teaching teens

CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

A. Background

Teenagers go through a developmental stage which can be difficult between the ages of 13 and 19 and, even though they would not admit it, authority and stability in the classroom is often re-assuring for them. They have a highly developed sense of what is right and what is not and the general expectation among teenagers is that they are treated with respect and fairness by their teacher even though they are unsure of their own personal value with regards to their capacity and intelligence.

Most teenagers prefer their teachers to value and respect them rather than to be their friends. The general opinion is that academic closeness is acceptable between teachers and teenagers but not friendship closeness which is regarded with suspicion and derision. Teenagers try out different  identities and like their teachers to identify them as individuals with their own ideas. They also appreciate participating in decisions on what happens in the classroom so that they feel some ownership of and commitment to the learning programe but may regard a teacher as unprofessional if he doesn't take responsibility for decisions about learning and assessment but simply hands it over to the class. Striking a balance between teen participation in decision-making and total teen control is important

B. Effective Teaching Methods for Teenagers

Teenagers look for meaning and significance in relation to their own lives in what they are taught. A clever teacher will capitalize on this and personalize their lessons with regards to what is going on in the lives of their students at the moment. They want to know about now and not what happened a hundred years ago in some remote part of the world. Unfortunately, it may take a lot of effort on the part of the teacher but keeping up to date with technology and the events that may interest teenagers is vital to getting and holding their attention.

 As a rule, most teenagers are quite self-centered. They love to talk about themselves, what they think, what they don't like and are quite emotional. A creative teacher may organize activities like sharing journal entries or writing newspaper articles for a newspaper students have created themselves. This allows students to express themselves freely and talk endlessly about a topic they are interested in their own ideas. The specifically said in the language teaching field about teaching teens:

1)      Intellectual capacity adds abstract operational thought around the age of teens.

2)      Attention spans are lengthening as a result of intellectual maturation, with many diversions present in a teenager’s life, those potential attention spans can easily be shortened.

3)      Varieties of sensory input are still important ,but, again increasing capacities for abstraction lessen the essential nature.

4)      Factors surroundings ego, self image, and self esteem are at their pinnacle. Teens are ultra sensitive to how others perceive their changing physical and emotional selves along with their mental capabilities. One of the most important concerns of the secondary school teacher is to keep self esteem:

1.      Avoiding embarrassment of students at all costs

2.      Affirming each person’s talents and strengths

3.      Allowing mistakes and other errors to be accepted

4.      De-emphasizing competition between classmates, and

5.      Encouraging small group work where risks can be taken more easily by a teen.

5)      Secondary school students are of course becoming increasingly adult like in their ability to make those occasional diversions.

C. A Teacher Should Use When Teaching Teens

Resources are the teacher's magic want. They help put teaching methods into use through appropriate and adapted activities. Here are some particularly useful resources when teaching teenagers:

1. Music, teenagers love and relate to music. It is a way for them to express             themselves and learn at the same time.
2. Group work, teenagers are social animals and even though they may be quite self-conscious, they crave relationships and peer interaction.

3.      Role-playing and acting, this is a great way for teenagers to let themselves go and express themselves freely. Role-playing allows them to vent their feelings in a safe way as it can be perceived as just a "role" that a student is playing and not their true selves.

4.      Class knowledge, teenagers know a lot about various topics and a teacher should tap into their interests and passions for class content.

5.      A quick pace, teenagers don't have a long attention span for a single topic unless various short activities are used with a quick pace.

6.      Games, teenagers are competitive in that they like to show off and win in groups

Not quite-yet-adults and not-still-children is a difficult thing to be. Interests vary, emotions run high and frustrations deep however the average teenager is an inquisitive, charming contrast of innocence and worldliness and has a thirst for knowledge that is endless. A teacher who understands the characteristics of a teenage learner, effective teaching methods and the resources to put those methods into practice is a teacher who will motivate and challenge a teenage class to learn with interest.