Adolescent Development
Adolescent development is a big change and can get in the way of a kid’s everyday life. It is important that students have access to books that reflect what they are going through. YA lit can show them that the things that are happening to their bodies are normal. Seeing themselves in a character can be very reassuring. Piaget noted that students go from sensory-motor thinking to concrete. Next, they move from concrete to abstract thinking, starting at age 14. Due to these changes, consider questions that you ask students. They might need scaffolding to help guide them to the right books. Some books are concrete while other are more abstract, so if the student is not developmentally ready, it can be a hindrance. If a student is still in the mode of concrete thinking, they might struggle with more abstract books. In addition, learning to get along with peers does change as they become adolescents. At first, they spent time with those closest to them, but now they will look for peers that share common interests. Since some kids develop at different rates, this can affect their relationship with their peers if they are not in that same mode of thinking. At this stage, they also become more aware of the differences between the sexes. Understanding work for pay also takes place, as kids start to recognize the connection between earning something for work that is done. Relationships with family can also change during this stage as kids start questioning authority figures, including parents. They begin considering their future careers based on their interests and goals and are learning to get used to their ever changing bodies. Finally sex roles start to become defined, which can be limiting depending on society.
Kids become to understand pre-conventional level of morality, which means reward vs punishment. Conventional means following rules whether others are around or not, while pre-conventional means following rules when others are watching. Post-conventional morality means thinking of others and the situation at hand before deciding to follow the rules. This morality supercede the laws, and is often considered civil disobedience. Kids struggle to understand the post-conventional level of morality because they are taught to always follow the rules. Maslow’s hierarchy details the levels of need based on their importance to adolescents. The first need is physiologically. Safety both at home and in the classroom is important to kids at this stage as well because they are trying to find their place among society. Finally, esteem and self-actualization top the hierarchy. Kids need to feel like individuals and important.
Chapter 6 Reflection
This chapter was enlightening because I didn’t realize that the abstract thinking stage actually began around age 14. I used to teach seventh grade reading and noticed that there were definitely some kids that struggled with some more complex text that I thought should fit in their age range. While I knew that students development depended on a lot of factors, I didn’t think that they just weren’t in that stage yet. Similar to the video, I thought this stage of abstract thinking started around age 12. I did carefully consider the content of the books as I guided my readers, but now I understand that more scaffolding would have been beneficial.
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