What makes teenagers
tick?
Notes for my
PCE IATEFL presentation, 10 April 2015
1. I
wish I was anywhere else but here. I hate school.
Over time for teenagers school becomes a place, not of
learning, but enforced memorization and personal restrictions, with a focus on
exam success and no real connection to the outside world.
2. My
legs are too long and the chair’s uncomfortable.
Teens go through many changes connected to their physical growth
and development. These include tiredness, lack of sleep and aches connected
with actual growing bones and muscles, dropping of voice for boys, onset of
menstruation for girls etc. All these can make them feel uncomfortable, tired
and even irrational.
3. I
got to sleep at 4 a.m. and I’m tired.
Once
kids reach puberty, their wake-sleep cycle changes and stays that way until
their early 20s This is a biological change.
They tend not to get sleepy until after 10:00 p.m., and then when they do wake
up, it takes them longer to get fully wake. In fact, most aren't really wide
awake until early afternoon.
Sleep
experts say today’s teens are sleeping less than they ever have.
Physiological
changes, social pressures and factors such as TVs and other
stimulating gadgets in the bedroom contribute to late nights and mood
swings.
Lack
of sleep also impacts on teenagers' education as it can leave
them too tired to concentrate in class.
NHS report, 2008
Hampton Court House, in Surrey, UK, said the
change to 13:30 from the usual time of 09:00 will be more productive and less
stressful for students.
Teenagers have a biological disposition
"to going to bed late and struggling to get up early", the school
said.
Headmaster Guy Holloway added that
scientific evidence had shown that many did not sleep sufficiently during the
week, causing a "significant impact on teenage cognition and mental and
physical health generally".
BBC
News, 10 May 2014
4. My hair is
greasy and I have spots. Don’t look at me!
Are those girls looking at me and laughing?
It’s bad enough to have the nasty
side effects of hormonal changes like spots and greasy hair, but they coincide
with feelings of self-consciousness and inadequacy with the fellow students we
find attractive.
5. Why are we reading about xxxx?
Dropouts don’t leave school
because we don’t give them enough facts, but because they don’t find any
meaning in them
Gertrude Moskowitz, Caring and Sharing in
the Foreign Language Class, 1978, Newbury House
Teens want to know how what they
do connects, how it’s relevant. We need o engage in a dialogue with them about
this.
6. I’m thinking!
Silence may be an honest reaction to what the teacher is saying.
We know that young people develop at separate ages.
Why do we insist that they should develop at the same pace?
Charles Handy
7. I’m not lazy. I’m BORED!!!
Human beings feel best in flow,
when they are fully involved in meeting a challenge, solving a problem,
discovering something new.
Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi, Finding Flow, 1997, Basic Books
Everyone can experience
feelings of resolve and a commitment to think more and to dare more … and of
being poised to learn and ready to take the next step.
Martin V. Covington, The Will to Learn, 1998, Cambridge University Press
Imagination is more
important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the
world.
Albert Einstein
8. Stop telling me what I’ve done
wrong. I know I’m useless at English.
Young people who seem stroppy and
uncooperative .. simply cannot help blocking out negative remarks when they
feel they are under verbal attack. When criticised … there is reduced activity
in the areas of the brain relating to emotional control and empathy. They have
difficulty controlling this emotion and find it challenging to understand
others’ perspective.
Journal of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Adults have a developed
anterior cingulate cortex, which … can help detect mistakes..
This part of the brain
is still being wired in teenagers, making it more difficult for them, even when
they recognise a mistake, to learn from it.
Frances E Jensen, The Teenage Brain, 2015,
Thorsons
John
Atkinson’s Motivation Theory:
All individuals can be characterised by two learned
drives, a motive to approach success and a motive to avoid failure.
Martin V Covington, A Will to Learn,
1998, Cambridge University Press
Researchers have found
that nothing contributes more to a student’s sense of self-esteem than good
grades, nor shatters it so completely as do poor grades.
J Rosenberg,
Society and the Adolescent Self-Image, 1965, Princeton University Press
Learned Helpnessness:
A state of depression
or loss of hope which accompanies a belief that no matter how hard or how well
one tries, failure if the inevitable outcome.
Coyne & Lazarus, Handbook on Stress and Anxiety,
1980, Jossey-Bass
What’s wrong with this student’s writing?
What’s right with it?
On year 10,000 scientists found a very big problem! A very tiny microchip
was into a computer. This microchip could destroy the hole world. Scientists
were trying over five years to destroy it but it was so impossible.
Aims of
marking
u To show
students what they are doing right
u To show
students where they need to make improvements
u and how?
u To encourage
students
u To enable
students to reflect on their own writing
u To celebrate
the effort the students have made
u To enable
teachers to notice skills / language areas that need to be readdressed in class
Our job as teachers is not to point out differences between our
students’ language and standard English. That is too negative a role. Our job
is to encourage the growth of language by appreciating the learning steps.
Julian Edge, Mistakes and Correction, 1990,
Longman
9. The dog ate
my homework.
They need …superb attention, planning and
organisational skills, all of which develop more slowly in boy.
Frances E
Jensen, The Teenage Brain, Thorsons, 2015
How can we
help?
Introduce
different ways of planning
Bring in
texts on effective study skills
Have a
discussion / role play on topic
Check that
students have own strategy / scheme
Get parents onside
In summary, Teens:
Brain still
developing
Can’t deal
with mistakes
Over-sensitive
to criticism
Need to know
why they are doing something
We
need to take into account how the developing brain works
What
they are really saying is..
Help
me!
Praise
me!
Understand
me!
Give
me some space!
