A Radical Dream for Adolescence and Adolescents
For our first two weeks of class, we have been digging deep into what it means to be an adolescent. And after class this week, as I was listening to your interviews, I was struck by just how raw - in the best kind of way- your stories were. In many of our discussions last week, adolescence was painted as being very far in the rearview mirror - a distant memory. And perhaps, for some of us, it is. But I heard you all speak about your experiences growing up, it seemed like it was not so long ago - and not so different from the lives young people lead today. While it is clear that some technologies change, and in many ways, the world seems larger and much more complex, I found myself wondering if it really is.
"Dispatches from the Schoolyard" helped me name what it was I was so struck by in your interviews, your reflections, and your discussions. It was the authenticity of voice. Listen here as our class describes, in snippets, the triumphs and trials of being young.
I hear joy and fear and angst and fondness. I hear people telling their own stories - and I begin to understand how powerful this phase of life is. And I began to think just how lucky I am and have been to be able to spend time with young people on this leg of their journey to support and mentor them - to help them see things in themselves they might not have previously seen. But I also reflected on the weight of this role, as I know that I had teachers in my young life who taught me as much about who I didn't want to be as they did about who I wanted to be. Your interviews revealed just as much.
I leave our exploration thinking about wondering about our choice to dedicate our lives to the phase of life. What does it mean to spend our days immersed in the lives of adolescents? How can we help to make schools places of tension rather than compression? In the comments, I invite you to radically dream a reality for your future students. What stories do you want to help them tell? What skills will you help them develop? What parts of the world do you want to help them (re) write? What spaces will you create for their voices?
[a bit of a ramble -- I might change my mind later on. But here goes:]
ReplyDeleteWith effort, vision, creativity, resources and support, I am sure that schools can be re-designed (or re-engineered?) as physical and psychic spaces that provide precisely what adolescents need to make their way into the adult world: knowledge about the world and its various parts, and opportunities to explore their ideas about the self and one’s relationship to other sentient beings. I know these schools exist; I hear and read about them being praised for their innovative curricula, their forward-thinking and deeply empathetic pedagogy, and their ability to foster dispositions that promote academic achievement and success. The problem is that they are so few and far between, either accessible only to children who are white or come from well-to-do backgrounds, and/or limited in the number of children they can serve. Sadly, most educators inherit and often end up reproducing the worst tendencies of mainstream schools (i.e. by being hired into them and being evaluated based on one’s ability to contribute to keeping them going in their current form) rather than having the opportunity to reimagine how school works for students.
In reflecting on the podcast and the stories that other classmates told about this phase of their life, I want future students to have many opportunities to put into words (also images and sounds) what they are thinking, feeling, experiencing and pushing back against as they move through adolescence. Those opportunities need to be *created* and *presented* to students as part of their schooling, not in addition to or outside of it. School infrastructure needs to expand beyond desks, chairs and computers to artmaking spaces, recording studios, etc. The ideas that students share through these various spaces – arts programming, structured and unstructured assignments, clubs, volunteer responsibilities, intergenerational community work, etc. – all provide critical insight into what the students are taking in, struggling with, and where they are feeling successful, even triumphant in their education and life. Rather than foreclosing self-expression and treating such as disruptive to the practice of schooling, I want schools to provide as many mechanisms as possible for students to work safely through the kinks of adolescent development. For example, the sense of isolation and intense feelings of aloneness that accompany adolescence do not need to be definitive moments, nor do they need to come as such a surprise to adults who were adolescents at some point. Girls should not have to be feeling shame about their periods because the school would have addressed this issue upfront by providing age-appropriate health education and guidance about how to treat each other with respect and compassion. Creating space in schools to celebrate puberty where children can greet their changing bodies with a sense of pride, empowerment and wonder rather than discomfort and embarrassment - that’s the kind of school environment I want them to experience. I want school to be a place where students can learn how to pose questions about the way the world works, make propositions about how to fix the problems of the world (which often show up at school), expect to be taken seriously by the adults around them, and develop skills for demanding that adults listen to them. For these things to happen, adults also need to be different kinds of people, to learn how to see children and adolescents as human beings who deserve guidance but also respect and care for their existing as well as future selves.
I agree with Natalie's observations about expanding school infrastructure beyond a classroom. From personal experience, I viewed school as a unavoidable responsibility that must be checked off our growing up "to do" list. I found that much of what I learned existed in a vacuum and I was unable to connect with and apply these lessons outside the educational environment. Granted, there were other outside factors that influence this disconnect but that is besides the point. Now, as we navigate our art education course, I find myself connecting with and observing concepts we learned and discussed in class to the broader world. I suspect that it is because of the "critical insight" that is supported in our program and not within the traditional school system.
