As I finish the sixth chapter of "The Teenage Brain" I slowly start realising how it all fits together. The teenage brain is a puzzle and humans don't even know how to understand it correctly. Not even teenagers themselves know how to handle themselves. But obviously this idea is no groundbreaking news, it has been an assumption made my adults for too long. We are told as kids that we can do everything we promise ourselves we can yet teenagers now-a-days are becoming more and more insecure and self-conscious. Apparently it has to do with that exactly, the fact that we are told that we can do everything we want or that we have potential, makes us anxious, because teenagers will feel as they have to fill in a blank or do something groundbreaking to live up to these statements. According to Frances Jensen and Amy Ellis, co-authors of "The Teenage Brain", teenagers are too often given too many compliments that they do not believe and eventually feel like they need to be these compliments, causing them to make radical decisions. The teenage brain is the most under-researched organ in the human body, as it was until recently assumed to act the same as the adult brain. In fact, this assumption is what has lead teenagers to be the way they are today; judgemental, intolerant, rebellious and too often scared. Teenagers need support from their peers, teachers and families, especially when they act in the wrong ways. Teenagers are too often misunderstood and expected to be someone they are not.
Sitting here in my desk with the Weebly blog entry editor open in my screen, expecting to recall some deeply meaningful event to reflect upon. I run through what I did last week and I find nothing. No single event marked my week and made me think deeply (something that was common in the Innovation Academy). I am uneasy.
Monday I had presented my project to my mom, expecting it to be approved. I was confident. I had spent all day perfecting my keynote and presentation skills to find out that the meeting was going to look more like a discussion than a presentation. I went with it and got my project approved. It was nothing out of this world, really. Then Tuesday came along and I went to my classes. Other than my Math project—which was coming along very nicely—nothing seemed to be out of place. Nothing got me thinking hard. I then remember I had a meeting in lunch with Ms. David, the school's art coordinator, about founding the National Arts Honor Society at FDR. We had talked about the application and selection process, and concluded that my co-founder and I would need to meet with Ms. Greer to talk about the application process of NHS and what she recommends us to do. A little exciting if you ask me. Wednesday was short, as it always is, MyChoice, Math and P.E. flew by somehow. I then remember that I'm actually liking Math class this year. Still nothing to talk about in an emotionally strong and deeply reflective weekly blog post. Thursday I was back in Bon's classroom. I had read the introduction chapter of The Teenage Brain and the agenda said we would start with that. The mini reflection time was quite nice since I had time to really go through what I had read without interruptions. I then proceeded to plan out my project and set some deadlines for myself. I was alone in this project and the last thing I needed was to drop the ball. I decided to start brainstorming ideas on how I would make my project work and start implementing them. Then Mr. Bailey came along and talked about college to the class. Friday morning, right before homeroom, I went to Ms. Greer's room and we talked about honor societies and how the selection process really needs to be rigorous: after all, you're honoring students that have high artistic accomplishments. Then the day flew by. We laughed a bit in Spanish class with some presentations and had fun with light intensity in Science. The 3:20 bell rang. Now I'm sitting here, trying to figure out if I should delete all of the above and try to find something else, or work with this. I decide to work with what I have. The truth is, this week has lead to deep reflection, I just didn't want to talk about it. Somehow, a rather eventful week makes me feel unproductive. I doubt its because the week lacks this cliche "illumination moment". Yes, I talked about opening up the NAHS in school, which really excites me, and I also got my really interesting and emotionally challenging project approved, the problem is that I'm not much of a meetings person—I actually doubt anyone is. Yes, we laughed with our presentations in Spanish, but I'm not someone that likes small talk and quick laughs. I guess that at the end of the day, I don't like a boring and busy schedule. I want something that is emotionally and intellectually stimulating, something that requires thought and careful consideration, something that truly matters. And going back to the sophomore-wide tension regarding careers and colleges, I just wish to end up doing and learning what I love and makes me feel productive. The group had gathered up and we were discussing the doubts we had about 'Cuéntame, Perú' when we concluded that our main problem was that we had too many people working for this project. We had two solutions: either separate into two different groups or fire people from our project. It was an extremely hard decision but at the end we just decided to keep everyone and then just see what happens. We were setting ourselves up for failure.
