Chapter+11+Achievement,+work,+careers

=ACHIEVEMENT= []

The ability to achieve one's personal goals can seem impossible, especially for adolescents and teens. There must be a strong combination of confidence, ambition, and drive that encourages adolescents to pursue interests that they have a passion for. Hobbies, sports, extracurricular clubs provide students with the incentive to both learn and show-off what individual knowledge or talent they have associated with the particular interest. But in the classroom, achievement can become tricky for students. Students who are very intelliegent may avoid showing their knowledge to prevent their peers from judging them from being an excellent student. This feeling of pressure intensifies for students of different ethnicities. In the article "//Social costs of achievement vary by race/ethnicity, school features//" from Science Daily, teens are "ostracized" for being smart and exceling in the classroom. African-American and Native American teens that were reported with high GPA's typically reported that they felt isolated and socially outcast from friends whereas White American students felt like their social acceptance increased as their academic performance and achievement increased. This is an interesting result to this study because their are so many socioeconomic factors that are related to a child's performance and sense of achievement. It is unfortunated that when a student excels academically, there are still pressures placed upon him/her because they could be showing strengths of character that may not have been present among other family members or peers within a social network of friends and neighbors. According to Santrock (p. 397), "...many ethnic minority students, especially those living in poverty, is dealing with racial prejudice, conflict between the values of their group and the majority group, and a lack of high-achieving adults in their cultural group who can serve as positive roles models." This statement is important because an adolescents achievement can significantly be impacted by not only peers, but also the cultural expectations within a community of both friends and family. (KERRY)

media type="youtube" key="KA56LqFszYI" width="425" height="350" It is important for adolescents to become successful. However, some adolescents are not motivated enough to follow their dreams. There are two types of motivations. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (p.385). Some adolescents can motivate themselves in achieving something they want, but some need other people to motivate them. "The Blind Side" is based on a true story of a professional football player, Sean Tuohy. He is a homeless boy and a lady adopts her and motivates him to play football. At the beginning, he is not motivated at all. As the movie goes on, he can see himself become successful so they have intrinsic motivation. Even though, some adolescents are not motivated enough to do things, parents and teachers can provide some motivation to push them at first. (Gik)

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__**GIFTED HANDS, THE BEN CARSON STORY**__ "Gifted Hands" is a true story about a young man, Ben Carson, who was born and raised by an illiterate, single mother. Ben Carson became a world-renown brain surgeon, and also one of the most successful doctors to separate co-joined twins. Throughout his entire elementary/middle school/early high school days, Ben, an African American, was seen as not very intelligent. It wasn't until his hard-working mother, raising Ben and his brother, would not accept mediocrity that Ben started to excel in school academically. She challenged Ben, and set extremely high standards for him. On page 399 of our classroom text, __Adolescence__ (Santrock), the concept of "Expectations" is discussed. It is here Santrock says motivation, and likely performance, are influenced by the expectations of their parents, teachers, and other adults. Throughout Ben's life, his mother used to tell him "you can do anything you set your mind to Benny."(John)



In the movie "Rocky," the title character has both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to win the heavyweight boxing championship. His extrinsic motivation comes from his living in poverty. He could use the money that a heavyweight championship could bring. He is also motivated by the taunts of his opponent, Apollo Creed, the greatest boxer in the world. Rocky also receives motivation from his love interest, Adrian, and his trainer, Mickey. But most of his motivation is intrinsic. He pushes himself to his physical limits because he knows that it will take everything he has in order to win. But he doesn't want to win. He just wants to go the distance. He just wants to finish the match, to make it all the way through to the final round without falling. And spoiler alert, in the end, he doesn't win. He manages to fight Apollo Creed to a draw. "Rocky" is a story about the importance of persevering, both on and off the screen. Sylvester Stallone plays the title role, and he also wrote the script for the movie. Unfortunately, just like his character, Stallone didn't know when to quit, and Rocky was followed by five sequels, each of which was more ridiculous than the last. Actually, the sixth movie, Rocky Balboa, wasn't that bad, and I haven't seen the other sequels. The original film is a classic, and one of the greatest sports movies ever made. Every sports movie has kind of the same formula. A person or team has to work really hard in order to win. And although Rocky didn't defeat Apollo Creed in the first movie, just finishing the match was a significant achievement. (Zak)

[|MindSet Online]

