Lesson7-3-3




	ESE502 : The Class : Discipline : Levels : Lesson7-3-3

Developmental Discipline - Junior High and Middle School

Content Emphasis

Teacher Responsible Leader and Trustworthy Model
• understanding • mature • long suffering • sense of humor • clear about self • student oriented • well versed in subject • kind • just and honorable • deeply committed • good communicator

Student Self understanding, self governance, social expertise

self involved
uncertain of self
seeks peer approval
desires self understanding
depends on teachers to keep standards and honor
craves stimulation, expertise, certainty, group approval, self acceptance

Curriculum
• exciting and demanding • stimulating • challenging • process based evaluated through mastery • tooled to the individual ability • developed for group work • primarily hands on integrated projects and units • outlets for strong gifts • energizing and energy using

SETTING
The content emphasis mode of discipline usually occurs in conjunction with a junior high school or high school setting. The switching of teachers and classes, even in integrated programs makes the use of an honor board difficult. In addition, the craving for peer approval, sometimes at any cost and with little recognition of the consequences or the popularity or acceptance, makes posting names, either in celebration or as a means of building community, invalid. The student, during early adolescence, is a study in contrasts and proof that human beings and human behaviors can be contradictory, and need not make sense with respect to consistency or logic. These students tend to feel fully in command one moment, and burst into tears if a person challenges or disputes the fact. They demand to be recognized as individualistic and idiosyncratic, yet refuse to go to school without name brand clothing, because everyone will think they are “out of it!”

They decry adults who are hypocrites, who they believe judge others unreasoningly, and then walk to the phone and spend thirty minute discussing the ineptitude of a peer. They have immediate answers to almost every issue, and cannot get to school because they can’t think of anything they can wear, or can’t do homework because they don’t understand the “stupid assignment.” When homework is done inaccurately, it is the teacher who is stupid to have assigned the material.

The setting at school is certainly as filled with contradictions and certitude. Several things converge during this time in adolescence which contribute to the melee. Most of the students will go through the physical and emotional roller coaster of pubescence. This developmental phase will include the greatest physical changes and growth since infancy. Generally these changes include stature, body shape, strength, facial appearance, profile, etc. Having a pervasive physical change is exhausting and exhilarating. It tends to shift the center of gravity for some youngsters, changes the body balance, redistributes or adds musculature and bulk. Some of these changes are devastating to youngsters. If they have valued themselves for comeliness, and suddenly feel dumpy or chubby there tends to be an emotional crisis. If they have been an average size, and now others are towering over them, showing more advanced secondary sexual characteristics, it can be a threatening experience.

The facial appearances which change noses, add blemishes, do or don’t provide facial hair also dynamically affect the students. The sudden interest in appearance may add hours to time in the bathroom; frustration over teeth or braces, glasses, previously accepted prosthetic devices, any definite anomaly - birth mark, receding hair line, big ears, high forehead, straight hair, curly hair, red hair. Being an obvious minority or a tiny minority may also serve as a trauma.

At the same time, the brain is changing. There is a shift of blood into the prefrontal lobe and students begin to think differently. In some cases, this shift seems to have little effect beyond enhancing the student’s expertise. With many youngsters, there is a marked change in ability to think. Hormonal changes account for some of this cognitive “fog.” Some teachers who work with this age group have been overheard discussing students who are “brain dead”. This may be a vocalization of sensing and recognizing the dramatic changes which are occurring.

There is a real change in student ability to see consequences of behaviors or actions. Erikson (1968) talks about temporal and time confusion. It translates into a sense of invincibility, and if it is paired with the desire for peer pressure, the great need for stimulation, large mood swings and a dare, it can elicit catastrophic, unpredictable behavior which is almost a reflex rather than a thought out set of actions. Many of the outrageous and senseless acts, murders, drive by shoots, satanic and gang pacts which we have puzzled over are perpetrated by youngsters in this age range of 13 to 16. They are extreme examples of the combination of forces which propel the early adolescent.

These monumental changes do not occur in a vacuum. Instead, at this same time, the students’ momentum tends to push them dramatically into the autonomous frame of reference. It is neither unusual, nor unexpected if one is a student of human nature, but it is still disconcerting and stark in comparison to the youngster who was consumed previously with saving the rain forest, giving up part of their pocket change to feed the hungry and seemed dedicated to right and just behaviors.

