All posts by Xinyi Chen

MVP#3 — Cindy

Perspectives & History of Adolescence

MVP #3

Insights on Adolescent From a Life Course Perspective

At its core, a life course perspective insists that development is lifelong and that no life stage can be understood in isolation from others. (Johnson, Crosnoe, Elder, 273)

The idea that “no life stage can be understood in isolation from others” strongly resonates with me. We kept saying that all the things that I have been through make me “me”, everything happened in these years is part of me, and if you want to know the whole me, you probably should take a look at every one of my life stage.

No life stage can be understood in isolation, nor can one person be identified by one single event. I think this idea gives educators a great clue that when the teacher is trying to know one student, she can never define him by what he has done in this period. It is important that the teacher does some descriptive review on what he performs under different situations and it will be helpful if the teacher also collects some information about what this student has performed in his previous years.

It actually reminds of the fact that a great part of students who are diagnosed of having a “learning disability” and are sent to take the IEP are over-diagnosed by teachers. I won’t say that these teachers are irresponsible or incompetent,but I’m more inclined to the assumption that they didn’t really get to know the student: they didn’t connect how the student acts now with what he acts before and they tended to ignore other influential factors such as language difficulty and culture shock.

 

MVP #2 Cindy

Observing to Learn and Learning to Observe, Urban Adolescents

Learning to Describe, Describe to Understand

When we conduct descriptive reviews of children in our reflective seminar, these undergraduates often express surprise at how much they thought they knew about their own students, but were perhaps wrong, or they noticed how they jumped to characterizations before they sat down and really took the time to describe what they saw of a particular student in various situations. (Knoester, 151)

 

I have heard the saying for a hundred times — “it’s essential for the teacher to know her students.” All the strategies and activities that the teacher carries out in the class are expected to satisfy students’ needs, and it is true that the effectiveness of all these activities is based on the extent to which the teacher know her students. But how?

 

I always hold this question, “how can a teacher get to know a particular student in a completed way?” I assume that it happens all the time that a teacher knows about her students only partially, or she just defines her students by observing one or two events or even highly affected by the first impression. For example, I have seen a video, talking about a young female teacher who felt that one black student in her class looked scary (he was in fact a good student in any sense) always kept a distance with this black student, without even trying to know him. So it is really meaningful that Knoester points out the difference between how a certain student really is and what the teacher thinks he is. The teacher should never define her student in a short time, from one aspect, but should do a descriptive review on what she observes under different situations. Only by doing so, can the teacher draws a full image of her student and get to know his or her interests, talents, needs and learning beliefs, then the teacher could modify her lessons according to specific needs and beliefs. She can also offer additional help according to what she knows about her students — In my opinion, it is the fundamental step to create a harmony and effective classroom.

 

MVP#1—Cindy

Culturally, Linguistically, and Socioeconomically Diverse Adolescents in Urban Contexts: Framing the Conversation, Urban Adolescents

A powerful teacher presence was highly valued by these youth. Furthermore, they had strong negative opinions of teachers who “tried to act like students.” This perspective is highly consistent with work conducted by Delpit (1988) over two decades ago who discussed effective teachers of African American students as individuals who could “control the class through exhibition of personal power” and who “establishes meaningful interpersonal relationships that garner student respect.” She further observed that “Black children expect an authority figure to act with authority [and] . . . When the teacher instead acts as a “chum” the message is sent that the adult has no authority” (Delpit, 1988, p. 289).

 

I actually think a lot after I read this passage. In modern days, we advocate a student-centered classroom for adolescents in some occasions. The teacher, instead of being an instructor, we appreciate that she could be a facilitator. So I used to have this opinion that a teacher who could be friends with her students is a good teacher, and I even criticized some of my teachers for being too strict and authoritative. We have even heard some words saying that a teacher should be friends with her students in order to maintain a good relationship and to create an effective learning environment.

However, I have changed my mind after I read this, and It is actually good for me to be informed that there are students who prefer to have an authority in the classroom. It brings me the question whether the classroom could still be well-managed if the teacher loses her authority and just act as a friend of her students? No one can guarantee that. So it is extremely important for me to know that an authoritative teacher is needed in a classroom, for the sake of students.

When I get back to the issue of a student-centered classroom, I realize that it doesn’t mean that the teacher will lose her authority if the class is student-centered. No matter what role the teacher plays in a classroom, we cannot deny or ignore the strong presence of the teacher. In this way, it is actually a task for the teacher to find a balance between “being a chum” with her students and “being the absolute authority” in the classroom.