As someone who had an "aha" moment in Ed.Psych. when Carol Dweck's Mindset and Brainology was covered, I was pleasantly surprised to see Santrock discuss Dweck's Mindset findings (p. 389-90). I was ... am kinda nerdy and purchased a paperback of Mindset (albeit I still haven't read it, yet) but see a real interest in how this fixed model vs growth model applies to the population I work with, the special needs. I perceive that most of my students see learning in only the fixed model mainly due to their being labeled: "special needs", "special education", "developmentally delayed". The label forces them into a fixed, 'I can't make myself smarter, I'm just dumb' perception. But, everyday I see the baby steps of growth with my students and it impresses me; Dweck's motivation philosophy speaks to embracing those baby steps. I just wonder what Carol Dweck's opinion on the Mindset growth model within the special education populations? BTW, there is an interesting "quiz" on seeing where you stand on the fixed versus growth model on the site; I was interesting to take it.(Brad)

 Anke is emotionally affected by the way her father treats her family, most of the time it’s as if she doesn’t exist. Her parents have three children and she is the youngest. She however has spent most of her life being in the background. Anke’s father is abusive to everyone but her. This is her first year of high school and Anke starts to learn things about herself that she never knew before. She finds that she is very good in volleyball and becoming a part of the team makes her feel self-worth. Her teammates listen to her and this also makes her feel important. She finally starts to understand that if she can be heard on the volleyball court she can change things and be heard at home. Santrock states that self-efficacy is the belief that one can master a situation and produce favorable outcomes, p. 390. By speaking out, Anke feels she will no longer be in the shadows of her siblings or go unnoticed by her father. Maybe it will also stop the abuse her father is inflicting on her siblings. teenbookreview.wordpress.com/.../review-**because-i-am**-**furniture**-by-thalia- chaltas/  - Miranda

Experience While reading about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, I came across a section about how praise can be a good intrinsic motivator for students (Kindle location 13271). The section also went on to talk about how extrinsic motivators are not as effective. I have seen this first hand in my classroom with one particular student. He refused to do any type of work at the beginning of the year and it didn't matter what reward I offered him if he completed class assignments. He is a difficult student who can be very disrespectful and defiant at times. I decided that I would try to be as positive as possible with him, so my paras and I started to praise him whenever possible. I have seen a huge turn around in his behavior when it comes to work. He thrives off of praise (even though he will down play it) and the attention he receives from completing class assignments. Praise is not always easy to give (especially if you are frustrated) but, it can do wonders with classroom behaviors! (LeAnn)

In reading the chapter, I was drawn to the self-efficacy section, in particular when Santrock mentions **parent and teacher expectations on students** (pg. 391). Parent expectations are linked with academic achievement. In the video clip below from the movie //Dead Poet's Society//, Neil is told by his father that he is not longer allowed to participate in a play performace of which, he has te lead role. Neil's father is upset that Neil has been lying to him about his involvement in the play and that he is not concentrating on his other studies. Just before Neil's father leaves he says, I have worked too hard to get you here. (Katie)

media type="youtube" key="a3eYi3Aoigc" height="390" width="640" **WORK** It is an IUSB policy that during student teaching, you are encouraged to work a full time job. Adults attend IUSB and seriously, they can make their own choices....Ahhhh! The text compared High School students to those who worked while going to college and there is just no comparison. The idea that, "...working can also restrict students' opportunities to learn and negatively influence grade" (410) is absurd. These ideas came from 2004-2006 before the decline in the economy. People evolve and adapt to their situations and environment. Kids who are not fully developed cognitively may be effected negatively in high school, but students in college, by this point are used to the idea that they have to work to make it. Also, college may require more studying, but they can choose when their classes are. There are a plethora of online colleges and even High Schools to go to now that allows you more freedoms with your time. In the following blog, I felt that this individual gave some very valid points as to why online classes are the way to go. [|Online Class Blog] (Malinda)

Meaningless jobs
media type="youtube" key="sZIrpHc7EQQ" height="390" width="640" My parents really started to push me to get a job during my junior year. I managed to resist until the Summer before my senior year when I was anxiously wanting to be around my parents less. My dad especially was touting the benefits of a first job: how it was important that I work to better appreciate an education and how there were just some things that could only be learned in the workforce. As one can assume, I wasn't very motivated to find a job, so when a friend suggested I interview at her place of employment, I figured I'd give it a try. My first job was in the dining room of a retirement home as a dishwasher and server. My uniform was a pair of white pants, a maroon polo shirt, and an English driving hat (not sure how that fit in, but whatever). For much of my illustrious one-year career there, I was the only male working in the kitchen. To my dismay, this made very popular with the elderly female residents, and I was groped on multiple occasions. As Santrock states, the work really wasn't educationally edifying and had "limited developmental benefits" (402). I didn't have any life-changing experiences (other than learning to dodge the wandering hands of little old ladies). I earned gas money, which bought me some additional opportunities to get out of the house and hangout with friends. (Jason)

