Chapter 7: Adolescents in the Digital Age

In the second portion of the article, I found that the authors made some interesting claims regarding student and teacher roles. We are constantly hearing in ENG307 and other courses the question of 'what are our roles as English teachers?'

In order to be effective teachers, we need to ask ourselves two questions:
how do we see our students?
how do we view ourselves as teachers?

For the first question, we must examine how we think of our students. Do we see them as mere imitators, or as authentic producers? Do we see them as hormonal adolescents defined by biologically bounded habits, or as creative explorers of a novel world?

For the second question, we must look at how we perceive our role as the teacher. Are we in charge of the student production, or do we act as guiders? Do we relinquish total control to the students, or do we choose times to give freedom and seize control? Do we want our students to view us as their friends, their authority, or both?

I believe these questions are vital to ask ourselves as we explore our classes. I personally do not view all adolescents by biologically defined parameters. Not every student is going to act according to a scale and change based on their birthdays. Students are unique individuals who need to be treated as such, with fragility and understanding, since age is merely a construction, not a standard by which to set all expectations.