Week 5:
Adolescence
This week we read Chapter 8 about
adolescence. I enjoyed reading this
chapter considering with my subbing this is the age group I am around the most
often. While reading I think about some
of the students I have had and I see a lot of the situations I read in the
classroom I have been in. One of the
first things I read that I have seen was the section on Body Image. I have not really seen any of the eating
disorders, but I have seen girls in middle school sit at lunch and not eat
anything. Even though I haven’t seen the
eating disorders I have seen them talking about what they are wearing or how do
they look. I can only imagine how hard
it is for girls because of my weight and me being a guy I was always wondering what
people thought how I look.
The
next section that I read that I see on a daily basis in the classroom is adolescent
egocentrism. Everyone knows a middle
schooler that thinks the world revolves around himself or herself? He or she thinks that his or her problems are
the only ones that are out there. I’ve
also seen a simple misunderstanding between two students become a huge argument
and or fight. So, I would consider adolescent
egocentrism the same as “teen drama”.
Working
in a school that is part of a residential facility for children I see a lot of
the issues that is in the last part of the chapter. The first is and big one is sexual identity. There are many students in the facility that
is trying to figure out who and what they are.
One example is there is a girl who wants to be referred to as a boy. He has a prosthetic to help him feel that he
is a male. He even acts like a guy as in
he will burp or pass gas and doesn’t not care if any hears him. Then he will make comments like he is still a
girl like having to shave his legs like a female does. So even if he demonstrates that he knows his
identity he still gets confused. The
other two issues that I have seen and dealt with is sexual abuse and mental
health issues. I read files and see it
all the time. Many of the girls that are
in the facility are victims of sexual abuse.
Like it said on 199 many adolescents do not tell anyone about the
abuse. Many of the girls that have been
abused and it is in their file, but many still will not tell who did the abuse
to them. Many of the students whether
they are male or female come from families that have a history of mental
illness. I never realize how mental
illness was such a genetic issue. I see
a lot of times because of the mental illness and abuse many of the students
become aggressive and act out. Some
become perpetrator to sexual abuse. They
even just become physically abusive to people and even animals. There have even been several that have
attempted suicide at least once and some even multiple times. While training for the facility I went
through a class that taught us how to speak to the youth in the facility. A lot of what they taught us is the same as
what we read on page 197.
Glad you brought up egocentrism. Anyone who will become a teacher should be trained on how the adolescent mind works. Simply put egocentrism is the world revolves around me and everything is intensified. There is a huge amount of socialization occurring in schools and understanding egocentrism allows you to better understand some of the motivations of your students. This isn't to say we grown out of this. Some adults carry this their entire lives.
ReplyDeleteWow, Corey, your job sounds challenging. It must be hard to see what the students have been through. It's hard to understand why anyone would hurt a child, and I agree with you that mental illness is often genetic. Mental illness is present in my family and in my stepmother's family. Her first husband was schizophrenic and committed suicide. Three out of her five children have serious mental illness- one has schizophrenia, one died of a drug overdose, and one of her sons is bipolar. She is a very sweet, hard-working lady, and her life has been very hard because of what her kids go through. I just want to say that I appreciate the work you are doing. I would find it rewarding, but also very challenging.
ReplyDeleteI also wrote about body image and egocentrism as well, because I lived it! It is wild to think that it would be different from one generation to the next, but, all adolescents go through the same thing, even if they grew up in my parents era, my era, or my son's.
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