Conclusion

CONCLUSIONS

The book “Relating to Adolescents” by Eva Porters gives us many of the essential things we need to keep in mind when teaching English or other subjects to adolescents. It begins talking about how the brain of adolescents works, and how we can understand that in order to have a better approach to them when being in the classroom. It also continues to explain that working with teenagers means going through the Hot Zone. Besides it gives some pieces of advice for teachers to better their teaching to teenagers.

Here there are some of the main conclusions the book gives:

1.      Teenagers need adults to guide them as they make sense of their changing worlds because their brains are still under construction, therefore adults must recognize how they become affected in their relationships with teens.

2.      Adults who work in the teenage world exist in the hot zone of the phenomenon of adolescence and invariably it affects them. This means teenagers affect adults and adult behavior in schools, as the case studies in this chapter suggest. Adults are vulnerable to the behavior of teenagers for various reasons, such as when they look to get their own needs met by the teenagers they work with.

3.      Teenagers need adults to practice grown-up skills above all else, and when we do this we rise to the challenge of putting our students’ needs before our own. Teenagers need us to respond to them with dispassion; to separate our own experiences from theirs; to relate to them in a friendly way without confusing this with being their friend; and to take care of ourselves so that our work can ultimately be in the service of others.

4.      It is our job to make sure we understand the limits in our relationships with students, and work to keep our relationships with our colleagues strong.

5.      Administrators should work together as a team to understand how the school community and individual adults react to the viral aspects of adolescence and keep the entire community healthy when infection pervades the population.

6.      Those of us who work in the teenage world must take care of ourselves in order to do our jobs effectively.