My partner for this assignment was Kayla Shanafelt.
The first group of images relates to social development. The first one is the phone with text messages. We read that because of the underdeveloped prefrontal cortex, they often misread facial expressions and messages. Due to the increased amount of social media, this happens a lot online and over text messages. The next image is the person standing in front of the empty audience. People at this age often feel like they are being watched and constantly criticized by others. They feel like they are in front of an audience, but everyone is so worried about themselves, they aren’t focusing on anyone else. We chose the polaroids because when we were in middle school, taking pictures was super important socially. Social media was very popular at the time, and everyone took pictures to show off their super fun lives.
Our next group of images was related to physical development. We decided to include a picture of the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar because young adolescents during this time are very hungry people. During puberty, “active young adolescents need anywhere from two to three thousand calories a day.” (What Every Middle School Teacher Should Know, page 21) We read about how the structure of a middle school day also causes poor nutritional habits. Because some days start as early as 7:00, and some kids don’t get to eat lunch until 12:45, kids go through a long period of time without eating, which has a negative impact on learning. If kids are distracted by how hungry they are, they are unable to pay attention to the information they are being presented with. The next image about physical development in teens is the alarm clock sleeping. During this time in their lives, young adolescents get less sleep because there are more things keeping them distracted, and their “sleep timer” changes. Some things now that contribute to keeping teens awake at night is video games, cell phones, and social media. Also, if students are in extracurricular activities, they get home later at night, and could be up late doing homework. They are also up later due to their sleep time changing. In What Every Middle School Teacher Should Know, the author states “the hormone melatonin that regulates sleep is secreted later at night as teens progress through puberty. This translates into teen’s inability to go to sleep early at night and wake early in the morning.” We have seen time and time again that people at this age need around nine and a half hours of sleep to properly function the following day. (WEMSTSK, Page 23) The last photo to demonstrate physical development is the person with the really long legs. We chose this image because of the skeletal and muscular changes young adolescents go through at this time. Teens go through uneven skeletal changes, and their bones tend to grow faster than their muscles. One major development they go through at this time is the fusing of their three tailbones into one. This can cause major discomfort, especially since they are required to sit in hard chairs for the majority of the day.
The next trio of pictures are about cognitive development. The first picture is of the brain as a construction site. Their brains, especially the prefrontal cortex, are under major development during this time. The prefrontal cortex is the main part of the brain, which influences “one’s abilities and skills in making appropriate decisions, considering the impact of certain behaviors, planning for the future, and organizing materials.” It is described in the book as a construction site, because it is not completely developed until adulthood. As future educators, we need to keep this in mind and not expect too much from students, because they do not fully have these skills yet. (page 27) The next picture is related to risk taking. Due to peer pressure, and “the sense of personal uniqueness and infallibility”, students feel indestructible and take more risks. (page 31) The last photo to describe cognitive development is the flowers. The book says, “of particular importance to teachers are the continued ‘blossoming’ and ‘pruning’ of brain connections and the myelination of brain cells that are especially prevalent during growth spurts. Blossoming occurs when dendrites in the brain go through hypergrowth - that is, more brain connections are being made.” (page 26) The brain is still blooming, so we expressed that with blossoming flowers.
The last group of pictures we included are about emotional development. The first picture is the person with a happy mask on. At this age, kids hide their emotions so they do not show others they are struggling. They go through heavy emotions, but they hide them so that nobody else knows. Another picture that relates is the man with all of the masks surrounding him. This relates to the search for the identity that kids go through at this age. A lot of young adolescents do not know who they are at this point, and throughout middle school they go through a lot of changes. This time is them navigating life, finding out who they are, while dealing with all of the changes going on to both them and everyone else around them. The last one we chose to portray emotional development was the girl looking in the mirror. Young adolescents at this age have very low self esteem, and find themselves looking in the mirror often. They are constantly criticizing themselves and think if they are thinking that way about themselves, then everyone else is thinking the same thing.
I liked your collage! The way you used Canva for this was really creative. :) Your rationale was on point and did a nice job showing your new understanding of developmental responsiveness while connecting to your own experiences as YAs.