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Nakkula, N.J. & Toshalis, E. (2006). Understanding Youth: Adolescent Development for Educators. Reviewed by Rosaria Caporrimo, Queens College, City University of New York

Nakkula, N.J. & Toshalis, E. (2006). Understanding Youth: Adolescent Development for Educators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press

Pp. 276         ISBN 978-1-891792-31-1

Reviewed by Rosaria Caporrimo
Queens College, City University of New York

August 25, 2008

The beauty of this book is the highs and lows to which it propels the reader. Most times I marveled; sometimes I argued—the margins are already well worn with comments and questions! Its worth is immeasurable in terms of the dearth of intellectually stimulating material on adolescent development beyond the undergraduate level. I teach a graduate level Psychology of Adolescence course to teachers and there has always been a problem with choosing a basic text to go along with other readings. So delighted was I to learn of its publication that I immediately assigned it as required reading for this past semester’s course; thus, my students and I read the text together throughout the semester, linking together ideas and concepts threading across all topic areas and chapters.

Well researched and often written with an almost poetic flow and certainly an elegant style, this book is certain to enlighten as well as entertain its audience. Take for example this assertion in the first chapter, “If we are skilled enough to witness it, adolescents’ theoretical imaginations offer some of the richest, most critical, and deeply hopeful worldviews we might find” (p. 3). Then, just two pages later they ask the critical question to which the remainder of the book responds, “Are our pedagogies, curricula, counseling approaches, and even disciplinary practices aligned with these efforts, or do they get in the way?” (p. 5). It is rare, indeed, to find a text that is not only intellectually stimulating but also presents ideas and insights in a creative way, honoring not only the subject area but the subtleties and beauty of the written word.

The first chapter introduces the idea of reciprocal coauthorship, the notion that just as teachers play an important role in students’ understanding and construction of their “life texts,” so it is that the students also help coauthor those texts for the educators they encounter. It is an elegant and intellectually stimulating concept, as supported further by my graduate students’ reactions and discussions regarding this proposition. These ideas continue into Chapter 2, which addresses identity in context and the notion that adults in educational contexts grow along with the adolescents on whom they impact. The chapter elaborates on the concept of coauthorship; Nikkula and Toshalis revisit Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development and further integrate Marcia’s various identity statuses to understand the identity exploration of adolescent students in classrooms. The authors’ twist on the static stages of traditional Eriksonian theory and Marcia’s elaboration, allows the theory to be examined in a different light; and permits the reader to understand identity not as an entity to be reached, but as the exploration of the possibilities of development and the opportunities offered to teachers and other educational professionals who interact with them daily. Case studies are used throughout the book, which lend meaning and concrete examples to the authors’ novel approaches to adolescent development. In Chapter 2 Nikkula and Toshalis discuss how one school psychologist, Mitch, intervenes with a student struggling with identity issues. In the margin of those pages, I wrote, “Mitch, the superhero!” because I recognize how difficult it is for teachers to intervene at that level, yet these students present themselves on a daily basis in their classrooms. There are so many of these students in New York City classrooms, that to assume only one or two students will need focused intervention is to minimize the actual needs of so many students in city schools across the country. The authors do not assume there are easy answers to adolescent issues, but they neglect to address the difficulties teachers may face without appropriate support from other school professionals. This is a theme I have encountered throughout my career working with teachers—the assumption that if a teacher identifies a problem there will be prepared and willing support professionals ready to successfully deal with the challenges they cannot address in their forty-minutes-a-day encounters with students. Classroom teachers always react to these assumptions, for they live these experiences every day.

My students found the information in Chapter 3, Risk Taking and Creativity, to be particularly helpful in understanding their students. However, no information is presented on the biological explanation of risk-taking, which I supplemented with a separate reading on adolescent brain development, since risk taking in adolescence is essentially biological in nature (Price, 2005). Lively discussion followed the reading of that chapter, understandably so because these teachers were able to consider how they might construct activities involving appropriate risk-taking related to their specific curricula. Moreover, the notion that creativity is a form of risk-taking that can be used in high school classrooms can be interpreted as statement against the “standardized testing as educational reform” movement embodied by No Child Left Behind. In this chapter the authors also integrate the work of Piaget, Vygotsky, and Parks, allowing for a full picture of how adolescent reasoning abilities interact with the need for risk-taking and make a strong case for a constructivist approach to teaching in high school classrooms. This is a welcome change to the scripted lessons suggested by many school districts in an attempt to “teach to the test” and raise test scores. Teachers have told me that they find ways to circumvent the “scripted lessons” policy of their schools so that their students can think more critically in their classrooms and still perform well on standardized tests. Further, Noguera (2007) notes that students themselves may feel cheated by the strong focus on standardized test performance to the detriment of other achievement or skills. Thus, Nikkula and Tosahlis offer better ideas, methods, and “fresh” attempts to deal with the more advanced cognitive abilities of students at the high school level.