DeleteI think about how much our adolescence is about finding our identity and how that journey never really ends. It also feels like it is something that will last forever but doesn't in a way. I am reflecting on this super hard because in two days I am going to be 21 and I have been drawing and journaling out how the physical adolescence is over but the emotional battle is there. When I observed and student taught in the past I was working with 7th graders and one day I was talking about how schooling and the schooling journey is different for everyone. I student taught at my old high school and I thought about how I am not much older than these kids yet I am the adult and trusted adult in certian situations and thinking about that freaked me the fuck out becuase I can barley solve my own adult problems and yet I sit and listen to them talk about their crushes and the struggles of math homework to even kids coming out to me and I think about how these problems to them and even to me was the biggest deal in the whole wide world but then looking back on it 4 years later youre like oh that wasnt terrible. The fact that my students could come up and felt comfortable sharing their troubles and "gossip" with me made me realize that these students are full of personality and all I want to do is nurture that so their personality fully blossoms and they can feel safe to be 100% themselves.
ReplyDeleteHi Abby and Anna! I started brainstorming about the prompt and realized that identity was central to my response too. So much of teenage years are about figuring out who you are. And, as you both so keenly point out, that journey never ceases! I’m 37 and I’m amazed that I’m still growing, changing, becoming myself, and learning who I am. This means, I think, that supporting young people in their identity construction is not about helping them find who they are—hard stop—but introducing them to what will be a life-long-process. I’m also struck by what a gift getting the chance to grow older, change, and reinvent yourself is, and I’d like to pass that along to my students as well. (The chance to support young people as they go through this process is also a real gift, and Katie points that out too!) In my history/ social science classrooms, I want to support students in finding a way to tell their own story(ies)—who they are, where they’re from, who they love, who their family is, who they aspire to be, where they “fit” into this world—in a way that empowers them and helps them find out more about who they are and who they could be. In some of my history/education/civics classes, I’ve read some convincing arguments about the importance of narrative construction to self-construction/agency/empowerment: through stories (whether historical or fictional) we can find parts of who we are. (And this is central to Brett’s post too!) How we react to stories gives us insights into who we are: does it repulse you? Intrigue you? Does the story ring true or completely false given your life experience? Who could I be if that was my reaction to a story? I plan to bring this focus on narrative construction into my history classrooms, but I am also aware what a lofty goal this is! One way that I’d like to go about unearthing the narratives in history is through supporting and encouraging students to have emotional reactions to the histories we read (I completely agree with Anna about the importance of social emotional learning!) As Brett also points out, history classes are often thought of as boring. Students sometimes find these history classes difficult to succeed in because, who can muster the energy to memorize a string of dates and names that in effect, mean nothing to them? I believe that in engaging emotionally with primary and secondary sources that show vivid and sometimes conflicting interpretations of the past students will both remember the material better, and bring themselves into the discussion. I’d love to implement talking circles in my history classes each Friday—a time each week to reflect on how the work we are doing makes us feel. I will invite students to critically analyze history in this space as both historians and as human beings. As we critically reflect on the past, we’ll consider issues of justice, and in the process my hope is that students will learn more about themselves and what matters to them. As far as the parts of the world I’d like to help students “rewrite”: I have many, many opinions on the unhelpful messages young people receive about the world and their place in it, but I think it’s most important that students choose this for themselves. Some of the most important parts of identity formation are learning about what is unhelpful to you, whether that’s a way of seeing yourself, others, or the world around you, and identifying the unhelpful ways forces outside of yourself (the media, other people, family, history, institutions, the principal) see you. My hope is that learning about how others have navigated these issues in the past can inspire the young people in my classroom to do the same.
DeleteDuring my senior year in college, I took an introductory course on the history of the United States from Reconstruction to the present. On the first day of class, my professor asked us to use adjectives to describe our high school history courses. The most common adjectives that were said included: boring, dull, and unengaging. I didn’t realize it at the time, but these three words stuck with me after I graduated from college in the Spring of 2022. When I was working as a paralegal for a small boutique law firm, I tried to talk about U.S. history with my colleagues. However, none of them were interested. One of the other paralegals said, “Why should I care about history? It is boring and only talks about rich, white, men.” Her comment made me remember what was said in my undergraduate class. It also made me realize that I was in the wrong career. It was at this moment, that I began drafting my notice of intent to quit and preparing my application for graduate school.
ReplyDeleteDuring the application process, I was asked to prepare and submit a personal statement. The question for the essay was “Why do you want to be a teacher?” My answer was that I wanted to reimagine and reevaluate the way we present history to students. History, as a subject, has a lot of potential to inspire our youth to make a lasting impact on our society. However, the way it is being taught prevents the voices of the unheard from being brought to light. By the unheard, I mean the everyday person who contributed to a battle or a major historical event. Other actors played just as pivotal of a role in our history, but their voices have been silenced by the authors of some of the most widely used textbooks in our nation's education system.
