Chapter 6 How do adolescents develop?
This chapter focuses of
the development of adolescents and how it relates with young adult literature.
The chapter cover various developmental aspects. First the physical aspect. Puberty,
the constant question is am I normal? Am I developing at a rate that is consistent
with everyone else. Children at this age are constantly asking questions about their
bodies physical appearance. We should be picking books as educators that reassure
them that they are normal, answer the questions that they have about the
changes going on in their bodies, encourage self-acceptance, self-esteem, and
body positive affirmations.
Next is intellectual development.
Jean Piaget theory of development is that children develop and move through different
stages of development from birth to adulthood. Children move through the
concrete stage of development to abstract development and thinking around age
12-14. As an educator it is very important
to think about the type of questions that we will be asking our students about
what they are reading. If our students are having difficulty with abstract
thinking than we must scaffold their learning through questions. We need to
think where these students are in terms of their intellectual development.
Havighurst in another theorist
who has stages of development. The stage that the chapter focused on was the
stages of becoming a young adult. Learning to get along with peers, as you go through
adolescents you began to make peers with people who had the same interest that
you had such as music, sports, or clothes. Easy relationship with the opposite
sex, they become more aware between a boy and girl. You start to make friends
without becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. Working for pay, children start to
want to babysit, mowing lawns, what will you pay me for doing chores. Money
equals independence for adolescents.
Changing relationships
with parents, there is a shift and they start to pull away. They began to
question if they believe in the same thing that their parents do. There is
almost a 180 difference than our parents. Usually we tend to shift back to out
parents. Kids began to develop morals, values, and beliefs on their own. Finding
a vocation, its starting to shift at what I am good at and what do I want to be
when I grow up. Adapting to their physical bodies growth spurts, changing of
feet and hands and becoming aware of those changes.
Developing appropriate sex
roles this is defined by society. This is what boys do and girls do. If you don’t
fit into those roles that is when name calling, and bullying can began. There
is a shift of more openness, but society still sets the norm and standards. We
will decide how we will operate them or will we deify them.
Next the chapter discussed moral Kohlberg’s theory. Preconventional
level of morality is during childhood where we make decisions based on reward
or punishment. Conventional, is when you follow the rules of society and religion.
Post-Conventional is where we recognize the laws but humanity comes before
those laws. This came in play during
civil right area because the laws were wrong. We as librarians are looking for
books that meet kids where they are but we are looking also for books that move
them incrementally though these difficult stages of development more concrete
through abstract.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs explains the types of needs that we have. We must meet the needs that are
closest to the bottom in order to move to the next level and reach the top of
the pyramid. You must meet student physiological needs of students so that they
will be able learn. Students need not to be hungry, tired, feel safe, loved and
belonging, high self-esteem, then finally self-actualization. If students didn’t
like a book. We need to be able to respect their opinion and ask them why and
have a conversation about that. We want to find books that help them meet these
needs as well.
Lastly, the chapter
discussed developing as readers. Unconscious delight is where we are just
becoming engrossed in a book and everything else fades away. These are serial
books. It can also be books by a certain author or genre. Reading
autobiographically is when we want to read books about people like us. Books that
reflect our reality. Our collections in our classroom or library need to
reflect diversity. Reading for vicarious experiences, these are the windows of
the world that open us to new and different experiences. This includes fiction,
and fantasy.
Reading for philosophical
speculation are tied back in to Kohlberg and Havighurst. Think about the book
the Giver and the questions we have
about what is going on in that society. Reading for aesthetic experiences is reading
for the sheer beauty of the experience. Reading or crying over the experiences of
characters. These are all stages of developing as a life long reader. We need
to help students choose books that can move them through all the stages of reader
development.
My reflection of this
chapter is the importance of young adult literature and its vitality for
students becoming life long readers. I made many connections to the previous
chapters such as why we share literature with children, divisions of young adult
literature, and what is young adult literature. As librarian it is vital that
is component of the library be filled with books that keep in mind the development
of adolescents. This made me think deeply of the types of books I want to add
to my collection that student would need to read. I particularly made a self to text connection
with the part that discuses the development of a reader. I myself has been a reader
at all those levels. I believe that had made me an avid life long reader who
enjoys and loves reading. That is my goal as a librarian to create life-long
readers.
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