media type="youtube" key="iFR4SgfqAFc" height="390" width="480" ====Post-Grad is a 2009 film about a recent college graduate named Ryden Malby who graduated from college during the recession and was unable to find a job in her chosen field of publishing. The movie follows the struggles that Ryden goes through after she is forced to move back in with her parents and continue to look for jobs from home after facing constant rejection. Santrock discusses work in emerging adulthood and mentioned how the work patterns of emerging adults has changed so much over the past 100 years, and points out a decrease in jobs due to the economic depression in addition to some adolescents beginning careers much later in life after continuing their education in graduate school (p.404). I thought this was a great connection from the book to the movie because many college graduates believe they will find a job right out of school, but unfortunately have been faced with this same situation and are forced to move back home when they cannot find a job. This situation is also chronicled in the movie, as Ryden has to readjust to living with her parents, whom fortunately support her in life and in her job search. This made me think back to another issue in Chapter 11 regarding identity development in social contexts. Santrock brings up relationships with parents and how they can be strong influences on adolescents’ career choices especially when both parents work, enjoy their work and are able to teach their children how important working is (p.409). (Caitlin)====

media type="youtube" key="xzHpWqkY9ms" height="390" width="480" The Babysitters Club The Babysitters Club books by Ann M. Martin describes the lives of group of middle girls who form a club to help find babysitting jobs. The above video is a series of clips from the television show which was based on the books. It gives a general impression of the tone of the series. This series contained over 150 books but I would like to draw attention to one book in particular. Stacey McGill, Super Sitter is told from the point of view of club member Stacey McGill. In this books she is in need of extra money, so she undertakes a special babysitting job. This job entails sitting every afternoon after school and pays higher than the usual rate. Stacey decides that she is up for the challenge and begins her work. As the book progresses, Stacey finds in difficult to keep up with her classwork and her relationship with her family suffers. At the conclusion, she decides to quit the specialty job in favor of working fewer hours and having more time for school work. This book demonstrates the downsides of teen employment as described by Santrock's Adolescence on pages 402-403. Long working hours has been shown to be correlated with lower grades. (Emily Grace)

=CAREER DEVELOPMENT=

Childhood Personality Types Predict Adult Behavior [] A research study performed by the University of California,the Oregon Research Institute, and the University of Oregon suggested that the personalities of elementary school children can be used as an indicator of their adult behaviors later in life (p. 406). The study will be published in the journal of Social Psychological and Personality Science. The research study used data collected in the 1960's from around 2,400 ethcically diverse elementary school children in Hawaii. 144 of those participants were studied 40 years later as adults. The researchers looked at four different personality types: verbally fluent, adaptable, impulsive, and self-minimizing. As adults, children that were verbally affluent spoke well, tried to control situations, and exhibited high intelligence. Children athat were low in verbal fluency tended to seek advice, give up easily, and exhibit a sense of awkwardness as adults. Children that were adaptable bahaved cheerfully as adults, spoke fluently, and were interested in intellectual matters. Children who were less adaptable tended to be negative as adults, sought advice, and displayed awkward interpersonal skills. Impulstive students as adults were loud spakers and displayed a wide range of interests. Students ranked low on impulsivity were fearful or timid as adults and kept their relationships at a distance. Self-minimalizing students were more likely to express guilt, seek reassurance, and express negativity as adults wherears children that did not self-minimalize spoke loudly as adults, showed interest in intellectual topics, and exhibited condescending behaviors. (Mary)


 * Marshmallow Test**

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This study shows that indicators early in life predict success later in like (much like the findings Mary reported). The students who were able to delay gratification and adhere to a strict set of guidelines were more likely to be successful later in life. The researcher concluded that it is important to tell children know and have them learn to delay their gratification. It was just interesting to see how events this early in development remain with students throughout life. I could see delaying gratification and having limits set being learned by having a part-time job while in high school (in balance of course) which is contrary to the findings discussed by Santrock earlier in the chapter ( sel. 13800). However this does relate to the ideas that early senses of self-identity to follow students throughout life (Santrock sel. 13983). (Joel)

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 * Career Key**

The Career key is a test that looks at how John Holland’s theory of career choice works with the individual. The theory and this key looks at which career choices are likely to lead to job success and satisfaction. “Holland proposed six basic career related personality types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional” (Santrock pg 406). This career key compares these personality types and matching it with these type work environments and s hows you what careers are in those environments. Holland’s Hexagon shows the relationship of the personality types and the environments. This is a vis ual to show how some types are opposites while others are more closely related to one another. This could be linked to what Holland said about m ost individuals are a combination of two or three types (Santrock pg 406). (Melanie)