The Mysterious and Fabulous Teen Brain

This blog was designed to correlate with a topic that I wanted to research and learn more about throughout this class. (TEDV 527: Adolescent Development) I am a high school English teacher, as well as a mother of two teenagers and one preteen. I am interested in learning more about how the adolescent brain develops, and the effects that this development (or lack of) has in student's behavior.

This behavior has a direct effect on the student's capacity to learn, as well as their attitudes toward their education. Though I knew a little bit about the development of adolescent brains, I have already learned a great deal in my reading and research, and plan to integrate journal articles, information from the textbook and other resources into this blog.

I also think it is important that teens are aware of this information, and that they keep this information in mind when they are faced with a difficult situation. Because of the state of their brains' development, they are likely to not think things through, consider the consequences of their actions, act impulsively, and sometimes without compassion or empathy. However, if they are aware of these possible behaviors, they might become more self aware and use this information as a deterrent to making bad decisions.

The Mysterious Workings of the Adolescent Brain: 

This is a really interesting video that explains a lot of the new research about adolescent brain.