoning || Firmer sense of identity, including sexual identity Increased emotional stability Increased concern for others Increased independence and self-reliance Peer relationships remain important Development of more serious relationships Social and cultural traditions regain some of their importance. ||
 * ~ Stages of Adolescence ||~ Physical Development ||~ Cognitive Development ||~ Social-Emotional Development ||
 * Early Adolescence
 * Middle Adolescence
 * Late Adolescence

Quotes from Class Readings that relate to the concept of Adolescence and how to connect with them" Transformational learning occurs when students sense that they too have moved their teachers-through their efforts and accomplishments and through their deep engagement in the learning process"( Sadowski, p.19).I think that this quote compliments the article on the power of film making for students. I make this connection because the article discusses how influential the filmmaking was on the students as well as the teacher. " As Steele's research illustrates, in the United States we have deeply embedded stereotypes that connect racial identity to academic ability, and children become aware of these stereotypes as they grow up in the school context." (Sadowski, p. 29.) Recognizing these deeply embedded stereotypes is essential to how we teach our students and is also important for how we help them create spaces for them to make sense of how this will effect them. In the article, Addressing everyday problems and Constructing Situated Identities: Youth Filmmaking in Schools, Bailey reifies this idea by stating, "...how students at both schools utilized digital video production to illuminate problems in their lives and illustrates how the act of expressing emotions in their digital movies represented an attempt to make sense of ( and perhaps heal from) difficult issues" (Bailey, p. 5).

"To reiterate a theme that runs throughout this chapter, schools that promote positive identity development are rich in engaging activities in which students can invest their psychic energy, and they value the role of relationships at all levels of learning" (Sadowski, p. 19). A quote from the article, "Making Meaning on Screen: Digital Video Production on the Dominican Republic", the author makes and important connection to Sadowski's idea about promoting positive identity development, "For William in particulare, working with subject matter that was part of his cultural identity was an important element to this project" (Ranker, p. 421). Ranker goes onto make a deeper connection, drawing from other literary scholars, stating, "..allowing students to draw upon familiar subjects and other funds of knowledge in school is an effective way of creating cultural relevance for students" (Ranker, p. 421).

In our class discussion we have been talking on how we can create good relationship with adolescents and be connected with them. It is true that adolescents need good relationships with other students as well as their teachers. Michael Sadowski (2008) points out that, “relational engagement is the extent to which students feel connected to their teachers, peers, and others at school” (p. 64). It is obvious to me that social relationships provide a variety of protective functions-a sense of belonging, emotional, support and positive feedback. This is what Sadowski (2008) discusses when he said, “students learn better and develop in more positive ways when they feel they have connections to others who are also involved in the teaching and learning enterprise” (226). Based on my understanding, I believe that when teachers recognize, understand and meet the needs of adolescents, students enjoy learning and become more productive.

Hill (2009) brings an awareness of the community about how to maintain a good relationship with students. He states that, “Because of the high level of intimacy within the community, members occasionally took the liberty of asking questions and telling stories...” It is obvious that many adolescents have a strong need for community support. Building a learning community at the school level is very important because it helps to know each other. Michael Sadowski, (2008, x) discusses the problems that arose when, “the teacher did not know their students and the students did not know their teacher.” Hill emphasizes that teacher should build strong relationship with students and build a learning community in the classroom that helps students to learn from their teacher and from their fellow students. Hill (2009) points out that, “…critical pedagogy scholars have paid considerable attention to the relationship between the everyday cultural practices of students and cultural political of schooling. …understanding students’ lived experience and sources of pleasure is an essential part of critical pedagogy’s larger project of making the official curriculum more responsive to the everyday lives of students.” Teachers can help students maintain their foundation of learning through connecting their prior knowledge to new learning. Four youth filmmakers, who visited our class, amazed me how they were proud for their work and the way they explained how films helped them to improve their literacy. To support and encourage students to practice their everyday life, teachers need to build a sense of community that students can work together to support each other. Teachers should provide clear instructions to their students and help them to discover new things for their life.

=Importance of Filmmaking to Adolescence=

In Bailey's article about filmmaking in schools he makes strong correlations to why filmmaking is beneficial to adolescents. In the introduction he explains how video works, "...video is able to combine modes that compliment each other, foreground modes with parts of a text depending on the mode's strengths, and background a mode because of its limitations; thus offering unique affordances for making meaning and solving problems"(Baily, p.1). The section titled "Filmaking and Youth" offers more supportive research on why this form of literacy is beneficial to adolescence, (As cited in Bailey, 2010) Hull explains "...purposes and uses for students' digital multimodal stories, such as; exploring alternative defintions of masculinity, offering a tribute to family memebers or friends, recounting or interpreting a pivotal moment or key event, representing place, space, or community, preserving history, creating art or an artifact, playing or fantasizing, healing, grieving, or reflecting, reaching, informing, or influencing a wider audience"(Bailey, p.4).

“…we live in an increasingly multimodal world, when so many meanings in our society are constructed, interpreted, communicated and appropriated through the combination of various modes of communication” (Bailey, p. 1). Our adolescents live in the society that has so much to do with technology and as a consequence they are attracted to use these multimodal to communicate and break their silence by expressing their own lives. They want people to hear their voice and adolescents feel proud when they have something to share with their own community. Adolescents want to discover new learning by themselves and educators should know all these so that they can engage and empower students during the classroom activity. Bailey (p. 18) states that, “many adolescent feel silence in schools and their lives and indicate an interest in being heard by adults.” Bailey (p.18) also says that, “voice in this example, refers to the way students used their movies to speak out and be heard by people in their communities and beyond their schools about important things in their lives.” Students’ participation in filmmaking gives them an opportunity to learn and engage themselves in new ways of literacy in school.

