Joseph A. Montagna
How many times have you asked yourself this question about your students, “What are they really about?” If you are referring to students in grades 7-12, then you probably ask yourself this question frequently. This period in our lives called adolescence is complex, dynamic, influential in determining one’s future, and survivable. It is important for us, teachers of adolescents, to be as knowledgeable about our clients as possible, to aid us in being a positive influence on them throughout this period.
This unit offers many opportunities for learning experiences for students, as well as teachers. What it attempts to do is present a body of knowledge about American adolescents and the myriad factors that bear upon their development. The current research may or may not confirm what you already believe to be true about adolescents. I hope that some new information is presented to you in this unit. What we learn about American youth today can translate into some rethinking about how we view and teach them. If we can learn more about the forces that are at work in adolescents’ lives, then we will be better equipped to guide them. Also, students learning about their peers and themselves may cause them to reevaluate some of their goals, philosophies and habits.
A second major portion of this unit is the presentation of material related to statistics. This portion of the narrative is my own assessment of what is appropriate for students to learn in the seventh and eighth grades. The math objectives for these levels include many of the subskills that are necessary to perform the mathematics related to statistics, i.e. finding percentages, calculating the arithmetic mean, graphing. Many of these objectives are also included in the curricula for other grades, making this unit easily adaptable for older or younger students. Further, many of the topics discussed in this unit are appropriate to the teaching of disciplines other than math, i.e. social sciences, career education.
These two goals of teaching students about themselves and about statistics will converge in an attempt to have students focus on the single question, “How do teenagers spend their time?” This question was the focus of a study conducted by a group of social scientists at the University of Chicago. The book about this project,
Being Adolescent:
Conflict and Growth in the Teenage Years
, and Laurence Steinberg’s book,
Adolescence
, are the two major sources for this unit. I would strongly recommend them both.