Although my students found the spirit of Chapter 4, Flow and Possibility Development, to be interesting and pose some challenges in terms of classroom praxis, they also found it to be somewhat cumbersome reading material. Specifically, they found the concept itself to be very meaningful but the reading to be more convoluted than necessary. Basically, rather than look at the weaknesses in students, teachers should focus on their strengths, find what flows for them, and teach to those possibilities in terms of development. Indeed elegant, as I previously noted, but also lacking in not acknowledging the work of Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences to guide teachers in identifying student strengths and classroom pedagogy that may maximize the possibilities inherent in students. “Possibility” implies not just a predisposition but also student interests and the variety of ways in which students prefer to learn and to show teachers what they know. Thus, radical educators may, and perhaps should, assert that, yes, education in this country should be all about “flow and possibility” and developing the kinds of teachers who address this in the classroom. However, the current state of education, as criticized by authors such as James Popham (see, for example, Popham, 2002 and Popham, 2003) often disallows teachers from exercising best practice, which certainly exemplifies Nakkula and Toshalis’ notion of “flow and possibility.”

I found myself in agreement with my students regarding Chapter 5, Relational Identity and Relationship Development. Once again, it tends to be somewhat convoluted and overlaps with the coauthorship concept presented previously. Further, while it is interesting to take a stroll down memory lane and revisit psychoanalytic and clinical psychology concepts of development, the inclusion of Sullivan, and even Selman, make for a bit too much information that is less relevant and practical for educators. My criticism of this chapter also is in its use of Kohlberg as a point of departure for other theories, since his work is much criticized in terms of gender bias and generalization. The fact that the authors do briefly review the work of Gilligan, Chodorow, and Baker Miller does not satisfy my desire for a well-rounded exploration of relational theory work. However, the chapter ending is intuitive enough (almost) to forgive the lack of focus on feminist concepts of relational development. That is, for the authors the professional ethic of mentoring involves an ethic of learning through care and support. “Educational mentoring captures the essence of this model for us; it is educating to care—for oneself, for others, and for the world around us; and it is educating through care—through caring for the students as the pedagogical priority” (p.98). Could this be stated any better?

The authors’ discussion of gender identity development reveals balanced treatment of females and males in terms of the issues explored by major theorists in the field. Their treatment of stereotypes and behaviors engendered by socialization and the media is thorough and also gives fair play to issues faced by gay and lesbian youth, prompting teachers to consider how they may be involved in empowerment within the construct of identity development. The focus on relational theory for both female and male gender identity development and the concepts of “going underground ,” “resistance for survival,” and “resistance for liberation,” offers the reader an opportunity to think outside the neat little packaged boxes that often constrain teachers in educational settings. Chapters such as this and the three that follow, which address racial, ethnic, and sexual orientation identity development allow teachers to analyze, and understand diverse adolescents. These chapters offer teachers the opportunity to view their students as the complex individuals they are and not just the students in the desks before them who need to pass standardized tests that might reflect on them. Coverage of different stages and orientations of racial and ethnic identity development is thorough and clearly described and analyzed. This leaves time for educational professionals to analyze their own students’ development objectively and allows the opportunity for these professionals to be true advocates for the youth in their schools. The authors encourage teachers to engage students in dialogues about racial identities; to consider their students’ development in terms beyond simple identity theory and to place cultural context at the forefront of this understanding. Kudos to the authors for including Helms’s model of White racial identity development, for it is only through the lens of all races and the diverse cultures embodied therein that we come to understand and apply the concept of reciprocity for our development as humans in the service of others. Clearly, Nikkula and Toshalis themselves seek to empower teachers and other professional educators to offer “pedagogies of liberation” (see Friere, 1970).

The theme of understanding youth in schools by focusing on the whole person as exemplified by the chapters on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation is continued as the authors explore Faith and the Development of Ultimate Meaning, in Chapter 10. They do not take a simplistic approach to this topic but explore the big questions, those requiring the level of cognitive development exemplified by high school students. These are the ultimate life questions, those that are pondered by most teenagers whether or not they choose to openly discuss these issues among friends or with school professionals. In fact, contemplation of these issues helps young people to solidify their understanding of themselves and their identity in relation to others and to the world around them. Few books that deal with adolescent development delve into this important topic; thus, Nakkula and Toshalis place themselves in the forefront of helping education professionals understand adolescents through many colored lenses.

