I work at a Saturday and Sunday religion school. There I work with children from ages five to seventeen. I took the opportunity to observe the oldest child in the school. Her name is Hanan, and is a junior in high school. I’ve been teaching at this school for about a year. Even though I have been around Hanan for a significant amount of time, I didn’t start looking closely into her actions until I started to observe her for this project. Hanan is a very fascinating teen with a very powerful worldview.
I remember one day we were reading a book that stated ” When he prophet Muhammad took his journey, he saw a lot of women burning in hell, and the reason was that women were disobedient and ungrateful to their husbands” | saw all the other females in the class want to say something but they didn’t. Hanan was the only one who spoke up, she said “We our existence should not have to feed of off how well we treat a man” Looking closely at Hanan’s actions and life style has been very interesting for the last two weeks.
Due to the fact that Hanan and I close in age, We became friends, but when I started to observe her I had to but I had to put a slight end to the riendship. I figure this way I can get a better write up. Before I got started, I kept in mind some of the things I was looking. In this writeup I will touch bases on physical, cognitive social/ emotional. Hanan is seven years old African girl. She was born in Sierra Leone and moved to America when she was five years old.
I started my observation Saturday, March 18, 2017 from 10:00 a. m – 2:00 p. m and Sunday, March 19, 2017 from 10:00 a. – 2:00 p. m. On these two days I brought in a pen and a book to the school. I took notes on her. The school is located in Southwest Philadelphia, some may refer to this part of the the neighborhood the ghettos. In This neighborhood a lot of house are improvish and a lot of people are living on welfare. Hanan also told me where she live is also very impoverished. According to Adolescent Development “ race/ethnicity differences: minoritized adolescents more likely to grow up in poverty” Hanan live with her dad and her five siblings. All of Hanan siblings have a different mom.
Hanan’s mother died when she was eight years old back home in Africa. Hanan once told me she hated being at home because her dad was a pushover. Hanan dad seems to be an authoritarian. Zooming into Hanan’s life, the physical environment seems to be very toxic and discouraging. Hanan have a lot of friends, her screen saver is of her and so many of her friends. They all look so charming and innocent laughing with all of their teeth. Hanan may not have the best life at home but she does seem to have a lot of friends. In addition to having a lot of friends, she also attend a lot of extra curricular, parties, and she play softball.
I looked very closely at Hanan’s behavior and her interaction with her peers hen I observe whether or not she was attentive in class. She’s very nice to the other students, although sometimes she gets very abusive. During the days I observed her she was in a fist fight with another girl in my class. And when I tried to calm her down she screamed and was using bad languages all over the place. She told me she needed to take a walk and didn’t come back until an hour later. Physical Development Hanan is in her middle phases of puberty, She appears and assumes adult roles.
She is physically attractive, her body looks like that of an older women. Which is referred to as the growth purt. Other Physical aspects she always have on lashes and her hair is dyed red. She also dresses like an older women. Although Hanan is seventeen she appears like a twentyfive years old women. Hanan seems to be about 5″7 and weigh 165. Females gain fat, while males gain muscles. This could explain why Hanan weight a lot. Although she doesn’t appear to be obese. “The rapid increase in body fat that occurs among females in early adolescent frequently prompt young girls to become overly concerned about their weight” (Steinberg, p. 8)
Compare to her peers at the school, she seems to be more onfident in herself. Puberty can have an effect on the adolescent self-image, this can lead to various behavior found in the adolescent. Also how other perceive the adolescent can also affect the adolescent behavior. With this knowledge it was clear why Hanan behaved the way she did. Cognitive Development I would say that Hanan is a smart seventeen years old. One thing I have observe about her is she think someone is always watching her. She often tells me the other teachers don’t like her and how she feels like they are always trying to get her in trouble.
She think everyone cares about what outfit she’s earing, or what she may be having for lunch. This reminded me of imaginary audience that takes place during cognitive development of adolescent. “The growth of social thinkinking is generally referred to as “social cognition” during adolescence is directly related to the young person’s improving ability to think abstractly. ” (Steinberg p. 58) Hanan’s social cognition is pretty solid. She always points out things that doesn’t make sense to her, she is very inquisitive. Hanan’s is very selective with her attention. She only pay attentions to think that resonate with her.
Other days she’s drowns in her cell phone and doesn’t cooperate at all. Psychosocial Aspects By the age seventeen, Adolescents start using their newly learned skills of cognitive thinking and at this point they can make rational judgement. At this point in time, the adolescent more excited, and start experimenting with different ideas. These experiments play an important role in helping adolescent find their true identity. Help them with what groups or cliques to be involved in and opposite sex. During this time, adolescent also struggle with his/her own set of values compared to what is stablished by parents and any adult figures.
It is also this time that adolescent begins to take control of educational, and social advantages. They starts to find a way to belong in society. “Approximately 17% of all adolescent in the united states grow up in low income families. ” (Steinberg, p. 138) As I stated earlier Hanan grew up in a single parent home. This can mess a teen up psychologically. Hanan always seems down, when she get mad you can tell that there’s more to her anger. The last sunday of my observation and sat and talked to her, and she told me that er father had remrried.
She told me how her stepmother seem to be turning her father against her. She told me she loves her dad so much, but she’s afraid she can’t keep the love going. She claims her father is letting another woman come between their relationship. She said she wanted to run away from home, she went into detail “Ever since my little sister ran away, I’ve been feeling alone. I feel like she was the only who understood everything. And now that’s she’s gone I just want to leave too” Many adolescents find it difficult to adjust to new authority igure moving into the household” (Steinberg p. 45)
I asked Hanan about her relationship with her peers at school. She said she was cool with many people for the most part. But she said sometimes she isn’t welcome by everyone due to her outspokenness. She said sometimes she felt rejected, and I could understand why. Because for as long as I’ve been observing her, she can be a bully at times and I can see why many of the other kids may reject her. Physiologically there are negative consequences to rejection. Rejection can lead to depression, and behavior problems.
I would like to make the ssumption that these could have played a major role in Hanan’s behavior here at the school. Conclusion From my observation, and the book. I think it is fair to assume that Hanan’s upbring has a major impact on how she view both the world and herself. Every step of her development has been touched by things that could have tempered her adolescent development. And these consequences will follow her a long way, until she finds a healthier way to reestablish herself and everything she couldn’t develop properly. I do think she will end up leaving her father’s home but I know that she will be okay.
