Future Teacher, Forever Student

Out of any word in the English language, I think I am most intimidated by “power.” It is full of contradictions: Power provokes a sense of accomplishment while implying the achievement and maintenance of power requires competition, hierarchy, and domination. Power is given and taken easily, and it yields to external factors beyond its control. Some people fear power, others are generous with it, and still more meet their doom when pride becomes its companion. Power allows for advancement. It provides a sense of order and control, but it can also create and fuel chaos. Individuals, groups, small islands, and large nations all possess a certain degree of power. As a future educator, the environment of my classroom will depend entirely on how I and my students handle the power we are given in our teacher-student relationships. More importantly, my power as a potential change-maker in their lives— through traditional lessons, personal relationships, worldly guidance, and honest compassion...

As a part of my Adolescent Development class, I have the pleasure of working with two lovely ladies on different projects and course work. Today’s blog post is a joint post written by myself, Kayla Carew, and Rylee Booth (Check out their blogs if you have time, linked below!). We recently completed a project that challenged us to design our own coming of age ritual, as explained below. Let us know what you think: Would you have benefitted from a coming of age ritual like “What Would You Do?” *** Adolescence is a time when emotions essentially control the mind and make it difficult to think rationally. There comes a time when an adolescent begins his or her journey into adulthood and must learn how to think, act, and regulate emotional impulses for his or herself. The purpose of a coming of age ritual is to break from the norms that characterize adolescence. While some coming of age transitions are planned and purposeful, some events force adolescents into their transition to adult...

Photo from goodpsychology.files.wordpress.com Looking back on my high school days, I often wonder how I managed to retain most of the information I learned. By the end of senior year, I was mentally exhausted and completely convinced that senioritis wouldn't wear off in time for college. Unmotivated and disinterested, the only time the classroom seemed interesting was when I was working on something that related to my future college career. After studying the vast changes that occur in the adolescent brain, I'm not surprised that "senioritis" has become a popular term to describe the lack of motivation that comes with senior year. What I am surprised about is that senioritis isn't actually "teen-itis," especially since secondary education seems less geared toward formal thought processes and more focused on lower-level thinking. The biological changes that take place during adolescence provoke an increased desire for peer acceptance, risk-ta...