Teaching and Motivating the Adolescent Child

Presented by Dr. Warren ShillingburgCSN Education Professor

Best of Times and Worst of Times

• Time of Evaluation• Time of Decision Making• Time of Commitment• Time of Carving Out a Place in the

World

Issues• Face more numerous demands and expectations• Face less stable environments• Not a homogeneous group• Period of physical growth with puberty• Hormonal changes• Body image issues• Early/late maturation

• Adolescent Egocentrism (David Elkind)• Imaginary Audience – everyone is looking at them• Personal Fable - no one knows how they feel

Developmental Learning Theories

• Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory– Concrete Operations (7-12 years old)– Formal Operations (12-adult)– webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/piaget.html

• Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory– Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority (6-12 years old)– Stage 5: Identity vs. Role Confusion (12-18)– webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/erikson.html

Video Clip• Peers most important aspect of lives• Group affiliation important to self-concept

and identity development• Learn identity from peer group• Social isolation linked to many problems• Coaching has been shown to improve social

skills

Adolescent Development Issues

• Depending on child’s mental development: preschool-parents; elementary-teachers

• Media big influence: TV, magazines, music, videos, Internet

• Development of intimate relationships big part of later development for self-concept and searching for love (Charlie’s story)

• Discipline for major issues out of view of peers

Theories of Motivation(defined as internal process that activates, guides, and maintains behavior

over time)

• Behavioral Learning Theory: (Skinner) Reinforcements and Punishments-Intrinsic more powerful, but may need to start with extrinsic

www.bfskinner.org/home.html

• Maslow’s Human Need Theory: Deficiency Needs to Growth Needs

webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/maslow.html

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Theories of Motivation• Motivation and Attribution Theory: (Mindsets by Carolyn Dweck) What

attribute successes and failures to will determine our motivation– Ability, effort, task difficulty, or luck; want to focus on effort, which is

tough in school’s with grades, etc.– Develop an internal locus of control, due to own efforts and abilities;

external locus due to task difficulty and luck-have no control or power over these

www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/marapr/features/dweck.html

Theories of Motivation• Motivation and Expectancy Theory: probability and

incentive of success to motivate; proper challenge (tennis example); achievement is better predicted from student’s beliefs than actual ability

• Motivation and Personality Theory: Need to develop love of learning; many through parents’ passions

Enhancing Motivation• Focus on learning, not performance• Deal with learned helplessness: (common in

LD)-give opportunities for success by breaking tasks to smaller steps, giving immediate feedback, and consistent expectations and follow-through

• Teacher expectations-students will live up to your expectations

THANK YOU

Enjoy the rest of your day!