Hello and welcome to our multimodal presentation, The image you are seeing is

not Kayla but a representation of her!

Now. I am Nathan PLACE NAME CARD. I will introduce the first of our topics,

being the biological aspect of what is occurring with our subject, Kayla.

While unpacking the issues surrounding Kayla, puberty will play a large role in

the presentation.

The timing of Kaylas physical Maturation is a key developmental issue and the

first topic, TIMING IS EVERYTHING CARD , it is understood from the vignette

that Kayla ,in only year 7 , is noticeably more physically mature than her peers, in

an environment such as high school early maturation can be a disadvantage.

Drawing from the information available I am suggesting that one of the biggest

issues facing Kayla is the relationships she is forming with older and ill

disciplined peers, while my partners will later unpack the social implications of

friendships such as these, I am drawing attention to Kaylas early maturation as

the key factor which is leading her to this behaviour. Identified in this units

textbook, as well as R1 Laura Choates text Swimming Upstream, IS the

significance which early physical development has on a young females ability to

establish appropriate peer environments.

The second developmental issue to be discussed right now is Kaylas apparent

lack of motivation in school, MOTIVATION AND EXECUTIVE ACTION which is

demonstrated by the accounts of her withdrawn behaviour and common truancy.

While there are a variety of potential influences on this behaviour, I would like to

briefly identify the impact of puberty and the development of her pre frontal

cortex. The pre frontal cortex plays a significant role in the development and

function of adolescents during puberty, one of the numerous functions associated

with this cortex is executive action, this refers to the subjects ability to manage

priorities, organisation, impulse and motivation. It is evident that at Kaylas stage

of puberty she is experiencing an inhibition of her executive action development.

(this is supported by the Vivienne parrys The truth about Hormones.) R2

So the catalyst for much of Kaylas issues stem rom her early physical maturation

and lack of motivation. This begs the question, how do we help kayla through

this?

Well I am going to offer a micro and a macro strategy. In the specific example

with Kayla I would like to emphasise the importance of teacher student

relationships in the school environment, throughout this course and extended

research R3 it has been made clear that teachers have a immense responsibility

with guiding adolescents, understanding this role I suggest that Kayla may benefit

highly through personal education regarding the effects of puberty and what it

means for her. HELP HER UNDERSTAND. It is acknowledged in the unit

textbook that adolescents often experience their biological changes with limited

information regarding how it may affect all aspects of their lives. Whether

through a teacher or a health professional, Kayla should be taught that her early

development is natural and does not reflect a permanent division from her peers,

educating kayla about this issue will resolve a key problem in her classroom
environment, making school a more comfortable place for her to learn. This will

go a long way to resolve Kaylas second issue as a comfortbale learning

environment will assist Kayla in establishing engagement and motivation while

she naturally progresses through her physical development.

So this approach of engaging with Kayla and offering support from yourself and

other professionals is fairly conventional and useful, but not without flaws.

An advantage to this approach is that it is flexible, for Kayla we understand that

her physical maturation is a cause for alienation in the classroom but this relies

on Kaylas willingness to take advice, which is reflected in the vignette. However

Relying on a positive teacher student relationship may not be effective if the

student is not particularly open to engage, especially regarding a topic such as

body image like Kayla. Essentially not all adolescent students will seeking the

teachers help for these things.

Approach 2

Another approach that I will add on here is more preventative than an

intervention and it focuses on AGE GRADING in the school system. It is discussed

in the unit textbook that classrooms, which are organised through separating

cohorts by their age, create difficult environments for students going through
puberty. The awareness of age grading creating developmental issues has

progressed to the stage where some Education Professionals like Dr Peter Gray

have suggested that it may be beneficial to create mixed age learning

environments. This strategy is actively in place at Sudbury high school in the

united states, in 2008 Dr Gray assessed this schools learning environment and

his subsequent articles REF4 provide insight into how applicable removing age

grading may be. So would kayla have be better off in an age mixed classroom?

Well the positives attributes from this classroom setting involves the

deconstruction of age related body image issues, it is apparent that kaylas

maturation makes her appear quite different. As well as this, a mixed age

classroom could foster better learning through older students mentoring the

younger, this is associated with Vygotskys popular theory the zone of proximal

development. However this highly unorthodox learning environment offers very

few guarantees that student development will be better than the existing system

especially when many of the students have previously only been educated in age

graded classrooms.

(Pack up cards.) Well thats enough out of me, allow me to introduce our next

speaker, Athmar
Reflection.

So youve just completed the unit Adolescent learning and development,

correct? How would you say it has influenced your mentality of students?

Well I think a good place to start is by saying that I disagree with Epstein and I

believe that adolescence is a real thing. I would say a big part of this unit for me

was understanding how tumultuous adolescents and puberty can be, even though

Im only three years removed from my own high school experience. It has become

a lot clearer through out this class how many different elements can effect a

teenager linking to what I know now as the three key areas of development being

BioPyschoSocial. So for me a better understanding of the difficulties my students

will face infleunces how I would apply strategies to help them. I believe that the

most effective and necessary step in supporting students is establishing a positive

teacher student relationship, while also remembering to establish appropriate

boundaries. The GRIP approach to class management is what I feel is the most

appilicable strategy, I especially believe that teachers should not be afraid to

involve family/caregivers and other professionals. Even though students should

understand that they can tell you things in confidence this should not get in the

way of seeking help as the grip strategy does remind you, you are not their

councellor.
Very well, so I see here that you are a Modern history major, do you think

this knowledge will have much influence on how you would conduct your

own class?

Definetly, from all the significant lessons Ive learnt from this unit I would point

out that concrete and formal operating and understanding of memory and

cognitive load are a big influence on how I intend to construct my lessons.

Learning about Piaget and the concept of adolescents being in a transition period

between concrete and formal operating is a big influence on lessons plans

essentially because you need to cater for a variety of learning needs. Fortunately

with history, you can use elements like maps and timelines to present visual aids

for comprehending history and events.

It terms of memory and cognition I understand that I will need to structure the

lessons around which pieces of information are a priority. Adolescence is a period

where teenagers brains are constantly changing so prioritising the key

information and being conscious of cognitive overload will be a part of my

teaching method.