Dilemmas

A teacher must be aware the students are very critical of how other people see them.  Teaching them public speaking skills and having them do things in a group helps get rid of the magnify glass they put on themselves. One student talks about how to act "cool" by having a bad attitude.  Even in primary school interest in the opposite exists.  Girls sometimes feel they need a boyfriend since they're going to junior high.  A future to be junior high student named Sandy gives an account
           

In about  5th and 6th grade ... [we] was like "OK," you know, "we're getting ready for junior  high” you know, “it's time we all have to get a boyfriend...” So I remember, it was funny, Carol, like, there were two guys who were just the heartthrobs of our class, you know... so, um, I guess it was Carol and Cindy really, they were like just the leaders, and they got Tim and Joe, each of those you know. Carol had Tim and Cindy had Joe. And then, you know, everyone else, then it kind of went down the line, everyone had found someone...”

 

“The age of first sexual intercourse has decreased steadily over the last few decades and the average age now is around 16 and a majority of adolescents are sexually active by age 18.” I do no like this fact. They are so many other ways to find pleasure. “It is important to note here that many children and adolescents who are routinely exposed to violence at home or elsewhere are not especially aggressive." I wonder what the NRA thinks about that because they blame violence exposure as a reason behind gun attacks.

Some bullies attack because they have poor perspective-taking abilities, prevalence of self-serving goals, and belief in appropriateness and effectiveness of aggression. One good way to foster social skills they and others need is “Teach specific social skills, provide opportunities for students to practice them, and give feedback” I think this is a great idea. Not only do we need to teach social skills such as not dominating group work we should have group work to see how it goes and tell a student that they need to be less aggressive in the group if needed.


                         

                               (Here are some good ways to foster social skills.)

To promote social interaction among diverse groups the simple tasks of mixing up the seat schedule throughout the school year is effective. I wouldn't like that but it is a good idea. This may sound good but may not be. Some teachers learn people's names by where they sit and then it may confuse the teacher's ability to remember names. Teachers need to sensitize students' opinion of disabled students by getting them to think about the difficulties they face.

To end, consider this situation

In Europe, a woman was near death from a rare form of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her, a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The druggist was charging $2,000, ten times what the drug cost to make. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about half of what the drug cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay him later. But the [cold] druggist said no. So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.

A person is asked to make a decision between the legal law and the moral law. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. talks about this and the moral law is above the legal law.  Remember how blacks would get on different places on the bus and eat at restaurants where whites sit?  I believe that Heinz did the right thing. He probably loved his wife dearly and was ready to do whatever it took to make her better. What would you do? 

                                
                               (MLK Jr. states the moral law is above the legal law.)

Developmental Changes in Sense of Self

Hello and hope you are doing well.  In the preschool and primary grades, most children have a positive view of themselves and believe they can achieve tasks that are too difficult for them. They also make generalizations about people such as dumb, smart, friendly, good looking etc. In the early adolescence children show increased abstract descriptions of people such as cool, nerd, beautiful etc. When students enter the middle school, the positive view lowers probably due to puberty or factors of having to change schools.



                             
                                                   
                               
                             (Younger children struggle to have complex thinking of who someone is.)


Two dilemmas occur during the early adolescence that should be noted. Students believe that they are the center of attention and are being watched by an imaginary audience. I sometime think that this is true no matter what age as sometimes we worry too much over what people think and think we are being very focused on. The other dilemma is that students believe that they are totally unique called a personal fable. During this stage students may think they are above reality and take foolish risks such as experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Late adolescence is a brighter picture as they have overcame the double whammy (good phrase by Dr. Ormrod) of puberty and a new school setting. They tend to have more positive self-concepts and better mental health.


With their abstract thinking they notice that their feelings are different so much they may wonder who they are. A student writes that he doesn't understand how he can be cheerful with his friends, then come home and feel anxious, and then getting frustrated and sarcastic with his parents. The student wonders who he really is. Eventually around 11^th grade students integrate the multifaceted qualities they have and realize their sense of self. This process of putting together all their qualities forms their identity, a self-constructed view of who they are, what things they find important and what goals they want to accomplish in life. Groups can play a role such as a team or an informal group at school. To find their identity they will experiment with different groups of people. An early developmentalist named Erik Erikson proposed that people find an overall sense of identity be the end of adolescence. However, many current developmental theorists disagree and suggest that identity may continue to work for a long time after.

                                   

                                         
                                     (The question "Who am I?" is one faced by adolescence

        and may take considerable time to see.)

Even by the end of high school students have a little idea of what role they will play in society.  Sometimes social skills are more important for students than the academic side.  Those who have good social skills have a tendency to excel in school work.  Peers often provide necessary social and emotional support.  During the preschool years they are merely a source of recreation.  They can provide comfort and safety from bullies.  When students have to adjust to puberty they rely more on their friends than parents in times of confusion and trouble. This could be important because a child may have an unstable home and need their advice. Girls will share their innermost feelings (the preoccupation of physical appearance and concern about the opposite sex for example) and realize that their problems are similar, hopefully eliminating the personal fable they go through. Peers are socialization agents. They determine what options are good for recreation and what is cool. As you'd imagine, these could be negative such as smoking cigarettes on the corner.


A false impression is that peer pressure is bad but to use a nice word from the author, it's a mixed bag. Some peers promote abstinence, being trustworthy and fairness. As you'd imagine, the other contents could be promoting criminal activity, drugs, and aggression. A problem is that there could be an inconsistency between influences from peers, family and school which could exacerbate social skills and grades. The influence of peer pressure is underrated despite what is commonly believed. According to the textbook, most children stick to their beliefs and values that their parents have instilled in them and don't let peer pressure deter them. They tend to stick with those who have the same standards they have. Maybe this is a generalization. We've read in the last paragraph that when children in puberty rely more on peers rather than parents so it's not exactly true that children stick with the values and beliefs that parents gave them.