Week 2: Closure

"Beautiful Brains" Article:

In this article the author reflects on what makes teenagers act the way that they do. He references philosophers that have written about the teenagers mind many years ago. The interesting thing is- Aristotle described teenagers the same way we do today in 2013. They tend to not make the safest, most mature decisions and one philosopher explains this by writing that they value the reward over the risk. I found this article to be very informative. I had never actually thought more about the teenagers mind past the idea of “what were they thinking?”. This article made me realize that there is a lot more involved in the brain of these young people than meets the eye. The fact that the brain is reorganizing itself is very interesting to me. I think that understanding the development of their brain will help me be more understanding in a classroom setting to the way they may respond to a situation.

"The Oversexualization of Young Adolescent Girls: Implications for Middle Grades Educators"  Article:

This article is all about how the media and today’s world portrays the “ideal” woman. Whether that is in advertisements, television shows, movies, or even songs, the young woman today would have an impossible task of avoiding this oversexualization of women. Even in last weeks national championship football game the star of the show was Katherine Webb, Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron’s girlfriend and the reigning Miss Alabama USA. The commentators even had to release an apology the next day because commented continuously throughout the game on her good looks. Middle school is a difficult growing time for both boys and girls but with this type of hype surrounding women it is even more challenging for girls. This oversexualization leads to girls feeling insecure and constantly worried about their appearance. The problem in the classroom is that if that is the only thing their mind thinks about all day every day there is no room for school work. Another problem is that this lack of self confidence can also flow into their work at school. I think teachers can combat this by being encouraging to their students and being available to talk to them if they want to open up about what they are going through.