Confirmati

   It is easy to assume, my enrollment in Mount Saint Mary's College in pursuit of my third college degree to become a high school English teacher is proof of my preference grade level.  Unfortunately, there are a number of individuals who pursue certain careers without identifying whether or not it is at least interesting. So I look for signs of confirmation to reassure me that I am indeed embarking on a journey that is realistic for me to travel. In the Psychology of Learning, I was given the opportunity to explore my interest in the various grade levels by taking an inventory of which development skills of various ages appealed to me.  This survey enabled me to articulate why and how I know I prefer to teach secondary education and it provided me evidence that there are normal adolescent behaviors based solely on their stage of development.

    During and even before, I became an adolescent I knew I wanted to be a teacher. My mom says all my life, I've always pretended to be a teacher. As a freshmen  in Nyack College, I was pursuing a degree in early education but I had no passion instead I was afraid that it would be too much responsibility. Fearful of the demand to do more parenting in the sense of laying foundations oppose to working with students as a mentor, strictly a teacher who may have to erase what has been taught already or break up the foundation that is laid. So in the following years, I changed my major to English in the pursuit of obtaining certification 

to teach at the secondary level.

    When I think about adolescences, there is such a passion that overtakes me and pushes me to be concerned about a variety of the developmental milestones.  The Age Preference Inventory has the develpmental capablities of three age groups (5-6, 7-8 and 9-14) in the four types of development which are: social, cognitive, physical and emotional. By each statment of what the child should be able to do, if I was inteerested in it, I put an (+) but if it did not matter to me I put (-). Then I found out the percentage of the plus signs. I believe the reason for scoring a 57.14% for the age 5-6 group is because I am a mother of a soon to be six year old oppose to a 39.53% for ages 7-8. As a soon to be teacher for the ages 13-18 scoring a 74.42% is appropriate because it proves this age group peeps my interest.  After completing the inventory, I created the following concept map, which includes each area of interest for the ages 9-14.   

     No matter, what I do in life, I look for confirmation to validate that I am on the right path, even with my emloyment. This summer, I started a new job in which I handle very sensitive issues. Prior to this class, I told a parent the behavior the teen is displaying is normal adolescent behavior based on the stage of development experienced. The parent was adamant that it had to do with what the child was exposed to. I witnessed the 15 year old, disrespect the parent verbally because they were told to get off the computer (facebook) at 10pm and go to bed in front of a group of new people. Dispite the new living conditions and life misfortunes, the teen most likely would ahve reacted the same way because at this point of development, teens are:

•  more concerned with being popular;
• sulking and ticking time bombs sometimes; 
• want indepence from adult control;
• show-offs.

Unfortunately, from this experience, I noticed the parenting style of this parent. From what I collected about the parent-child's relationship in the past and I've seen in the present, the parent has a dismissing parenting approach. Especially in the realm of only trying to make the child happy and dismissing the fact that the child has other feelings and when those feelings are expressed the response is either avoidance or let's get over them together, which is still not dealing with them. Unfortunately, there are some feelings like anger which will only escalate into stronger feelings and eventually violent behaviors to some degree.   Although, I knew what I was saying was correct from a psychology standpoint, this inventory gave me the evidence to affirm me. The best way to be affirmed is through confirmation, which I have experienced by taking the Age-Prefernece Inventory and creating a concept map.

     Not only do I use this inventory as confirmation but the reading on parenting styles in which I learned, there is defiantly room for improvement in that area. As I mentioned before, I'm the mother of a 5 year old and I sway between being a Laissize-faire and coaching parent. Sometimes I am struggle with calming down when I'm emotional but i am very compassionate. I, also, identify with Laissez-Faire parenting styles I tend to be afraid of limiting his behavior because it may show my affection is a result of good behavior when it is really unconditional. As a coach parent, I am guilty of ask my son, "how is he feeling?" I cherish what his response. As my son gets older, I truly learn there is no handbook to parenting but there are simple guides like psychology, which confirms where I am on my journey of not only parenting but teaching.