teen mental health sites

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/teenmentalhealth.html

http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/CA-0004/default.asp

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/childrenandyoungpeople/adolescence.aspx

http://www.apahelpcenter.org/featuredtopics/feature.php?id=39

http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr07/teenage.html

http://www.apa.org/psycinfo/ (database I don't have access to)

Teenage Brain: A work in progress:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/teenage-brain-a-work-in-progress.shtml

http://www.psychology.org/links/Environment_Behavior_Relationships/Adolescent/

At what point do you lose rapport?

As a teacher who wants to be cool, I worry about this sort of thing. Negative feedback kills me, causes me to stew for days. One kid recently wrote on a reflection that I "talk in circles." Of course, it was on a final that he was taking early because he was on his way to Florida. His mindset again vs. mine: he wants to get the thing done and get out of there and I'm asking him a self-serving question on the final, asking him to rate me as a teacher. He doesn't care about rating me. He wants to get his points on the final and get out. Bad rapport move, but I paid for it with a jab at my skills. Fact is my skills probably had little to do with his response. Adolescent spych again. What motivates them? Themselves. They motivate themselves. Mostly, their immediate needs motivate them

How would this need for immediate gratification manifest itself in the classroom? Eating. texting. socializing while they should be focused on something else. Getting excited about the girl or guy next to them...Are these impressions corroborated by research in adolescent psych?

I may need to take a class, or at least read a textbook.

Brain rearach will have to be a part of the book.

Interview psychologists.

research ideas

• adolescent psych
• pull research on motivation
• surveys: 1,000 students across demographics--anecdotal evidence about what students look for in a teacher
• what students want vs. what they need: is there a difference? Would students admit it?
• teacher evidence: what do teachers think about who has great rapport with students. Why do they think so?
• Who are the current gurus in this field?
• This book has to be serious piece of research. It can't just be anecdotal, and it can't be self-serving. My impressions are my impressions--must be research and sata-based for legitimacy.
• Not expecting to have great rapport all the time: At what point does rapport go beyond being liked and wanting to be liked. WE all start that way, don't we? We watch Robin Williams in DPS. We observe teachers who are revered in our building. When we start, we thinkrapport = being liked. We confuse leadership with friendship. We come from a place of inscurity, a place that maybe developed when we were in high school ourselves. The fact is that for teachers to gain legitimacy they must move beyond this phase. They must see themselevs as professionals who, if they are methodical and develop a set of skills that work in real time, can build rapport with students in a way that transcends friendliness, openness, and "coolness."
• Kids and teachers want different things. It comes down to giving kids what thye need and what they want. Kids and adults see things differently. For example, kids want feedback. If you fail to give kids timely feedback, you'll lose rapport. Kides want to feel comfortable. If you fail to provide an environment that makes kids comfortable, you'll lose rapport.
• Every teacher starts the year at "zero" rapport, plus or minus a few points for reputation and repeat students. That is, there are a few kids who have been in your class before who spread the word about you before day one. Those factors are easily swayed, however, positively or negatively. Students have short memories. They forgive--much more readily than we do.