Teaching and Motivating the Adolescent Child Presented by Dr. Warren Shillingburg CSN Education Professor

Best of Times and Worst of Times Time of Evaluation Time of Decision Making Time of Commitment Time of Carving Out a Place in the World

Issues Face more numerous demands and expectations Face less stable environments Not a homogeneous group Period of physical growth with puberty Hormonal changes Body image issues Early/late maturation Adolescent Egocentrism (David Elkind) Imaginary Audience – everyone is looking at them Personal Fable - no one knows how they feel

Developmental Learning Theories Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory Concrete Operations (7-12 years old) Formal Operations (12-adult) webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/piaget.html Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority (6-12 years old) Stage 5: Identity vs. Role Confusion (12-18) webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/erikson.html

Video Clip Peers most important aspect of lives Group affiliation important to self-concept and identity development Learn identity from peer group Social isolation linked to many problems Coaching has been shown to improve social skills

Adolescent Development Issues Depending on child’s mental development: preschool-parents; elementary-teachers Media big influence: TV, magazines, music, videos, Internet Development of intimate relationships big part of later development for self-concept and searching for love (Charlie’s story) Discipline for major issues out of view of peers

Theories of Motivation (defined as internal process that activates, guides, and maintains behavior over time) Behavioral Learning Theory: (Skinner) Reinforcements and Punishments-Intrinsic more powerful, but may need to start with extrinsic www.bfskinner.org/home.html Maslow’s Human Need Theory: Deficiency Needs to Growth Needs webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/maslow.html

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Theories of Motivation Motivation and Attribution Theory: (Mindsets by Carolyn Dweck) What attribute successes and failures to will determine our motivation Ability, effort, task difficulty, or luck; want to focus on effort, which is tough in school’s with grades, etc. Develop an internal locus of control, due to own efforts and abilities; external locus due to task difficulty and luck-have no control or power over these www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/marapr/features/dweck.html

Theories of Motivation Motivation and Expectancy Theory: probability and incentive of success to motivate; proper challenge (tennis example); achievement is better predicted from student’s beliefs than actual ability Motivation and Personality Theory: Need to develop love of learning; many through parents’ passions

Enhancing Motivation Focus on learning, not performance Deal with learned helplessness: (common in LD)-give opportunities for success by breaking tasks to smaller steps, giving immediate feedback, and consistent expectations and follow-through Teacher expectations-students will live up to your expectations

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