Any time a person is threatened, there is a ”coming home” which occurs. This might be called “looking out for number one” or getting safe, touching home base, we have many descriptors for it. It is pulling the self into a viable protective position to take care of oneself. It means that the person,in this case, an adolescent student, tends to see from a very narrow perspective of “me-ness” with the socialization or heteronomous side almost fractured into prismatic pieces of:

me the exceptional and courageous part of them.

Second person perspective, meaning seeing through another’s eyes or recognizing the impact of others’ needs, others’ rights, the value of society, and thus my contribution, is short circuited.

The swing back to a self-centered position has been occurring all through child development at one or two year intervals, and alternating with more socialized periods. It seldom seems so radical as with the teen. The intensity is heightened, too, by what may be the biological shift to fending for self, to attain adult status.

In our society, children do not become self sufficient at this age, nor do we expect them to take over adult responsibilities. However, there is a mechanism that shifts them forward from dependent to independent. Since this occurs at the same time as the shift to self protection, it heightens the effect. The hormonal change also intensifies these phenomena.

This certainly seems like a great deal of change, but there is an added dimension. This is also the time when the referent changes from parent as a message giver and source of validation of esteem and worthiness, to an intense need to obtain gratification from peers. This is problematic and fortuitous, similar to the rest of the changes. Most peers are both too brash and uncertain to give a positive or consistent empowering sense to each other. Self investment is heavy, precluding a sense of loyalty which is over-arching. In some cases, that means that a group gets loyalty and family does not, or a best friend gets loyalty until a poor interaction occur, and then the loyalty is withdrawn, or that loyalty to a teacher is strong until the teacher says something to the wrong person. These are symptomatic of the crisis positions of the students and also provides a sense of the types of valuable learning opportunities which could enhance the emerging skills.

At a recent workshop, a middle school teacher explained to others that he liked teaching the age group because it reminded him of chaos theory -- that it was at the very edge of chaos that the truly important changes could be made and that the most far reaching changes occurred from the smallest adjustments. He compared that to the daily teaching of his middle school youngsters. That is a good summation of the teaching opportunities. The students are mercurial, the mood swings are wide and frequent, the social skills and self certainty momentary.

What better place for a teacher to apply the art and craft, to be fully present to youngsters, to pass a sense of unselfishness, love, concern and understanding on to be modeled by students? The teacher of this age group has an unprecedented opportunity to help the student find, love and admire personal strengths, to acquire and consolidate self control, to balance strengths and weaknesses.

Classroom Tools
• loving • genuineness • stimulation • social responsibility • courtesy • respect for self • respect for others • dignity • self esteem • self discipline • valuing others • valuing the dignity of life • self exploration • scholarship and high demand • obedience • honor • organization • initiative • stewardship • respect for authority • truthfulness • honest to & about self • honest with others • dedication to learning, thinking • communicating • negotiation skills

Let’s Begin!
There are wide variations in the types of settings for schooling during this three to five year span. Not only do they differ across districts, but the student will most likely move from one school setting to another during this developmental period. The Honor Board provides a positive format during the younger years of schooling, but at this point it is exchanged for a more personalized and private format.

The program for this level is based on maintaining the discipline gains achieved during Levels I and II while recognizing and acknowledging student identification with and dependence upon peer acceptance. The students’ focus on self is affirmed as well while students are assisted in practicing methods for valuing self and recognizing idiosyncratic strengths and weaknesses.

There is a focus on reteaching how the individual contributes to self and others in an atmosphere of democratic freedom. Assisting the student to find and value the true self is extremely important , but it cannot suffice. Self must not be sacrificed for the good of the whole and society must not be sacrificed through self serving. Thus the balance between heteronomy and the strong pull to consider only self is taught. The dichotomy in “being me” and having an audience to validate it are combined.

The educational process strives to assist the individual student to develop at a self-pace of internal government and competent relationship with others based on previously learned life skills. Educators accomplish this most effectively by increasing the atmosphere of safety, security and comfort in the classroom and in the school. The preparation is very structured, demanding and perhaps tiring for some teachers

It may be a difficult transition for those who believe that dissemination of content should be the sole focus of time in school. It is challenging for those who lack social expertise, frightening for those who have not learned to appreciate the capacity of youngsters to help mold and steer a personal educational process. It is nearly impossible for teachers who are immature themselves, to step out of the power struggles, to change the focus of humor and remarks from sarcastic or cutting to constructive and building. It is also very difficult for those who have neither witnessed nor been part of an educational program with such parameters.

