Saltman's article "Social Construction of Adolescence" left me with an unanswered question. After reading the piece, I appreciate the explanation that we must understand adolescence as a social construct because it is depend upon so many societal expectations and constructs. However, looking at adolescence in this light does not help me understand it any better. (<- that's my question.) I think it is incredibly important as an educator to (try to) understand these social constructs that are shaping our students, but at the same time, how do we go about doing this?
I recently wrote an essay on gender as a social construct, and, like Saltman's proposal of adolescence as a social construct, the essay was an explanation of what and why. I feel that as future teachers we need more than this; not an explanation of what is, but what to do with it. As Amy said, our UWM English Ed (not sure about History Ed) courses have steered quite clear of methods—and if adolescence is such a crucial time/construct (which it is), when do we learn how to teach and reach these kids???
As for chapter two, my feelings are similar to the others I've read in the class blogs. Basically what this chapter told me is that we must recognize the emotional, phsyical (=pubertal) changes that our students are going through. This is a time, especially for young girls, that quite truly is like hell. Depression, eating disorders, and so many [other] emotional factors can kick in and detract from a girl's life as a whole....and therefore from her education. We must focus on both, because when outside factors (i.e. social constructs of adolescence) are negatively affecting our students, we must somehow find a way to get the necessary content—our goals—into their great adolescent minds.
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