Earlier this week I had the great opportunity to attend the AIMS Conference with thousands of educators from all over Maryland. I chose two incredible workshops that supported my growing knowledge on what makes adolescents tick. The first seminar was titled, “The Adolescent Brain: Open during Reconstruction.” Did you know that the adolescent brain is not the same size as an adult brain, and that it isn’t fully developed until early adulthood (around age 25)? Interestingly, the frontal lobes are the last to mature and those areas control decision making, planning ahead, impulses, higher-ordered thinking, and reasoning. It’s no wonder that these teenagers we work and live with can’t operate the way we can.
The second workshop, “Understanding and Working with the Challenges of Adolescence” provided superb insight and understanding into the different “selves” of adolescence, which include physical, emotional, thinking, academic, social, and spiritual selves. An interesting note, among many that I took away from this training, was that on the adolescent journey, teenagers attempt to form an identity, increasing their risk-taking behaviors. Risk-taking can be appropriate, such as pushing oneself to join a sports team or register for an upper-level class and it’s up to the adults around them to encourage these kinds of challenges.
I could go on all day about the information that was presented and I’d be happy to. Please contact me at jvillet@shoshanascardin.org if you’d like to continue the conversation.
~Jackie Villet
School Counselor
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