Adolescent Psychology

OK, so it is the start of the Fall 2009 semester and I just had my first class of Adolescent Psychology. Actually, I didn't even know that was the course I signed up for. The name in the course description was Theory, Research and Applications in Adolescent Development. Anyway, the teacher basically told us that we did not have to make the course focus on psychology - that we can discuss teaching methods and the underlying theme will be adolescent development. Everyone was on board with this idea because we would be learning material that is directly applicable to real life. I would probably hate the class if all it did was discuss theory. So, this was a plus.

Once the instructor got into his first lecture, I could tell that we had slightly different philosophies. For example: he said that if students were lazy and not doing work in your class that it is almost always the TEACHER'S fault. I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with this. Ok, SOMETIMES it might be the teacher's fault, but I know teachers that do everything they can think of to try and reach all their students (myself included) and sometimes it just doesn't work! There is such a thing as INTRINSIC motivation and you can't really teach that!!! Ugh...so that was a negative.

Then, he also said that, if he was observing and evaluating a teacher and he saw four students that weren't paying attention, he would give them a BAD evaluation! I don't think that is fair at all! As I said before, sometimes you do everything you can to reach out to students and it just doesn't work. Not to mention, no one is 100% all of the time. That is holding them to just too high of a standard. Now, if you've observed this teacher multiple times and it is always the same...then there may be some cause for concern. He just seemed to put a LOT of onus on the teacher and not too much on the student. Students need to be held responsible for their learning!!!

One thing that he said that I liked was that his philosophy is "Teach Less, Better." This means that teachers should be teaching less content but it a better way in order to reach more students. Beautiful concept! I thoroughly agree. But, what about all the pressure on the teachers with these standardized tests? If you can only get through 60% of the material, then they only have a chance of getting a 60% on the test IF they learned everything. Sorry, but the system doesn't work that way.

Basically, the teacher seems to be an idealist. In a perfect world, all the students would care, lessons would be well-received, teachers would have the time to tailor EVERYTHING, and there would be no testing or ranking of any kind. But, sadly, we don't live in a perfect world and it will be a LONG time before the educational system changes enough where these things will become the norm. (Oh, and he seemed to be against all types of competition because it makes the lower students feel stupid. OK, I can see that, but I always thought that a little competition was healthy - as long as the person is competent enough to participate.)

Now, one thing that he lectured about made total sense. He talked about how three things are needed in order to be successful - community, competence, and control. One needs to feel that they are a part of a team - that they belong. They need to know how to do the job (or at least believe that they can achieve at the task at hand). And they need to have control over the situation. This is all very logical. Think about it...when you are the most productive, don't you have all these things?

Anyway, that is how my first class went and I really just needed to vent some of my thoughts. I highly value education, which is why I am taking these classes in the first place, so I am always willing to try something new to reach my students. I just don't want anyone else to make me feel like it is MY fault when students fail. I do enough of that myself, but sometimes you have to BLAME the STUDENT!!! Yes, teaching should be student-centered, but so must LEARNING!!!!