Student Lilly And Early Adolescence

Adolescence is a time of growing up, moving from the immaturity of childhood into the maturity of adulthood, of preparation of the future (Steinberg, 2014). There are many factors that contribute to the behavior of adolescence, such as family structure, socioeconomics, parenting techniques, medical conditions, and depression. Therefore, as a teacher, knowing and understanding these factors can have a large impact on the student’s academic achievement. This holds true because “teachers set the tone for young adolescents’ experiences in school and play a pivotal role in meeting the student needs and supporting their academic motivation (Virtue, 2014). The purpose of this case analysis is to look at the personal life of a student, Lilly and …show more content…
1). It is during this period of early adolescence, that students will leave the comfort of elementary school and enter into middle school. “Entering middle school can cause apprehension for young adolescents who face many cognitive, physical, social, and emotional changes”(Bailey, Giles, and Rogers, 2015, p.1). Since teachers play an important role in the lives of their students, it is essential that they understand the issues adolescents face. The transition into middle school may be only one of the many stresses that an adolescent is dealing with. Knowing more about the student, their home life, and their friends may enable teachers to respond in a more positive way to help the students. This case study will discuss Lilly, a sixth-grade student who has many issues in her home life that are affecting her academic success and causing problematic …show more content…
“When adolescents themselves are the recipients of aggressive parenting, they are likely to imitate this behavior in their relationships with siblings and peers” (Steinberg, 2014). Because Lilly has witnessed and been the victim of her fathers’ rage and anger she began treating her friends the same way. As her behavior continued, Lilly’s friends stopped talking to her. Once she transitioned into middle school, Lilly became friends with a group of older adolescents. This group does not care about school, their grades, or have any respect for authority. “There are a growing number of studies that indicate that friends and peer groups are an important context where academic beliefs and behaviors are socialized. Hanging out with friends who are themselves highly motivated, engaged, and achieving promotes motivation, engagement, and achievement, whereas hanging out with friends who are themselves unmotivated, disengaged, and low achieving dampens motivation, engagement, and achievement over time” (Shin and Ryan, 2014, p.2462). Lilly’s teacher needs to talk to her about her behavior and tell her she can’t be aggressive or abusive to her friends. During class, her teacher can model appropriate behavior with the students. This modeling of behavior can include talking politely and being respectful of others feelings. Her teacher should then