Indentity within the Field Experience

Our field experience with this class is at an alternative high school, and having this be so different from my public suburban high school experience I had no idea what to expect before we started. I am happy to report though it has been a very pleasant surprise that has taught me so much about adolescent identity, behavior, and artistic ability. I think however that the identity development part is the most interesting because the kids at this school's identities have developed differently then most high schoolers because they have been put into situations that have made them adapt a identity quickly and many have been put into situations that have made up large parts of their identity for them.

There are so many students at my field experience who are experiencing the qualities that are described in chapter 11 of Adolescents at School. I especially see a lot of students experiencing what Nick Greenberg experienced when Sadowski says "now I'm one thing, now I'm something else, but I'm all of me simultaneously." The students at the school are very diverse in race so that makes up on layer of their personality, they have an academic layer, a rebellious layer, and many others that they turn on and off and in the end make up there whole. There is one student in my class there that particularly stands out. For the blogs purpose I will call him Mike and is 15 years old. His parents are divorced and he lives with his Dad who is comfortable enough to send Mike to college but also attended this alternative high school when he was a kid. Mike got into some legal trouble for violence when he was younger and this is why he attends this high school now. Mike does better academically then most students but also has a rebellious side that is encouraged by the other students at the school. Mike has a lot of potential but is being told that no one from this high school goes straight to a university so he feels that even though he knows what he wants to do (be an art teacher!!!!) he has to go to community college first. Mike also happens to be a VERY talented artist.

This last part is particularly important because that is what I have seen flourish since I have been working at this school. In the past trimester his work has really caught other students attention because he is working on a murals that are being displayed in the school. Parents, teachers, and students alike have told him what talent he has and how he should pursuit it. Being known as this mural artist gives another layer to his identity that was not there before and makes him even more complex. He can still identify with all the other layers but this adds another dimension of his identity and because of the praise hopefully makes every aspect of his identity more confident and self assured.

I personally can relate to the artistic side of Mike because I was much more talented in art than other academic subject areas which made me different than most of my friends. However, I can not relate to him in reguards to his rebellious side. He is such a nice person it is even harder for me to believe that it exsits but the evidence is there. It is hard for me to keep him focused and working during the period because I can not understand this rebellious side that is keeping him from working. I also can not relate to his school related problems that keep his mind distracted. However, I know that he has amazing potential that should not be clouded by this other side of him and I need to learn to understand so I can channel this into his goals.