Implementation
The team of teachers determines the rules which will be applied across all classes. There can be variations, but it is helpful for students and teachers if there is an area of agreement about the common practices and procedures which will be taught, practiced and monitored. As the students become more adept at following the rules and show interest in the rules being expanded, deleted or made more personal, the students can assist in that process. Since the emphasis on content and the teaching role is so pervasive, it is crucial to have teaching team agreement as the primary consensus. Efforts to include student input should still be made, but are not the primary focus in the content centered classroom.

It is also important that the parents know about the rules. This can be accomplished by sharing the school handbook (a sample of the
materials for an addendum to the current district handbook is included at the end of this section of material) and the student personal contract with the family and giving them an opportunity to review them and return them signed. Local and district administration also need to review the materials and agree that they are willing to follow through on stated consequences.

An example of the Honor Sheet follows. It can be laminated so that it can be reused each day. The discipline is recorded, with all students included as working members and marks or numbers recorded only at points when rules are intentionally broken. At the end of the class the records can be noted on a permanent record sheet. Each student also keeps personal records and a journal. During class, the teacher keeps a master record sheet. At the completion of the class, the tallies are noted on a scantron computer sheet and are forwarded to the office for official records. In the case of multiple records of rule abuse, the office will contact the parents to let them know of the behavioral concerns. The following sample shows tallies of rule violations and actions initiated.

The student also keeps an individual record. Individual student record folders would include:

a learning contract, signed by self and parents
list of classroom rules, school handbook, privilege and consequence lists
self management plan and monitoring sheets
calendar (weekly or monthly) noting good days, record of infractions,
self identity sheets, developing personal insights into strengths and areas to build on
life or process lessons and communication , listening and observation skills

Examples of these are included at the end of this section and in the sample lesson section. The sample lessons give suggestions for introducing the skills. They can be found in the Content section of the material.

The Value Rules, Be Real and Do your Best, along with the other rules deemed necessary, are posted along with consequences and tied into the school handbook along with code of dress and conduct. Consequences should be logical or natural, and tied into the privileges and honor of being a student. The classrooms may contain the basic freedoms which have been established and practiced. The students should already be clear about forfeiture of personal freedoms as a consequence of disrespecting the classroom or taking license with others rights.

If we are to help students develop as productive life long learners we must teach them options and allow them freedom to make choices; to choose self discipline, self reliance, self management and thus to learn that the consequences of such choosing provides joy. We provide opportunities for them to make some of the poor choices as well, and be strong enough to help them to learn the lesson of the natural consequences of those actions - without punishment from us or derision for mistakes.

The opportunity for learning is greatest in the face of disappointment, and adolescence is an excellent time for introducing social skills and personal cooperative and leadership abilities that the student has not possessed. Thus students both discover and are led to the importance and impact of education for life. And more -- thus they will internalize self-esteem.

The crux of the Developmental Discipline (DD) program is to create an atmosphere of safety, security, peace and love/belonging in the classroom and in the school. The preparation of that climate is very structured, precise, perhaps tiring and occasionally threatening for the teacher, but results in enhancing the well being of students. It also improves the quality of the educational environment as a learning arena, thus improving education for the teacher and enhancing the quality of academic outcome.

Some students are not emotionally secure enough to work well in a social system setting. In the instances of reluctance or power struggles, the teacher and other class members continue to present expectations and show good faith in guiding the progress.

The structure of each classroom should be clear, definite, rewarding and fulfilling. As this fragile (some appear anything but!) student moves from classroom to classroom each teacher uses a personalized teaching style and has rules consistent with goals of the classroom and needs of the particular content presentations. The crucial consistency comes in the form of know how, enforcement of rules in a just and loving manner, sensitivity to progress in self control, challenge at the very edge of ability, and classroom experiences which aid the student to development better coping skills and thus accelerate the learning process.

Universally, there is opportunity for reward, praise, challenge, sensitivity, growth. Throughout the educational experience there is no room for self-pity, put downs, lack of respect, lack of self control, so the students feels the safety and security of being in the charge of professionals.

The essential part of this classroom climate of consistency and freedom to learn comes from the teacher. Troubled students eventually feel empowered to take personal responsibility for stretching capabilities, desiring personal actualization and valuing personal goodness. This occurs as a result of the teachers’ untiring efforts to forge relationship, maintain consistency and model self control. As each student finds the energy to self trust and self value the merit of fellow beings and humanity is strengthened. Again, it is the individual teacher who makes this possible through a personal life of self value and modeling the valuing of others as well as the ability to recognize the needs and perspectives of others. Perhaps most difficult of all in the face of challenge to authority, the teacher is in control of self and does not allow the student to take charge or win through efforts at uproar.

