Blog #6

My article group is adolescent identity and literacy. So far the research that we have done has been all over the place because this is a very broad topic, but there have been some consistencies in the essays and articles that I have read so far.

One of the main points that everyone seems to agree on is that adolescents are a very unique age group, and require a much different style of teaching than children or adults do. All of the authors have stressed the idea that identity and literacy are closely tied together when it comes to adolescent learning. At that age, kids are starting to discover who they are, and will latch on to ideas or renown figures that they can relate to. It is crucial to make the material that you are teaching them relatable so that they will be interested in what they are learning about. If adolescents are unable to find a way to relate to the literature they’re reading then they will detach and either become resistant to learning or, at the very least, won’t take away as much from their studies as they could.

Another extremely consistent theme is that our techniques for teaching adolescents need to be updated to match the current times. Pop culture is huge today and is an important part of most adolescent’s lives. Many educators feel that pop culture should be incorporated into the education process. Nowadays computer literacy is required for almost any job and for daily life, and pop culture and social media go hand in hand with that area of knowledge. Social media is also critical because it can be a major way to get kids engaged and interested in what they are doing in school.

Most of the authors whose articles I have read seem to feel that many of our programs related to reading and writing are outdated and need to be improved. While all feel that social media and pop culture need to be incorporated, they are also concerned with preserving the old material as well. So far I haven’t seen any great solutions to the problem of trying to combine the old and new material. It will be interesting to see what people come up with in the future!