Adolescent Growth and Development

1
Adolescent Growth and Development

• KNR 242

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Who is Todays Adolescent?

• 10 of total population is in the 12-17 age
  group.
• Ethnicity
• 65 White ? 15 African-American
• 16 Hispanic ? 4 Asian
• 1 Native American
• Poverty Levels
• 18 live in poverty
• 35 of African-American and Hispanic live in
  poverty

3
Who is Todays Adolescent?

• Parental Situation
• 68 live with two parents
• 23 - mothers only ? 4- fathers only
• 4 neither father or mother
• gt50 African American youth mother only
• Health Issues
• 81 are in good health
• Community Service
• 31 volunteer for community service

4
Who is Todays Adolescent?

• Audio entertainment
• Television habits
• Cars
• Fashion
• Hair and Hats
• Tattoos and Body Piercing
• Music

5
Importance of Getting To Know Students

• Teachers who are familiar with student
  characteristics have a considerable advantage in
  planning their teaching.
• Educational programs must consider
• Common characteristics of students
• Significant differences among students
• Social forces that affect students

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Physical Growth and Development

• Boys and girls are taller, heavier and mature
  earlier than ever before.
• Adolescents differ widely in physical growth,
  body build and physical capacity.
• Significant physiological differences exist
  between genders and within each gender.
• Boys and girls of the same age differ in rates of
  maturation.

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Intellectual Development

• Today's youth are better informed.
• The wealth of information and choices available
  to teens may cause confusion in processing
  information and making decisions.
• The number of learning disabled students has
  increased dramatically.

8
Social Development

• Adolescents change social interaction patterns
  and challenge parental and authority roles.
• Peer approval is more important
• Adolescents need to learn to accept
  responsibility for their actions.
• During mid-adolescence, boys and girls mature at
  different rates.
• During late-adolescence, teens become more
  accepting of others, despite differences.

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Emotional Development

• Students need to build and maintain feelings of
  personal worth and belonging.
• They struggle with appearance, hormonal,
  personality, and mood changes.
• They try to establish independence while
  maintaining adult approval and affection.
• Youth try on different personalities to find one
  that suits them.
• They are concerned about social injustices.

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Implications of Student Differences for Teaching

• Knowing individual differences helps teachers
  individualize instruction.
• Students in one grade level may be as much as 11
  months different in age, not counting older
  students who have been held back.
• The trend is toward inclusion and acceptance of
  all students.

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Implications of Student Differences for Teaching

• Motor ability factors predispose students to
  success in different activities (agility,
  balance, coordination, flexibility, strength,
  speed).
• Programs should include a variety of activities
  so students will find something commensurate with
  their abilities and be challenged to extend their
  abilities.

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Meeting Student Needs

• Students learn best when
• learning involves doing.
• learning is reinforced by success or positive
  feedback.
• a variety of meaningful experiences are provided
  at appropriate levels for students.
• learning is connected with previous knowledge.
• Students choose how to learn and demonstrate the
  products of learning

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Individual differences are respected and valued.

• Focus on what students can do.
• Equal educational opportunities require different
  treatments to meet differing needs of students.

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Eliminate embarrassment and failure.

• Choosing teams
• Elimination games
• Grading policies

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Build ego-strength(self-concept)

• Listen to students.
• Learn names and pronounce them correctly.
• Learn about students--cultures, interests.
• Give leadership opportunities.
• Provide success in skill performance and fitness
  activities.
• Compliment students when deserved and
  appropriate.

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Ability group for mastery teaching and student
success.

• Success builds self-esteem.
• Success encourages attempting of new skills.
• Success elicits greater effort.

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Alter and adapt.

• Modify activities.
• Emphasize cooperation.
• Capitalize on students' strengths.