All posts by pawan jha

Urban Adolescents

Whenever students walk into the classroom, assume they hold an invisible contract in their hands, which states, “Please teach me appropriate behavior in a safe and structured environment.” The teacher also has a contract, which states, “I will do my best to teach you appropriate behavior in a safe and structured environment.” Rick Smith and Mary Lambert

I believe this is the perfect and ideal environment of teaching and learning. When students enter the classroom expecting safe and well-behaved environment, it is now teachers’ responsibility to teach and maintain the classroom norms. Motivation and positive teacher student relationship enable students to feel safe and secure inside the class, teacher who supports student’s behavior and learning environment can positively impact their social and academic outcomes. Teachers need to be aware of the situation that the students may behave problematic when they are tired, hungry, some health issues, social conflicts, academic difficulties. Having an ability to teach is not only an example of a good teacher but having emotions, passions and honesty that connect with students and fill their work and class with pleasure, creativity, challenge and joy. Teachers need to motivate them to become more responsible and sharing the ideas and opinions in a respectful manner, proper use and care of school facilities and equipment and convince them to respect others opinion, thought and idea too.

“Caring connections” Mentoring relationships in the lives of urban girls in the period of pregnancy and motherhood. – Rhodes, Davis, Prescott and Spencer.

Friendship, Love, & Sexuality

I believe parents or adult (natural or formal) mentor can play a powerful role in the life of adolescents in making healthy decisions about sex, sexuality, and relationships. Need to provide sex education, why premature pregnancy is risk for both mother and child? What precautions to be needed before and immediate after sex? It is better to prevent unintended pregnancies in adolescence. According to data bank 2010, pregnancy rate below 15 years is 2.4 per thousand and in 15 – 19 years is 14.7 per thousand, out of all pregnancy rate 34.5% are Black 15.3% are Hispanic and the most surprising fact is that 8 out of 10 don’t get married, may be they are not well prepared to take the responsibilities.I think it depends in your culture,how you react? In my country,pregnancy before marriage is not accepted.Most will go for abortion and try to hide hide from society because it is related to their social status.Anyway, pregnancy is an unplanned and life-challenging event for teenagers; they need proper guidance, care, company and natural mentorship from pregnancy period to reduce Life-threatening risk during birth. Although many pregnant and parenting adolescents prefer natural mentors but still efforts have been made to pair up formal mentor for those who do not have natural mentor for their social emotional development, cognitive development and identity development.

THE SELF-CREATION OF SAFE SPACE BY LGBT.

Gender Socialization & Identities, Urban Adolescents

After reading this chapter and from our classroom discussions, I am thinking about my country ‘Nepal’ Why in my country we never identified these kinds of people. May be they are few in my country, may be because of our culture, may be they are not open because of safe space or lack of diversified and complex community. Now I realize that before we don’t have space for third sex even in our Constitution, while making citizenship and passport, they have to select either male or female. But I heard that in our new constitution, just released a couple of months ago have provision for third sex. The most amazing things for me is that I spent almost a decade in teaching field, always surrounded by adolescents and adults, I didn’t even realize about LGBT. Not only me, we never discussed about these things in our teaching community. In my culture we believe in early arranged marriage, now I am thinking why there is a higher suicidal rate either male or female in newly married couples. I am not sure but now I can guess the reason is.They are in high risk,they get married because of family pressure even though they understand their biological differences. I think, they need some safe space like GLBFO to open up, interaction and exchange their feelings in my country too.

Queering pedagogy

Gender Socialization & Identities, Urban Adolescents

Queering pedagogy is an open and important discussion on the topics that has been avoided or is very awkward to discuss publicly. For example LGBT, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender, these are some of the most ignored chapters in our society. Educators need to find ways to deconstruct sexual identities through a critical educational process that provides students with a means of interpreting sexual identity more broadly. We need to be more open and should be familiar with these topics. One of the most easy and best ways is teaching about LGBT in school, letting students know that it is normal to be LGBT. May be the open and acceptable environment reduce unnecessary bullying, harassment and depression. These people didn’t decide to become Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender, they were born to it. Need clear challenging and pedagogical approach to find their sexual identity.

STUDENTS WITH INTERRUPTED FORMAL EDUCATION: A Challenge for Ney York City Public School.

Urban Adolescents

Students with interrupted formal education (SIFE) include all immigrants whose education was interrupted in their native country. These students are at high risk of dropping out of school. They grown up with little or no education experience, enroll in U.S. schools, they have much more to learn than just the English language; in order to be fully functional at school, they must learn how to read, how to complete assignments and follow instructions, how to use school supplies, how to follow a school schedule, how to take the bus, how to interact with students from different cultures, and how to participate in school activities — Continue reading STUDENTS WITH INTERRUPTED FORMAL EDUCATION: A Challenge for Ney York City Public School. →