When I become a history teacher, I hope to present a new narrative for American history that is interesting, exciting, engaging, and empowering. I plan to do this by having students read primary sources that talk about people other than the main rich, white, patriarchal elite who have dominated the historical narrative for centuries. I will also have them read and contextualize the arguments of different historians. Having moments where students can work and grapple with history provides them with an opportunity to learn what historians do in their profession. It also helps them see that American history is much broader and more complex than just a bunch of dates to memorize for an exam. My intention with these practices is to help my students see history in a way that shows them that they can contribute to systemic and societal change the same way rich, powerful people can.
As someone who has grown up in a space that undervalues the importance of the arts, I feel as if I have an inherent role to play in proving the power of art. Within my hometown in 7th grade, my experiences within art class would unknowingly shape my future career path. Unfortunately, although art class is usually always fun, my art teacher and her incessant remarks of ignorance resulted in an uncomfortable space in which students could not truly express themselves. My teacher made it apparent that she was deeply homophobic, covering her remarks of ignorance with some reference to some sort of rules, whether that be the schools or personal religious beliefs. Classmates of mine were publicly scolded and reprimanded for portraying a pride flag within their work. 7th grade me could not comprehend the idea of an art teacher denying their students’ existence. I think, in some way, this unknowingly increased my desire to be an art educator. I aim to be an educator that embraces student identity and fosters student talent, because art is completely individualized, and how would I accomplish my duties as an art educator if I did not respect & uplift student identity?
ReplyDeleteWithin my future as an art educator, I hope to provide my students with critical thinking skills and personal creative endeavors in order to assist them with their real-world experience. As an art educator, I aim to shoot beyond arts & crafts. On the contrary, I hope to use artistic expression to facilitate the relaying of necessary historical events, important figures, movements, and ideas. Within a world so deadset on stripping vital information from an emerging generation of young people, it is our duty as educators to combat these efforts attempting to dismantle critical thinking. I plan to use art as a means for community, gathering students in numbers to focus on a central problem, goal, artwork, etc. By making art a community endeavor, we are not only improving the world around us, but we are gaining necessary insight into ourselves as well. I hope that my future class fosters community, confidence, and a willingness to be one’s own self. Art provides a voice to those that may feel unheard, and that is exactly what I hope to accomplish.
Being an adolescent, especially in America, is a very critical moment of our lives. Recent studies revealed that children are growing at a faster rate now compared to the past. In the contemporary world, children or adolescents are not given an adequate amount of freedom to chase their dreams or to even enjoy the stage of life they are in. Oftentimes students are taught to measure how successful they will be in the future, and at this moment, they completely detach themselves from their present. When I started high school, I felt loads of pressure to start preparing for the next stage of my life, ultimately, I was not able to enjoy my high school years to the fullest. I encountered the same experience when I started college. To me everybody was in a better and secure place(in terms of their future) whereas I was confused. As an adolescent(not too long ago), I felt pressured to achieve a certain score on a test, or to apply for scholarships because some other students were doing the same thing. Over all, the pace at which we are taught and reminded of the ‘future’ has a negative impact on students like me because we are all different. Instead of focusing on the future, the educators should actively promote student development in the “present” sense.
ReplyDeletePersonally, when I become a teacher I want to create an environment where my students can breathe. In doing so, we can collectively minimize stress about some ‘far away future.’
I am forever biased in uplifting books because of the profound role they have played in shaping and enhancing my own life. This is why I sincerely hope to grow a love of reading literature amongst the students in my classroom. However, at my core, my goal is more to foster students' love for storytelling, and their appreciation of story as a tool they can use to make sense of history, their lives, and the vast wonders of what it means to exist. I hope to create spaces in the classroom where our voices are heard, our differences are respected, and our many ways of using language are recognized as powerful (for better or worse). Ultimately, I am inspired to continue to learn and teach how to craft narratives that not only reflect their experiences but also empower them to rewrite parts of the world and find their place in its many histories. I also want my work in my classroom to be connected with the history, science, art, etc teachers of my school: I see our work as deeply connected and recognize that the best stories are multi-disciplinary!
ReplyDeletePlease continue sharing your wealth of uplifting books Page! Literature has played an important part in shaping my perspective as well. I'm reminded of the storytelling of my youth with friends. How it was such an important part of expressing struggles, and triumphs while incorporating humor. Working with adolescents at my current job, I'm reminded of how each student has a rich and individualistic experience. Many students struggle and seek connection through expression. I feel that it is imperative to create a classroom setting that allows ALL students to feel safe in sharing their stories, languages, and traditions. Through our research on the current youth and this blogpost, Im curious how storytelling is evolving through the use of technology.
