Adolescent Teaching

Annotated Bibliography: Adolescent Teaching

Gay, G. (1994). Coming of Age Ethnically: Teaching Young Adolescents of Color. Theory into Practice, 33. 149-155.

Race and ethnicity are factors that affect an adolescent’s experiences throughout school. The author of the article Coming to Age Ethnically: Teaching Young Adolescents of Color, holds the position that in order for adolescents to be taught effectively in secondary schools, a thorough understanding of how race and ethnicity affects developmental characteristics is needed for teachers. The article’s intentions are three-fold. First, developmental characteristics of adolescents of color are considered. Second, past and current research and texts are examined for relevance. Third, modifications to education are proposed that are more responsive to the ethnic and cultural diversity within the classroom. (149).
African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American, and Native-American adolescents have the additional developmental change of clarifying their ethnic identity, which is central to their psycho-social health and educational success. Ethnic identity is defined as

“the dimension of a person’s social identity and self-concept that derives from knowledge, values, attitudes, the sense of belonging, and the emotional significance associated with membership in a particular ethnic group”. (151).

The general pattern of ethnic identity development begins with diffusion or the pre-encounter phase where the individual is unaware or unconcerned about their ethnicity. They then move into the foreclosure stage where they have a positive or negative perception of their ethnicity based on the reference groups of friends and the Eurocentric mainstream standards of our country. Adolescents in this stage often hold onto stereotypes. The next phase of growth is the moratorium or encounter phase, which concentrates on personal exploration. This stage is expressed through confusion, ambiguity, and vacillation about its meaning. Adolescents in this stage are letting go of their stereotypic views of others. The final stage is the achievement or post-encounter stage. It is here that individuals are self-determined, clear, and secure in their understanding and acceptance of their ethnic identity. (152).
The author found that current research and text does not cover the issues of diversity and identity very well. There is a tendency for the information to be biased, superficial, lack specificity, and have negative undertones throughout. Curriculum and instructional modifications are overlooked (149); instead broad statements involving minority unrest, growing populations, and poverty issues are fearfully expressed. Often, when ethnic and cultural pluralism is discussed in some detail in a text, it is in isolation from the central themes and priorities of the educational philosophy. (150).
For all the author’s observations that there are few suggestions on how to incorporate ethnicity and diversity within the classroom, the article itself offers few ideas. The second paragraph of the article does discuss this failure, stating that the few ideas selected are “to illustrate the potential of culturally sensitive knowledge and pedagogy for making education more effective for students from different ethnic and racial backgrounds”. (149). The author suggests four principles: exploratory learning, creative caring and supportive learning environments, facilitating the personal development of students, and implementing developmentally appropriate instructional strategies. The study of ethnicity itself is seen as an important component of education as well as educating students on their own processes of developing their ethnic identity, as discussed above. No specific in-class or out-of-class activities are suggested by the author, just the generalization that teachers should incorporate critical thinking, problem solving, citizenship, and value clarification within their curriculum.
The conclusion of the article offers dire warning that ignoring differences within the classroom may jeopardize the integrity, credibility, and trustworthiness of the teacher and minimize the academic success of minority students. It is necessary to empower students and establish better relationships between students and faculty in order for academic performance to increase, to engender feelings of personal competence, and support social adjustment. (154). These statements speak true of any classroom, age group, or ethnicity group. Further exploration of particular activities is needed to truly implement a successful curriculum that incorporates the diversity found within the classroom.