Blog Assignment 7

The question for this lesson's blog assignment made me think of a show that I had seen on the Discovery Channel a few years ago.  A paleontologist had put forth the theory that many of the species that are identified as separate species are actually younger members of a species previously identified.  This had annoyed a whole group of other paleontologists that had made their name off of "discovering" a unique dinosaur - that might not be so unique, just younger.
I don't really follow current paleontology news, so I don't know if he ever proved this theory.
BUT - the point of me mentioning this is the idea behind his proposed theory.  His idea was that these were adolescent dinosaurs.  They looked almost like their adult counterparts, but had a change that was noticeable to an area that was prominent.  For example, the horn configuration would mature into a slightly different form, so that the adults could visually identify that this was a "teenage" dinosaur.  That way, if they did anything annoying or stupid, the adults from the same group would see that they were just teenagers and would not kill them. 
Pretty extreme, but it kept popping into my mind as I considered if teens should be held to adult consequences since they do not possess adult reasoning capacity.  Even in nature, 60 million years ago, there were possible provisions made for the teenage brain.
Because teenagers tend to think from their amygdala, I think that there are some basic points that teachers need to embrace.  First, you should never assume that a teenager understands the full ramifications of their actions.  Second, you should remember that you are guiding them during a period in time when their brains are still under construction.  The implications are clear, if you are teaching teenagers, you need to include exercises that build reasoning skills.
I think that teachers and adults need to also help reframe teenage thinking.  One of my teenage daughter's friends recently had an issue with a teacher.  When the friend was explaining the issue(to us), he was almost volatile, because he was sure that he was right and the teacher was wrong on a question on the test he had just taken.  The teacher did not want to listen to his explanation, probably because he was being excessively argumentative.  The possibility that he had crossed into the land of obnoxious had apparently not occurred to him.
When I tried to explain to him that he was overreacting in how he approached the teacher he could not understand my point.  I had to try again the next day to explain.  He might have very well been correct about the test question, but he did not need to be aggressive with the teacher when he was arguing the point.  He had all but yelled at the teacher because he was certain that he was right and the teacher was wrong.  He never even considered that he was actually challenging the teacher in a manner that was inappropriate.  Lesson to teachers dealing with teenagers, they get it but they don't.