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DeleteWith social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram students can curate visual examples of their dynamic personalities. There is the opportunity to share stories from all over the world with your friends. You can share your own story or a choreographed dance with the general public. It is an exciting time to be a teacher with many coinciding advancements. As much as I'm out of the loop with TikTok, I see engaging with it as an opportunity to better understand my students. I'm thinking about the myriad of opportunities for storytelling through the arts. Additionally, the opportunities that students have to create communities and networks through their online experience. We have the pleasure of working with students in cultivating their voices and personalities. As much as I enjoy the tactile nature of an old book, I'm willing to set personal preference aside. How can we incorporate the current interests of the youth into lesson planning? Maybe a lecture that takes place on Roblox?
During my interview and while reading this blog's question, I began to reflect on my own personal high school experiences. I thought about how many life changing events occurred to me during this period of time, how many friends I was gaining/losing, and about how many emotions and hormones were passing through my body. I thought about my best friend who had lost her mother due to alcoholism and about my childhood friend who had to leave to a new school because her parents were going through a divorce. I quickly realized that each individual is enduring different battles every day. On top of becoming young adults and going through a period of many hormonal changes, students are dealing with situations and life events that aren't related to school. As an educator, aside from teaching history, my main goal is to provide students with a space in which they feel comfortable, cared for, and welcome. I would like to support my students in the best way possible and give them the opportunity to succeed, in and out of my classroom. I also feel that as a history teacher, it is crucial for me to make sure each student feels seen. Often times, during history lessons, many teachers oversee or even ignore their minority students or only present lessons in which the white man is praised. Each student should be provided with an environment that they can feel heard regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, etc.
ReplyDeleteKarolina Lisztwan. Forgot to add my name to the post. ^
DeleteWhen I was in high school, I was surrounded by students who did not want to be there. The graduation rate was below the state average and many of the students were not considered to be proficient enough in most subject areas. I was often in classes that were considered to be more challenging than the common core. I was in AP and honors courses. I realized that student in my classes tended to have a sense of arrogance and superiority over the other students of the school. When looking back, I believe this mindset many students had was driven by the teachers who would often remind us how much smarter we were then other students. We were constantly told how much more challenging the courses we took were and how easy it would be for us to succeed in the common core classes. I always found it weird that in order to make us feel better about ourselves, they had to pit us against other students.
ReplyDeleteWhen I become a teacher I want to make sure all my students are being challenged to be the best versions of themselves that they could be. I will not attempt to lift certain students up at the expense of others. I want to be able to create strong relationships with my students in order to better understand how I could help them succeed in ways that suit them, and not be constrained by the standards that are expected of me as an educator. As a history teacher, I want to help my students see themselves in the topics we are learning about, and not merely for just a short segment of one class session. I will also create a space in my classroom that is welcoming and allows my students to feel comfortable sharing with me or their fellow classmates how they feel and what they think about what we are learning about. Overall, I just want to be someone that my students can trust and could come to if they need someone to confide in.
As I was reading all of the amazing comments my peers had left on this first blog post I found that Jose's high school experience really connected with me. I also was fortunate enough to be placed in higher level classes for the majority of my classes in high school and similarly it frustrated me that the students that took these course with me carried this air of superiority over the rest of the student body. It was frustrating on two fronts because I felt and still feel like the things we were learning in those classes were not unfathomably difficult concepts to learn and did not make us better than anyone not taking those classes but on the other front the student's who did not take those classes would write themselves off as not intelligent or as incapable of reaching the academic level that would allow them to go to a decent university or college. As a teacher, I wish to create a classroom where I am able to meet students at their current academic level and only bolster it up through my instruction and demeanor. I want the students that might have a harder time with school to understand that learning a slow and difficult process that they can get better at as long as they never stop trying to do their best everyday. As for the students who are more academically inclined I will challenge them further to use their already developed skills to push further into new territories that they might not yet understand but to always keep a humble heart and remember that they didn't always have everything figured out.
DeleteI think it is both a privilege and huge responsibility to work with adolescents. This stage of their lives is crucial to the formation of their identity and self-perception. During this stage of immense change and growth, it is important to support students by creating spaces for students' voices. This involves dismantling traditional power structures and embracing a student-centered approach. I have always known that I do not want to be seen as an authoritative figure in the eyes of my students. Of course, there are boundaries and certain rules in place but I think it is important for students to feel comfortable to approach me without feeling intimidated. I
ReplyDeleteOops- I hit publish too soon. Continuing, I want my classroom to be a space where everyone's voice is heard, valued, and respected- not just mine. This is where the concept of tension in schools comes in. The tension of pushing boundaries and breaking out of molds will be present in my classrooms. Schools as tension packed spaces to me means that students are questioning everything and being creative without the fear of being reprimanded.
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