The academic part of the curriculum, at this juncture, should reflect the needs and nature of the adolescent. Perhaps the greatest needs would include a need to belong, to find safety and security, to learn of and accept self. The challenge of the developer of curriculum is to provide a structure with consistently limited parameters and a dynamic course of educationally and developmentally appropriate activities and learning opportunities. The challenge for the teachers and students is to utilize the scope and sequence to consolidate learning, to advance personal interests and to maintain a heightened sense of motivation and delight with the pursuit of education.

Summary of Tools and Procedures for Content Emphasis DD
Preparation steps:

Assess personal philosophy for consistency and human centered beliefs
List out procedures and routines which can be taught to assist students to take personal responsibility and work to maintain a secure environment
Determine to model a pattern of consistency, concern, self discipline
Set rules and provide natural and logical consequences in the place of punitive measures
Set up a role sheet or computer process for keeping track of infractions
Establish uniformity between classroom practices and school policy, being certain parents are alerted to policy and willing to reinforce school and teacher actions

Implementation steps:

Introduce students to the rules, procedures, routines and the learning contract
1. explain reasons when necessary
2. drill those things which will need to be routine
3. set up a time for discussing the weekly values practice
4. pass out the student contracts for discussion and signatures
Practice going through the list of natural and logical consequences to be used as a part of the discipline program
Explain grading policy and the way it will work to energize learning
Go through the Self Management worksheet with the class showing how it will be used and explaining that students who do not fill it out will receive assistance before leaving the room
Pass out a sample of worksheets which students may be asked to use in acquiring social and learning behaviors; eg. communication, student consequences
Review the discipline process for students and implement with consistency. Through this process, several benefits occur:
1. We provide a setting with stability, structure and consistency
2. We develop a sense of community and respect for the rights of others as a practice
3. We guide students in dispelling the “we -they”/”gang-society” perception
4. We develop a sense of ecological balance as vital for community
5. We provide opportunities for students to understanding higher moral reasoning, to practice the concepts and to explore the impact of self and others, thus moving students toward valuing, and therefore assisting to maintain a democratic community
6. We assist students in the development of being and doing esteem through a sense of trust and understanding of the importance and commitment of relationship
7. We guide students in self recognition and valuing of true gifts and strengths
8. We involve students in looking for the meaning of being human, a valuing of human life, and an understanding of human nature - self and others

Role of the Teacher
The role of teacher has already been discussed at some length, since it is such a vital part of the interactive atmosphere necessary for level three. The essential part of this classroom climate of consistency and freedom to learn comes from the teacher. The teacher, in self assessment, realizes a desire that each pupil reach the actualization of potential and finds a way to communicate this desire to the individual student in such a way that each student feels empowered to take personal responsibility for stretching capabilities, desiring personal actualization, and valuing personal goodness. As each student acquires the personal depth and understanding to self trust and self value, the value of fellow beings and humanity is strengthened. When energy and courage flag, the teacher provides support and faith,assisting the student to regain resilience and continue to grow and develop. The teacher also uses personal wisdom and intuition to allow consolidation between times of growth.

Again, it is the individual teacher who makes this possible through a personal life of self value and modeling the valuing of others. Elements of such a creed of living might start something like this:

Show respect and courtesy for all - especially a reverence for self
Display patience and love in even the most trying situation
Never belittle others or allow them to be belittled in our presence
Practice and speak a respect for goodness
Praise and display a joy of learning and joie de vivre
Celebrate goodness and learning in as many ways as possible
Express gratitude freely and frequently
Show humility through appreciating personal strengths
Recognize the human right and need to err through use of true apology
Communicate personal needs to others
Negotiate conflicts rather than allowing them to stack up or feel victimized
Develop and practice a personal and professional code of ethics

By accepting the responsibility of personal valuing, the teacher gives students an honorable model. Through the process of recognizing personal areas of strength and weakness, the teacher automatically provides an environment of safety for self and for struggling adolescents to become more secure in energizing personal growth through self management. Through living, modeling and verbalizing personal acceptance, the teacher gives the gift of compassion to self as well as to students.

