Identity in Context

This chapter hit all the right points. Being a youth can be hard to find your identity. This is when they start to find themselves, but let's not forget that it also begins when they are preschoolers. They are understanding their bodies, feelings, other relationships with children and want they like to play with. The author spoke a lot about Erickson, which I remember from many psychology classes. Mitch asks Julian to do some work on what other people think or see of him. Here are the four different identities: 1. Foreclosed Identity- an individual has committed to a life direction or way of being without exploring it carefully and without experimenting with alternatives. 2. Diffuse Identity- is a state in which there has been little exploration or active consideration of a particular identity and no psychological commitment to one. 3. Identity Moratorium- one actively explores roles and beliefs, behaviors and relationships, but refrains from making a commitment. 4. Achieved Identity- when the identity crisis is resolved and the commitment to the selected identity is high. So when it came to me writing my own context map I felt like I did not have to much to put on it. I have done one of these before in a social work class. I feel like I know my identity, but a lot has happened in my life gnat has made me who I am today.

The Construction of Adolescence

This article was very well written and made a lot of sense. Reading this gave a new insight on what adolescents go through. Also when I was reading this I was thinking about how it was when I was growing up and most of what they said was true.
As I was reading this chapter I highlighted some words that caught my attention:
Rude, disrespectful, hostile, unappreciated, maligned, ignored, or spitefully treated. These words all have different meanings, but they stood out to me. Some adolescents can feel all these or be called these. I know from experience that I have felt unappreciated while growing up and even to this day I sometimes feel it too.
As I kept reading I came across some more words:
Allegiances, cognitive development, theoretical thinking, tested knowledge, theoretical imagination, experimenters, construction of adolescence, interpsychological development, scaffolding, zone of proximal development. I may not know what all these words or phrases mean, but they stood out to me. I know what cognitive development is because it is one of the Rhode Island Early Learning Standards.
Now as I sit here thinking about the ten people that have helped shape my life...I cannot think of that many. I have probably only three in my life. The one person that comes to mind is a long time friend and coworker of mine for eleven years. We started working in our first daycare and developed a life long friendship. She was there for me when I got married and I was there for her when she got divorced. She lost a dog during this time and I was there for her as well. She was there for me when I found out I was pregnant and then when my son was born. Then she left and went to another daycare as a director. She asked me to go with her so I did. When we worked at our second daycare I grew so much as a teacher. I became the lead head start teacher in the preschool classroom, was part of BrightStars and took a lot of trainings. She has showed me so much over the years on how to be a better teacher for these young children of ours. She has always encouraged me to strive and be the best. Then she moved to another and the last daycare. She asked me to go with her again and of course I went. I have become more knowledgable with BrightStars and the Rhode Island Early Learning Standards. I have used my knowledge to help make the other classrooms up to par. Currently I am working on my Bachelors and due to this amount of knowledge I know, she is making me the educational coordinator. I feel blessed to have her in my life and this is one friendship I will cherish for a lifetime.