"the insertion of contemporary film along with a dialogic, problem-posing format of discussion and student-led presentations allows students to tap into reservoir and provides a powerful pathway into such canonical texts as The Odyssey and Native Son." (Morell, 2004, 87). Film making and film use for adolescents is crucial to an effective curriculum for high school students. By sharing films with the students, We can learn that they are capable of thinking critically about Their real life situations. We can recognize that they are Intellectuals no matter how young they are or where they come from. As teachers we must remember that adolescents shape our future, it is our job to intrinsically motivate them or engage them in real life situations, we can do this by using film in the classroom. Film encourages teens to link literature with central themes and make connections as well. Selene (group one)

=Personal Connections and Experiences in our own Adolescence= I think that my adolescene was a tumultous time in my life. I think it was hard to balance what my friends were doing and what I was doing. I think the peer pressure to fit in is tremendous. I played sports and partied a lot in high school. I remember always wanting to have the nicest clothes and be able to partcipate in what my friends were doing. It was hard when you would see your peers get "everything" but reflecting back now I have realized that those peers that had "everything" don't have everything now. To expand on that I mean that a lot of the students who you thought had it all are uneducated and still seem to be living the adolescent lifestyle. I think there were times during my Adolescence that I fluctuated between Foreclosure and Morataurim. I know that I had a lot of people in my life that helped contribute to both aspects. As we have proceeded in this class I am now realizing how fragile that time is between Foreclosure and Moratorium. When considering the span of Adolescence you can see that is begins around 11 and ends at 24. That is a huge time line for identifying who you are and what you want to be. When I was 22 I was living on my own in Long Island, working and going to school. I would not have considered myself an adolescent then but looking back now I can see that I was. I think some of the biggest changes occurred between 21 and 24. I believe I changed the idea of who I was and where I wanted to be during that time.

=Hip Hop Music and How it relates to Adolescence= I think that the use of Hip Hop music in adolescent settings is extremely benefical. Analyzing the music for literary elements is a great way to have students learning about the structure and use of language through an intergral part of who they identify themselves with. Hip Hop music also incorportate the struggles, heatrache and hope in many Urban communtites. If we utilize this in the classroom, it can be a way for students to engage in critical thinking and also be a way for them to "heal" from the wounds of their environment.



Ideas for Media Literacy in my our Classrooms [] This is a great website to gain ideas on how to incorporate films about other cultures into your classroom. There are curriculum guides but you have to pay for them. They are $5, for one or $40 for all 10. I think it is useful and if you really needed the lessons I don't think they are unreasonable. ReadWriteThink: This is a lesson on Commercial Advertising for grades 6-8: [] This link suggests several ways to help your students become crticial media consumers. The topics range from alcohol adds to credit card adds: []

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 * This film is about life in high scho****ol presented by a group of adolescent artists**

Please click on the file and read what I learned from the student I interviewed on Friday, October 28.
 * Teen Interview: Adolescents and Literacy - Presented by Seba**



I tried the Kodu game website for class this week and wasn't a huge fan of it. I think that's partially due to the fact that I'm not good with computers or gaming. The ideas of the site are good though and I think if used effectively, they would offer a lot and possibly engage kids who are having a difficult time in the classroom under "traditional teaching methods." It seems as if this game software would be appropriate for most age and subject areas.

If you have come in contact with a teenager, then you can verify that adolescents are very attached to their cell phones. These mobile devices have gone way beyond an emergency line, and have become one of a teenager's main ways of communicating with their social circles. Educators are attempting to capitalize on adolescents' interest with their cellular devices by filtering education in form of SMS/Email/Video to individual cell phones - the program Sports Pulse is one such program. Students will receive a message to their phones containing new information, then 5 separate messages containing questions related to the topic. Students will answer each question in the form of a response SMS/Email, and will receive immediate feedback on their answer. Students can gain prizes, such as winning sports tickets or the chance to meet a pro-athlete. This is just one way in which educators are adapting their lesson plans to interest students and engage them in subjects such as Mathematics and Science. =Defintions of YA literature= Here is a great website that is geared towards YA literature(specifically grades 4-12). The site has many resources for educators and parents: [] Here is an excerpt from an online article by Chelsea Miles, for the Desert News describing the definiton or idea of YA literature: Authors have had the lives of their young adult readers in mind for years. In the 1970s, what became known as the “problem novel” came onto the scene. These novels addressed certain societal issues of the time, such as the use of drugs and alcohol, rape, suicide and abuse. They were called “problem novels” since the protagonist usually faced one or more of these issues. When these protagonists were written as teenagers, the young adult genre was born. The characteristics of the “problem” young adult novel are simple. The characters should be the between the ages of 12 and 19. The characters should be facing some sort of problem in their lives, such as divorce between parents or the suffering of unpopularity in high school. These novels need to be fast-paced and relatable to the readers. Reading novels in which characters are dealing with familiar stresses and trauma is appealing to teens. Seeing characters overcome life trials can be helpful for struggling teens; it can help them see their problems are conquerable. Young adult author Laurie Halse Anderson has said these novels need to be “honest in order to connect to the teen reader.” When teens read about the details of these issues, they can better understand what is happening to them and what is happening in the world around them.
 * Cellular Phones as Educational Tools for Adolescents**

I think the Young Adult Book Club can also be used to motivate teens in their learning process and make changes that can make differences in their daily life.