Day One
Introducing the Values Rule

The Value Rule which is to be developed at this level is Be Real. The foundation levels of values rules, Respect One Another, and Be Fair may provide an excellent review of the importance of a value rule in the learning environment. The teacher introduces the concept of being real and begins by discussing the implications with students and teaching practices. This can be inserted in the Life skills teaching, developed through the social science essential skills, or inserted as the process portion of academic discussions. Examples of weekly personal growth concepts:

Be honest with self
Show true humility - admit personal strengths
Add awareness of new personal strengths
Use strengths to benefit others
Communicate honest praise to others
Communicate needs and/or desire for assistance
Recognize the value of personal weaknesses
Verbally admit faults
Recognize personal defense mechanisms
Draw personal self portrait
Write personal philosophy of life, others
Describe physical self in writing
Explore personal way to maintain control
Examine level of self control and areas of weakness in control
Evaluate family system for mores and rules
Present the real self as likable

The teacher as leader, model and advisor steps in, questions and sets corrects misconceptions as in #10, if a student uses inappropriate descriptions of self -- ugly, gross, misfit. The teacher can be consistently vigilant of destructive patterns and alert to aiding in student progress rather than "catching", belittling, or punishing an offender. Transgressions, in this frame of reference, are seen as needs and calls for structure or concern rather than opportunities for being punitive or "getting even." In adding to this list and accepting the responsibility of personal valuing, the teacher gives the student an honorable model. In addition, this is an excellent time to discuss ethical issues which will advance student moral reasoning ability. Examples which seem to generate excitement:

What gives teachers and adults the right to reign as authorities:
Why do adults seem so “free”
Where are adult restraints?
Why are so many adult things illegal for teens - smoking, drinking, voting, getting married without permission, driving before sixteen, curfews
Why are people such hypocrites?
Who really gets hurt with shoplifting or insurance fraud?
When is the taking of life murder and when is it overlooked? Who decides?
How can people belong to someone else and still own themselves?
What is love and how is it different from infatuation?

The issues of authority, responsibility, and personal freedom are very real for this group. The drives are strong, the emotions, adrenalin, hormones run at extremes which students have not dealt with or tried to control. The push to be recognized by peers as a function of self-acceptance is almost relentless. The need to feel “in control” and “out of control” can contribute to losing a sense of proportion or the ability to maintain personal responsibility. The line between adult world realities and lingering fantasies of childhood sometimes dims resolve.

Being this age is not an easy time for anyone. However, there is a tremendous amount of energy, of need to identify with a non-custodial adult - teacher, coach, band leader, believed to be worthy of emulation. The teacher has an unusual opportunity to honestly rise to such charming expectations of heroism, and can assist the emerging personality to steer safely through the treacherous and wonderful possibilities of being a teen.

Day One
Enhancing current practice
Some youngsters may have been taught group skills through cooperative learning. Those adolescents who have not experienced this can benefit from being offered the training and understanding of group dynamics and the power of shared learning. Cooperative learning and group process can continue and be enhanced with better conflict resolution skills and communication skills.

Another exhilarating opportunity which blends well with the developmental issues involved in this age group comes in working with students to better understand a personal learning style, preferred thinking and coping mechanisms and in recognizing and utilizing strengths and gifts in the seven forms of intelligence (Lazear, 1992). There is a wealth of resources on how these forms of intelligence can be integrated with current classroom content. Using multiple forms of intelligence to consolidate learning enhances self understanding, student motivation and provides excellent tools for thematic presentations of content.

Individualization of instruction has typically been eulogized, but seldom implemented. Reasons are legion, and respectable - class size, assessment issues, quality control, lack of time and resources. There is an interesting model available which has not been developed in the school setting, and it is amazingly complex as well as workable. It follows much the same pattern as the clubs and programs for young people. Like the Eagle Scout program, a numerous compilation of required and elective competencies are assembled, defined, mastery skill tests provided, and record keeping expectations developed. A sample of a mini-course syllabus and set of competencies is included next. If a group of teachers agreed to prepare two or three of these syllabi, the students could have numerous options in areas of teacher expertise without tracking students and without overtaxing teacher energy or ingenuity.

Students who have met the required competencies could move forward in areas of interest through self selection in subject matter that was well organized, defined and set out. For those students who wished to move beyond the established levels or topics which have been organized, they could initiate an outline describing the parameters of their proposed individual study. They might work up a syllabus of study to contribute to curriculum options. This might be referred to as the Challenge Curriculum. All who are working as honor students and completing current assignments would be eligible to work in the Challenge Curriculum.

