All posts by Alex

Success: Assuming the best

Creating Classroom Community

“Assuming the best is essential for long-term learning and positive connections to take place in our classrooms.” (Smith & Lambert, 2008)

In order for students to succeed in the classroom and for teachers to succeed as well it is important to assume the best of our students. As a teacher, this can be particularly difficult when dealing with challenging students because sometimes it is just easier to say “it’s because they don’t care and they don’t want to learn” and contribute the student’s challenging behavior to them not wanting to learn and just brush it off. When in reality teachers should be doing the exact opposite.
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When mentoring can actually do more harm then good

Reaching Adolescents and How to Respond

“Growing evidence suggests that a close and enduring connection must form in order for youth to benefit from a mentoring relationship. Relationships that are less close tend to have little effect, and those of short duration can actually make matters worse for some youth.” (Rhodes, J. E., Davis, A. A., Prescott, L. R., & Spencer, R., 2007, p. 148)

Mentors can play an important part in an adolescent’s development especially in “urban youth” or “at-risk youth”. Normally we tend to look at mentoring programs and the relationship between a mentor and an adolescent as a positive thing that can help adolescents through difficult times. However, not all mentoring is beneficial and in “Caring Connections – Mentoring relationships in the lives of urban girls”, Rhodes et al. briefly introduces the possibility of the negative and possibly damaging consequences of mentoring. Continue reading When mentoring can actually do more harm then good →

The self-fulfilling prophesy

Friendship, Love, & Sexuality, Urban Adolescents

“Beliefs become a self-fulfilling prophesy: Those who expect adolescence to be a period of turmoil are more likely to behave in a manner that provokes relationship deterioration compared with those who expect adolescence to be relatively benign.” (Collins, W. A., & Laursen, B., 2004, p.5)

Talking about relationships between adults (whether it be parents, guardians, teachers, mentors, etc.) and adolescents can be complicated. Adolescents are at a different phase in their life developmentally than they were when they were children and therefore, their relationships with adults change. Many times, adults have this preconceived notion that adolescents are difficult and “moody” and that because of these emotions there is nothing that they can do except for prepare themselves for the worst. However, this way of thinking may be setting adults up for failure when it comes to their relationships with adolescents without them even knowing. Continue reading The self-fulfilling prophesy →

Different is equal: understanding gender differences in the classroom

Gender Socialization & Identities, Urban Adolescents

“At a time when many in the feminist movement were insisting that there are no differences between men and women, Gilligan…theorized that there are important psychological differences between the sexes.” (Sadowski, 2012, p. 85)

“While these theories and research findings may seem difficult to reconcile, one fact seems to emerge from all of them: There are differences between boys and girls in school.” (Sadowski, 2012, p. 87)

I thought that these two quotes were interesting because whether or not we realize it, education does tend to be biased and favor certain students. It is particularly interesting when we discus the issue of gender and education because as educators we might have the tendency to think idealistically and think that all of our students are equal and therefore we have to treat them all equally. But in reality we’re human and although, we may not realize it, we are treating the students differently. Continue reading Different is equal: understanding gender differences in the classroom →

Don’t “erase” minority cultures, foster them

Newcomers & Perpetual Foreigners, Urban Adolescents

“Luckily, not everyone I encountered during my k-12 public school experience sought to silence and erase my culture. Not everyone demanded that I speak standard English. There were moments of relief.” (Prieto, 2005, p.4)

In The stings of social hierarchies Linda Prieto talks about her experience growing up Chicana and what her experience was in school. She talks about how many of her experiences in school in the US involved teachers telling her to only speak English and not speak Spanish and how her family, especially her mother, made sure that she didn’t loose her Mexican roots by speaking only Spanish in the house and keeping their traditions from Mexico strong. Because of her family, Prieto was able to become bilingual by keeping up with her Spanish in the home. However, unfortunately this is not always the case with first or second generation students or students who immigrate to the US at a young age. Continue reading Don’t “erase” minority cultures, foster them →