When I realised the group wasn't going to agree with splitting up or firing people I had to leave. It was harder than I thought, making the decision of leaving a project I was very keen about, but it was for the best. I didn't know what I was going to do after leaving what we had thought was so thoroughly planned, I was lost. After telling the group my decision was to leave the group, I had to restart. I tried to refresh my memory back to the first few days of school, when the unit idea was first pitched. I remember myself not being convinced of a unit that surrounds the "freedom" theme. It seemed too MYP. I felt like I was going to be dragged into the Poverty unit from 7th grade once again and I did not like it. I was unmotivated. My mind was blank, no ideas flowing, no determination. I decided to ignore that lack of motivation and replace it with fake enthusiasm. Somehow it worked. With the interventions of Mr. Bonnici and the brainstorming of a few classmates, I was able to formulate an idea that related directly to the main focus of the unit and I liked. Somehow, the replacing of a negative emotion for a positive one had pumped up my ingenuity. It made me reflect on the weeks before I started the Innovation Academy, when I was reading Mindset. The book hinted that the best way of being productive is by facing problems with a growth-mindset instead of a fixed one. It was as if I unconsciously made myself relive all of the reflection that had previously happened one again. I just needed to refresh my memory on past life-lessons and restart my approach to a project. I just needed to refresh and restart. It was Tuesday afternoon and I was in the car, pulling into our garage. I come out the car and I hear a scream. My heart instantly starts racing. Rushed, I enter my house as I continue to hear screams coming out of my sister's room. She is in her bed, crying, shouting at the top of her lungs. She's on the phone? "Mom?" she cries with a hurt tone to the phone, "I-I have a deep pain in the back, ju-just like in the morning." As she waits for an answer she glances at me with tears in her eyes. My blood is rushing, my head is all over the place and I'm frightened. I don't know what is going on. My sister doesn't take her eyes off me and after hearing something the voice on the phone says, she pulls the phone away from her and hands it to me.
After a few minutes of talking to my mother, she explains that my sister had been in the clinic in the morning because of striking pain a urinary infection was causing. The pain had come back and she told me that I was in charge. Yes, I was in charge. She was in Villa, over an hour away from us and I had to take control of the situation. Myself. Alone. In control. This was not how I expected my day to turn out to be at all. My mom said I had to take her to the clinic emergency room and talk to the doctor. So I did. Arriving to the clinic and signing in after rushing through Lima's traffic was extremely stressful. My sister was in pain and she was not hiding it. She had stopped shouting but she had a face of pain that made my stomach sink. They took us to a room and a nurse came in. After over two hours of medical tests and injections my parents arrived. I had to update them on everything that had happened and what it was that the doctors had said. I was instructed to return home. I couldn't believe it. I wanted to stay, just for the sake of completing the task, even if I had almost fainted then they took blood out of my sister. It had been one of the most stressful nights in my life, but for some strange reason I wanted to stay, even if it meant more stress and panicking for me. "Why did I want to stay?" I kept asking myself for the rest of the week. After a few days of reflecting, I decided that what had happened to me was somewhat similar to the results of autonomy in a classroom. I took charge, managed a problem I had no experience with in my own way and—even if I was emotionally unable to sustain myself through the process—I persisted and wanted to go through the whole process of solving a problem. Obviously, the type of problems you are faced with in a classroom will not expose you to such emotional distress, but there is a connection. Autonomy (in a classroom) gives the student the privilege to approach an idea or problem in their own way, resulting in the gain of problem solving skills and independence. Autonomy engages the pupil at a never-seen-before extent, making students passionate and proud of the work they are making. I'm just starting to understand autonomy, but now I realise that autonomy is vital in a growth-focused education and I'm glad it has been deeply introduced to the Innovation Academy this semester. I'm excited to see what it is that we come up with. It all begins again, renewed. A new semester, a new climate, a new project, new ideas. In the sophomore Innovation Academy class we were pitched the idea of a new unit. Freedom, with a focus question of "how free are we really?" I don't think I've ever been so excited for the start of a new semester. In what seemed so much but went by so fast, the empowerment to work for a real purpose was lacking and I missed it. But now it is back!
Accepting the proposed idea for the unit and start pitching project ideas went by so quickly but we managed to end up with three solid and purposeful projects that strongly connected to the common question. We started quickly and with so much knowledge of what would and what wouldn't work in a three-month-long project. We debated the number of roles and the different weights each of them had, knowing that getting the roles right at the beginning was the only way to really exemplify a culture of excellence and produce quality work. It was amazing how we all processed all the information from Breakthrough the same way. We decided to be a flat organization, where everyone feels important. We got a board that would be given no privilege, only the authority to make decisions as a group. We had learned. How many students in the world really learn? I don't mean memorising words and understanding concepts; I mean criticising your own work ethic (for the lone purpose of self growth), applying those concepts in an efficient and strategic way for the overall benefit of a project and not one's self. That is exactly the result of four months in the Innovation Academy. We stopped learning how to answer questions a long time ago in this program. And don't think we are simply learning how to ask questions, we are learning how to ask the right questions. Anyone can ask a question. Sometimes people struggle with the phrasing, but that never really matters—excellent phrasing or not—without the right question. Since the first week, this semester of the Innovation Academy brings much more promise than the previous and I'm excited with whatever it is we come up with. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2015
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