The potential for meeting student individual needs, assessing student strengths and contributing to student sense of well being is really magnified through utilization of such opportunities for self motivation, personal investment in learning, becoming a life-long learner. It can literally make a magnet program out of any existing program.

Conclusion

The essential elements in DD in classes with content emphasis are:

Belief that empowerment of the teacher through self understanding and self-esteem gives renewed recognition to the age old honor of this dedication to humanity as the foundation of the position power of the teacher
The recognition of the importance of teaching social graces and amenities of classroom decorum as a means of establishing a common recognition of human dignity and respect for self and others, thus allowing learning to become central
The building of self-esteem through recognition of the true characteristics of human nature and the real components of self-esteem, direct steps for the teachers to actually enhance esteem through building a deeper understanding of human nature and then a consistent discipline program based on understanding students which allows the teacher to recognize the student as both being and doer.
Keys and guidelines to assist educators to understand, recognize and improve developmental growth along a holistic plane - physical, emotional, moral reasoning or philosophical, and social as well as the cognitive or intellectual realm (PEPSI).
Student behavior evaluation keys and remediation steps provide keys of understanding to the classroom teacher. More and more students are being mainstreamed into classrooms where teachers have not received student management training or been given developmental expertise to assist exceptional students (i.e. the "tricks of the trade". Further, teachers are assisted to recognize student motives and to have a series of responses and moves which defuse rather than escalate crises.
Assists teachers to understand the ongoing struggle and importance of blending and balancing the students' need for control, ongoing emergence of power issues through natural development and facilitation of student self-responsibility for conduct and for educational progress.

Developmental Discipline: Freedom to Learn

Portrait of the Early Adolescent

The program for this level is based on maintaining the discipline gains, recognizing and acknowledging student identification with valued peer groups and self ambivalence by practicing methods for valuing self and recognizing idiosyncratic strengths and weaknesses
Values Rules: Be Real
Capitalize on your strengths

There are three basic elements in the internalization of moral values:

the spirit of authority and discipline
attachment to social groups
autonomy or self-determination -Durkeim

Role of the child
The adolescent is in a similar situation to the young child in many ways. This time the faltering steps are not those of locomotion, but of social acceptance and self questioning. The toddling of these young people in our classrooms is groping and faltering in emotional, social and physical spheres just as it was for the 2-year-old, but the size of the child seems to blind us to the vulnerability and uncertainty of the adolescent. Like the emerging toddler, in some there is rashness and lack of caution. There may be headlong rushing with little awareness of life-threatening danger or destructive consequences. This emotional child and physical adult often finds the turmoil of the emerging self just as distressing, confusing and challenging as the adults - one moment exhibiting brash certitude and an insistence on being taken seriously, followed by feeling mentally challenged, emotionally confused, socially distressed and physically and morally at a loss to choose or desire self control.

Many adolescents have difficulty being directed by adults. They seldom feel that they can share their conflicts with parents, or at least choose not to do so. Many times their sense of tragedy, grieving and complaining appears to be dramatic nonsense about the trivial to adults. Adults tend to respond with an unsympathetic clipped comment. We know that adolescence was/is miserable, so just get on with it! I hear parents tell youngsters, “Come on, Jimmy, Cowboy up!” “Well, that’s life.” “Take a couple of aspirins and get back on that ditch!”

During this time the magnetic pulls of autonomy and heteronomy are very strong, almost overpowering at times. It is as if the student is in the eye of the storm, pulled first toward the conformity to group and striving for peer acceptance, then dashed toward the overpowering need to demonstrate self will, usually directed toward the constraints which come from the parents. Part of the developmental push for autonomy is deepened by the hormonal changes, part by self doubt, part by the lack of real ability to exercise authority over others, which most young people experience in life. Though we tend to minimize how difficult it was for us or have forgotten the sense of tragedy, it is there for most youngsters. Adolescence might call to mind life’s greatest roller coaster. Everything goes by at breakneck speed, the slow and inching climb to a precipice, the dizzying dash to a new low. Some of us take the ride laughing and screaming, some let go to intensify the out-of-control sensation, and some look grim and determined. When the ride is over, some stagger off moaning, while others grab someone and dash back to go again. Those who found it overwhelming or nauseating find little sympathy. We can choose not to ride a coaster again, but the teen, in the midst of the ride of a lifetime, has to make it through the ride.

