Adolescent Psychology midterm

Identity formation is a complex and multifaceted process for adolescents, particularly during middle school and early high school. Therefore, it is far more likely that students who appear disengaged to school faculty and administrators are actually navigating the multiple pathways to finding their own unique identities. It is simply unfair to assume that a student is not personally motivated when he or she is constructing an identity that reflects diverse social and/or cultural backgrounds.

Manila's Squad Nanas writes about a student named Amanda in her article regarding detent identities in learning contexts. Amanda is a highly achieving student "who spent her time In class appearing 'disengaged". Although Amanda performed near the top of her class, her academic success did not seem to reflect her classroom behavior. However, Manta's identity was shaped by the people she interacted with, particularly her peers. Nanas states, "People act in accordance with their local settings, and... E cannot assume the meaning of those behaviors or determine which ones are identity relevant, and in which ways, without a perspective on what they mean In the local 2010). Therefore, it is a detriment to students eke Amanda and the ones at the tutoring program to suggest that their own lack of motivation Is at the root of their apparent disengagement. Rather, It Is relative to the context they live in. In Nanas"s article, Amanda self-identified as smart, and her peers looked to her for academic help.

However, researcher field notes described Manta's apparent disengagement, involving the passing of notes and answering her cell phone, which seemed "incongruous with [her] perception of herself and others' perceptions of her as an exceptionally competent 2010). However, Nanas later explains that the school Amanda attended "had nonstandard norms for detent attendance, engagement. And conduct"(Nasal, 2010) that made Manta's behaviors not an indication of disengagement or low performance.

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Nazi's article suggests that students' level of perceived engagement depends on the norms and standards of the school they attend. Another identity-related factor to take into account is that students are finding a safe group to identify with and are simultaneously negotiating "the persistent adolescent endeavor to define, overdriven, and redefine themselves and each other In often ruthless and Brown). Students must grapple with various social groups and the labels that accompany them, like "socks" and "brains".

Particularly in middle school, "younger students, like those in 7th grade, prefer' to be normal, while more mature brains felt more comfortable with being brainy". Therefore, it seems logical that the students at this tutoring program appear disengaged because they are managing their own identities, and therefore not acting overly enthused about learning so as not to appear "too brainy'. Dwellings students as unmotivated Ignores their searches for a "safe group identity' to belong to, and acting too enthusiastic about schoolwork may hearten their place in a social group with which theft like to identify.

It's also feasible that students appear disengaged not due to lack of motivation, but because a key aspect of identity formation is questioning authority as they find their unique and authentic selves. "When adolescents express unpopular opinions, revolutionary normative expectations, they are trying on possible selves and testing the boundaries of their environment as part of their psychosocial moratorium... In fact, that is part of their developmental Job. To dismiss such experimentation... Is to devalue the unique opening this developmental era represents".

In short, students are investigating potential selves, attempting to find a peer group to which they belong, and Jumping over the hurdles of adolescence. When tutors at this middle school in Longboat dismiss their students as disengaged due to decreased motivation, they are assuming a deficit view of students and not taking identity formation into account. In the 1999 article by Cooper et al regarding being brokers for students, they explain that the transition from elementary to middle school is a crucial time in which students begin to define their own goals and look up to adults, including teachers ND tutors.

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