After reading The
Construction of Adolescence by Nakkula (2010), the impression Ms. Petersen
gives is that she is giving up on Antwon. Granted there is no excuse for Antwon’s
attitude towards her and to state that his other teachers are showing no
interest in his academics, is not a reason for him to do the same to Ms.
Petersen. Ms. Petersen interjects her personal feelings towards African
American adolescents as a reason for her not to approach Antwon. High school
adolescents have a great deal to deal with, from peer pressure, to testing, to
what is expected of them when they graduate. Both school and home play a great
deal of burden on their shoulders. As a youth worker, we must put aside our
cultural differences and feelings, and approach these individuals to discuss
their feelings and what is expected of them. We must give them an opportunity
to discuss their feelings and burdens with an open mind without being
judgmental. We as the adults form their impressions of other adults that they
come in contact with and we must present ourselves in such a way that these
adolescents are capable to express their feelings throughout their lives. As a
youth worker, we must form this ball of clay (our youth), to be prepared for
what the world may throw at them. When you think about it, we as youth workers
spend most of our day with our youth and the impressions we leave on them, is
life lasting.
I definitely agree with you Brittney that we must teach youth to be malleable and prepare them for what the world has to offer. Youth look up to those they work with and whatever actions we portray they will too. Youth are much more in tune at times to how we are feeling, when we don't even realize that they are paying that much attention to what we do and how we act towards them.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about the same thing in my blog. Us as teachers or youth workers is not to give up on these kids but to help them with what ever they are going through. all students have some type of issue in there lives. We need to help them deal with that issue.
ReplyDeleteI love the picture that you put along with this response simply because those kinds of comments are the ones that teachers often put on students report cards when we were younger. they just expected the student work harder and do better but didn't always provide them with the resources to do so. This is completely troubling because not everyones brain works that way and some students are doing the best with what they are given.
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