The teacher / student relationship is often the most important source of grounding and maturity, a place for young adolescents to turn for help and for answers. There is a very real need all the way through life to have a sense of mastery, control, expertise in some area. This is an ideal time to recognize the power of utilizing the teaching role as model and mentor to students. The anchor of “coach”, the band director, the English teacher, provides both comfort and the didactic realization of how one might carve out a future based on a tangible way of walking, talking, relating. The teacher model silhouettes a way of “doing” life using a special gift or area of expertise. This is something beyond the offering of the teaching role up to this point. It is vital for the student to feel the power and depth of the instructor’s excitement about learning and knowledge of a specific content areas as a part of having the opportunity to build relationship with this mentor. The sense of “awe” at the mathematical genius of the instructor intertwines with the adult hand reaching out to “share” the excitement of completing the chemistry experiment and discovering the results together.

There is great power in the teacher and students working together to assemble the school paper. There is internal validation and reveling in playing with the chamber orchestra which is comprised of teacher and student musicians. There is a sense of well-being in working as a peer counselor, modeling dialogue and skills shared by the school counselor. The role of the teacher and student might best be summed up in this humorous story.

P		Physical development - changes in height, body structure, appearance and acquisition of secondary sexual characteristics make this a dynamic time of change and adjustment
E		Emotional development - identity crisis and confusion across all dimensions of the construct of self are typically a part of this time frame
P		Philosophical development - this is an extremely sensitive time in the development of moral reasoning, with many students becoming affixed to an egocentric journey through life, along with a tendency to identify personal loyalty to a subculture or gang rather than mainstream community. This is also the point when some youngsters settle on "things" rather than people for achieving personal gratification
S		Social development - peers and gangs become a referent source, although a great teaching model may continue to provide esteem messages
I		Intellectual development - the prefrontal lobes come fully on line during this period, but at varying times for individual students, so it is difficult to determine when abstract thinking and formal operations are intact.

Physical

The range of growth is most extreme during this period of time. Not only is there great variation, but the complexity of changes makes it very noticeable to students. Those girls who develop too early, and those boys and girls who are late in arriving at pubescence or achieving adult dimensions are at a distinct disadvantage. It may be so important to them that other thought processes are diminished. Obsessing about the body, pimples, sexual appearance, attractiveness to others and self are so common that addressing their powerfulness through curriculum and study is preferable to attempting to ignore and work around them.

Students who gain understanding of the physical nature of their bodies are less likely to be anxious and are more likely to accept the developmental differences as positive. Teaching students about the bones and integument makes it less likely that they will ruminate about questions that feel too private to share. A middle school teacher shared this example.

It is important to remember that since the adolescent body is growing so rapidly, the student is more likely to damage joints and growth plates. Self competitive sports are less likely to result in serious permanent damage. In this time frame, students may have more reticence about dressing out, showering, seeming puny or underdeveloped. Body odor upsets many students as do menstrual accidents and newly acquired hips, thighs, breasts, or lack of body hair and sexual signatures. The school programs can reflect recognition of this sensitively and astutely. Numerous alternatives to competitive teams and forced showering and dressing in peer view can be developed. Such attention to development will assist students to ease through this time.

Emotional

Erikson (1968) described the complexity of concerns facing the adolescent. The diffusion of tasks and issues facing the emotional development provides definition for the array of student actions, lack of careful attention to academics, uncharacteristic responses and mercurial mood swings. As we become more fully cognizant of the burden these students carry, it helps us to revise the scope and sequence of the educational milieu to assist in defining and addressing student issues and concerns. It is helpful for the teacher to be fully present for the emerging adolescent in the most meaningful terms.

In addition, as we become more clear about the composition of the journey of most adolescents, we must remember that the students are not fully able to recognize or define their dilemmas. Many do not understand their feelings of frustration or uncertainty. Few are rational about feelings of polarization. It will be a retrospective appreciation that occurs to students upon successful completion. After students emerge from the intensity, given distance and maturity, the student can be insightful, reflective, clear about choices and decisions. Much like the angry person who bursts out with, “I am not upset! Why are you hassling me?” the students weigh each moment, feeling fully engaged and lacking personal perspective about the depth of joy or morass.