While Chapter 11, School to Career Transitions, offers insights into variables of interest for career development education, it is the last chapter that provides a worthy conclusion to this worthy effort. By considering the context, the ecology, in which adolescents function and develop, and including not only Bronfenbrenner’s approach but also the groundbreaking work of Fordham and Obgu on resistance culture and oppositional identities, Nikkula and Toshalis offer the framework into which all other topics may be placed. The authors’ wise choice of countering the cultural deficit model by citing researchers who take exception to the concept provides a rich background for meaningful discussions of the predominant “minority” vs mainstream view of education. I would have liked a deeper analysis of the meaning of “mainstream” views, since at one point the authors present Carter’s conclusion that “urban Latino(a) and African American adolescents subscribe to the basic values of mainstream education and a productive work ethic as much as and, in some cases, even more than Whites” (p. 258).

As educators perhaps we might question the very understanding of values in education; do we really value a “productive work ethic?” If we take an honest look at the past twenty years of education in this country, we might question the work ethic issue. Beginning with the release of A Nation at Risk in 1983, education began to focus on narrow definitions of the work necessary for success in school. Some of us may view the current testing frenzy as anathema to a truly productive work ethic. Productive intellectual work involves high levels of critical thinking and the ability to reflect on the status quo and see oneself as an agent of change. The current state of education seeks to reproduce the hegemony that has defined and dictated education in this country for many years. What, also, are these other “values” of mainstream education? Nakkula and Toshalis miss an opportunity to critically evaluate the meaning of these terms while addressing some of the resistance to mainstream education by students from lower SES communities and “minority” students. That discussion might be productive for teachers to understand an alternate reality to which they might be witness, while also validating the values and experiences that non-mainstream students may bring with them to our classrooms.

However, I do not want the above points to detract from the beauty of this chapter. During the read, I visualized a large concept map connecting the reciprocal relationships among all the topics covered in the book. I would have liked a different ordering of the chapters, with those chapters addressing basic identity issues together, and positioning the chapter on flow and possibility at the end to allow educators to reflect on how all other chapters might assist in their understanding of this concept and allowing them to ponder the application of their new knowledge to classroom and other professional practice. Further, I am not sure the chapter on school-to-career transitions is necessary or adds to the body of knowledge addressed in the text. Perhaps the topics addressed in that chapter might have been integrated throughout others. As it stands, the chapter might be titled, Identity, Interrupted, since it interrupts the “flow and possibility” of understanding the material addressed in the other chapters.

I would be remiss, however, if I left the reader of this review to consider that Nakkula and Toshalis’ book is anything but wonderful. They have done an exemplary job of writing from their vast knowledge of adolescent development and of intellectually dissecting and reconnecting many theories of import, yet it is very obvious that they have written from their heart as well. Their desire for readers to see the possibilities public education can offer adolescents during this crucial time in their development is obvious to the reader.

I am ending this review with a quotation from the book that, the authors say, is a composite of conversations with various adolescents. It is powerful and points to the possibilities education can offer our high school population. If we want our high school students to feel this way, then education must find ways to motivate and excite adolescents to learn in their classrooms: “There’s nothin’ like it, man…that feeling like you’re really just focused and nothin’ can get in the way. I feel that sometimes when I’m rappin’. I feel like, man, the words are just flowin’ out of me like someone’s back there just pourin’ ‘em out. And they just come, man, they just keep comin’…” (p. 61). Let’s get that flow goin’….

References

Aronson, E. (2000). Nobody left to hate: Teaching compassion after Columbine. New York: Henry Holt & Co.

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum Press.

Noguera, P. A. (2007). How listening to students can help school to improve. Theory into Practice, 46(3), 205-11.

Price, L. F. (2005). The biology of risk taking. Educational Leadership, 62(7). 22-27.

Popham, W. J. (2003). Trouble with testing: Why standards-based assessment doesn’t measure up. American School Board Journal, 190(2), 14-17.

Popham, W. J. (2002). Right task, wrong tool. American School Board Journal, 189(2) 18-22.

About the Reviewer

Rosaria Caporrimo has been involved with adolescents and adolescent education for over twenty years. Her research/writing has focused on issues of social justice, multicultural education, educational equity, metacognition, and classroom learning. She earned a B.A. in Psychology from Montclair State University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, with a concentration in Learning and Instruction, from the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. For several years, she consulted to the New York City Department of Education in the department of Assessment and Accountability, and maintains a private practice working with adolescents and their families. She is currently Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at Queens College, CUNY and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses. She is also project director for the MYTI Program (Minority Youth Teaching Initiative), to recruit New York City high school students into the teaching profession.

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