Teenagers, brain development, and the challenge of thinking

Teenagers, brain development, and the challenge of thinking

teenagers, learn, bilingual school

“Good judgment is learned, but you can’t learn it if you don’t have the necessary hardware.” Dr. Yurgelun-Todd

“But I’m old enough to make my own decisions!” is something that parents often hear from their teenagers. Unfortunately for them, science doesn’t necessarily support our students’ claims.

Well developed sections of a teenager’s brain include the amygdala, responsible for immediate actions and aggression, and the nucleus accumbens, the area that looks for pleasure and reward (the more, the better!). The prefrontal cortex in the frontal lobe – responsible for impulse control, evaluating, understanding cause and effect, forming judgments and controlling emotions – is the least developed section of the brain, not maturing until our 20s. There, in a nutshell, is the scientific reason for all the stereotypes that teenagers are judged by and sometimes live up to.

As a result, teenagers are more likely to: act on impulse, misunderstand social cues, indulge in risky behavior, and get involved in accidents and fights. They are less likely to think before they act, consider consequences of their actions, or adapt possible dangerous behaviors.

Molly Edmonds, in her article Teenage Brain Development, sums it up in a humorous way.

“Think of the teenage brain as an entertainment center that hasn’t been fully hooked up. There are loose wires, so that the speaker system isn’t working with the DVD player, which in turn hasn’t been formatted to work with the television yet. And to top it all off, the remote control hasn’t even arrived!”

My fellow parents, guardians, teachers, and students too. Hold in there! Some weird decisions, emotions and lack of impulse control are a normal part of the teenage years and students’ development. Knowing this will make your life easier and might make you more accepting of your teenager’s outbursts and shenanigans. It’s normal, it will end, and we will all come out the other side.

References and further reading:

Talukder, Gargi. “Decision-making Is Still a Work in Progress for Teenagers.” Brain Connection.

Edmonds, Molly. “Are Teenage Brains Really Different from Adult Brains?” HowStuffWorks Science. HowStuffWorks, 26 Aug. 2008.

Aacap. “Teen Brain: Behavior, Problem Solving, and Decision Making.” American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Student-led Social Media Initiative

Student-led Social Media Initiative

 

Futuro Verde is starting a student-led social media initiative. We want to give our students the opportunity to run certain aspects of the school’s social media. The team will be brainstorming ideas, learning how to film and edit videos, and creating fun and interesting content for the school. Increasing our online presence is essential to promoting and marketing the school as well as to giving the students a platform to express their creativity. Keep an eye on our social media platforms to see what they come up with!

Making the Most of Report Cards and Conferences

Making the Most of Report Cards and Conferences

#learning #bilingual #education

At the end of every grading period at Futuro Verde, families and teachers sit down together to discuss each student in detail during their individual parent-teacher conference. But, what does it all mean?  The numbers and jargon teachers use can sometimes be confusing for families and parents can, at times, not come away understanding fully what all of the information means for their child.  Add in the complication of our diverse population of families, all coming from unique educational contexts themselves, and it becomes even more important to practice good communication.

Below I provide you with some key advice to make the most of your child’s conference and to best understand their report card:

  1. Come to your child’s conference with questions in hand.  Some good questions for the teachers might be:
    • What do you observe my child doing well?
    • Can you explain an area you have concerns about with my child?
    • How I can help at home?
    • What does my child’s participation and work ethic is class look like?
    • What does my child most need to work on?
  2. Celebrate your child’s successes and focus on their needs.
    • When you look at your child’s grades, wonder about what they still don’t know well.  Often we focus on our children having “good grades”, but really we should think about what they still need to work on, regardless of their final grade in each area.
  3. Focus your attention on your child’s social-emotional rubric scores, in addition to their academic grades.
    • Research shows that how well students do in the social and emotional processes of learning is just as important as what they learn and know.

If we have a ‘growth mindset’, we know that hard work, perseverance and a realistic understanding and acceptance of our current strengths and weaknesses allows us to make continual improvement and growth.  Please remember that report cards are only a snapshot in time of your child’s educational journey.  Please use opportunities like parent-teacher conferences to engage in collaborative reflection with your child’s teachers and with your child in order to recognize successes and focus energies on current needs.

Working together, with open and honest communication, we will assure that we work as a team (student, family and teachers) so that all children reach their full potential!

Futuro Verde: Inspiration. Dedication. Innovation