Philosophical

Just as the emotional development looks like a step backwards, the moral reasoning may seem tangential. The acting out behaviors, challenging established rules and parental dictates, lack of internal reflection and verbalized sense of being victimized or put upon and misunderstood signals the need and readiness for better coping behaviors and help in moving beyond stereotypical responses as a means of gaining acceptance. Gossiping, visiting judgment on others and intolerance of others’ personal weaknesses are indicators of the student immersion in this stage. Energetic excess followed by depression, despondency, lack of self discipline, eating problems, sexual acting out, substance abuse and violence are also frequent markers for this age. The talk of hypocrisy exemplifies lack of understanding and a rational perspective of their emotional development and their ability to see themselves rationally.

Listening to peer conversations provides an excellent sampling of the moral reasoning and life perspective. They party, their parents are alcoholics; they are searching for closeness and intimacy, their best friend from last month is being stupid and letting others take advantage; they are taking what’s due them, the student with the missing books is a jerk to have given out a locker combination. Those intermediate age gains -- seeing the view of others, saving rain forests, -- is only temporarily lost. Once the student has emerged from this retooling period, there is greater energy, depth of understanding and maturity to follow causes and beliefs, to right wrongs and provide support to the poor in spirit.

During this time, adults who model and provide compassion are critical. It speeds the process and provides that set of footprints which makes the dance of adulthood easier to attempt.

Social

The group, gang, or clique is the common referent for the early adolescent. Since parental pressure and perspective is eschewed, the value and importance of teacher as model is intensified. The task of sorting out self is simplified when a teacher works with students to clarify options, expand perspective, assist in recognizing and choosing when to conform rather than being swayed by peer pressure. Warmth, attentiveness and consistency provide the best environment to assist students to return to mutual perspective taking and being able to more realistically assess themselves. Depriving students of social interaction is inappropriate and likely to lengthen the process of working through peer pressure. It is important during this time to maintain our own maturity of perspective. Defaming peers, proclaiming a lack of trust or using sarcasm to whittle the student into conformity are not useful tools. From experience, these may be natural reactions to the behavior patterns of this age student, but like yelling at the class to quiet down, they are only momentarily useful and tend to set anger and pay-back feelings in motion.

Intellectual

This developmental area is as complex as the others. The ability to think abstractly and to utilize a more sophisticated framework including conservation of time and matter is suggested by Piaget (1952). One professor at the university suggests that Piaget’s sample of his own three children may have been skewed. It appears that formal operations is more likely to emerge toward the end of adolescence for most of our students.

Erikson (1968) on the other hand, suggests that this is an area that may begin emerging, but that it may be a protracted journey before the student moves to resolution and acceptance of the more mature perspectives. A more useful way of providing a successful academic environment may mirror Lazear (1992) and Gardner’s (1991) identification of seven distinctive forms of intelligence.

Youngsters who have a sophisticated logical intelligence are ready to proceed in mathematical discovery and experimentation. Others in the class, just as bright, but with a different intellectual focus may need to renegotiate fractions, number concepts, memorize the times tables. It will be destructive to both students if the teacher proceeds to review concepts and then rapidly moves on to pre-algebraic material. This is the ideal academic place to move to a more thematic and individualized approach to education. The students will respond better, the time is better spent, the talents and emerging gifts more truly honored, and the students will feel validated and valued. Since motivation for school work is competing with body image, peer approval, lack of self confidence, indifference, emotional crises, every gain is important. Placing the student in a defining and evaluating role for self provides a significant educational edge.

The critical concept comes in recognizing that the differentiation of thinking styles, types of intelligence and strengths are becoming more pronounced. The teacher who utilizes that recognition to empower students to acquire greater depth in their areas of strength, and then involves them in positive and possible activities in their learning weaknesses has a great motivational tool. Through fostering understanding and self acceptance, teachers build strong individuals, a strong community, facilitate the utilization of our greatest resource.

On the contrary side, those who insist on treating all students the same, expecting to teach and measure learning as a group activity, failing to impart a sense of dignity along with the subject matter that is being dispensed, contribute far less. And it is at a critical time in students’ lives, when more impacts a great deal.

References
     Erikson, E. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.
     Gardner, H. (1991). The unschooled mind: How children think and how schools should teach. New York: Basic Books.
     Lazear, D. G. (1992). Teaching for Multiple Intelligences. Bloomington, Indiana: Phi Delta Kappa.
     Piaget, J. (1952). The origin of intelligence in children. New York: International Universities Press.

Once you have finished you should:

Go on to On-line Lesson 4
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E-mail J'Anne Ellsworth at Janne.Ellsworth@nau.edu