#CSAM18 Day 5: Psychosocial Identity Development - Why It Matters
Right, so these three people who wrote about psychosocial identity development of students back before some current professionals were born. Why do they matter? What does it matter? Do we actually use these theories? Do theory-to-practice professionals think: Aha! I know why you’re struggling here, you’re in Chickering’s third Vector!
Maybe some people do think that, I can’t say I ever have. I do think about some of the struggles students go through and try to use frameworks to better understand 1) how they might be feeling 2) what this means for their success and 3) how I can help them through the struggle.
I was at a party recently and I was talking with some folks about homeschooled students who are pushed through high-level academics at young ages.
Yeah, I know, you totally want to go to these parties.
Homeschooling is a common practice around where I live, especially in the rural areas. To be clear, I’m not disparaging homeschool students or families. This is just an example of using theory while trying to understand struggles our students face.
A student, we’ll call her Jane, has been exposed to a lot of high-level thinking for her age. She is incredibly articulate and well-read, and is clearly very smart. However, her socialization is not at the level of her peers of the same age. We got to talking about meaning-making and how Jane’s family asks their children to be held to high academic standards, but it seems Jane somehow doesn’t understand some basic social concepts.
This is where theory can come in and help us understand what the heck is going on with Jane. She can clearly read and write well above her peers, but she doesn’t understand social concepts her peers do. Well, if we look at Erikson, who talks about internal and external struggles, and that development occurs when those struggle clash, we can begin to understand Jane a bit. Jane’s internal struggles, meaning-making some of the things she’s exposed to, do not match her external struggles.
For example, a character may have a close family member die. A 10 year old may not have experienced death and mourning the same way a 16 or 18 year old has.
And so, the question I have, does she truly understand what she’s reading on the same level as her peers? If she reads something appropriate for late teens at 10 or 11, and it involves some social concepts she’s never experienced, does she understand the book the same? I don’t know, but we can use Erikson to at least guide the conversation with her.
Psychosocial helps us understand who our students are becoming, where they are in becoming those people, and how we can guide them through those struggles.
And hey, we can use Erikson throughout people’s lives, including our own.
Maybe some people do think that, I can’t say I ever have. I do think about some of the struggles students go through and try to use frameworks to better understand 1) how they might be feeling 2) what this means for their success and 3) how I can help them through the struggle.
I was at a party recently and I was talking with some folks about homeschooled students who are pushed through high-level academics at young ages.
Yeah, I know, you totally want to go to these parties.
Homeschooling is a common practice around where I live, especially in the rural areas. To be clear, I’m not disparaging homeschool students or families. This is just an example of using theory while trying to understand struggles our students face.
A student, we’ll call her Jane, has been exposed to a lot of high-level thinking for her age. She is incredibly articulate and well-read, and is clearly very smart. However, her socialization is not at the level of her peers of the same age. We got to talking about meaning-making and how Jane’s family asks their children to be held to high academic standards, but it seems Jane somehow doesn’t understand some basic social concepts.
This is where theory can come in and help us understand what the heck is going on with Jane. She can clearly read and write well above her peers, but she doesn’t understand social concepts her peers do. Well, if we look at Erikson, who talks about internal and external struggles, and that development occurs when those struggle clash, we can begin to understand Jane a bit. Jane’s internal struggles, meaning-making some of the things she’s exposed to, do not match her external struggles.
For example, a character may have a close family member die. A 10 year old may not have experienced death and mourning the same way a 16 or 18 year old has.
And so, the question I have, does she truly understand what she’s reading on the same level as her peers? If she reads something appropriate for late teens at 10 or 11, and it involves some social concepts she’s never experienced, does she understand the book the same? I don’t know, but we can use Erikson to at least guide the conversation with her.
Psychosocial helps us understand who our students are becoming, where they are in becoming those people, and how we can guide them through those struggles.
And hey, we can use Erikson throughout people’s lives, including our own.
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