I do however, recall the peak of my adolescent where I didn't consider the consequences of my words. In a restaurant I declared with disdain that 'I would never work in a job like a waitress'. I was saying this as a waitress stood behind me, I wanted the ground to swallow me up, I wanted to take it back, I spoke without thinking. Years later of course I had a job as a waitress!
I do also remember being fearless as a teenager - I set up a 'karaokeathon' in the local town centre for charity, then proceeded to sing the whole song catalogue to the shoppers because nobody else was brave enough to get involved. I am an average singer so this must have been painful for shoppers that day.
I now understand these moments better having read a number of books on neuroscience (listed below), the best ones on teenagers are Nicola Morgan's Blame My Brain and Frances E Jenson's The Teenage Brian. Nicola's book is a great starting point because it is written for teens and so the scientific language is more accessible, Frances Jenson's book is an excellent account from a parent and a neuroscientist.
Below is a summary of what I have learned from these books and others, that I will use in the classroom and with my kids when they reach that wonderful age.
- Teenage brains are being trimmed. I described this as a trimmed bush on an INSET which created some titters. A baby's connections grow rapidly (hence the bush) which is why children are such learning sponges. Yet a teenage brain connections undergo a 'pruning' process, through a 'use it or lose it' process. This pruning is essential to create the efficient brain of an adult but does result in some pretty high octane moments in mundane situations.
- The limbic system controls the teen because it develops first. This is the area which guides emotions, behaviour and memory. Useful in a crisis, this area guides our fight or flight reflexes. Most insightful to know is that this system is quickest to respond in a crisis. Crises rarely exist in a modern day world and so it is important to know when to ignore it (see next bullet point). The limbic system explains in teens the irrational fears (mine was and still is the telephone), frightening rages, aggression towards self and others, excitement and sexual attraction - what an awesome combination. Steve Peters, renowned sports psychologist calls it 'The Chimp' which is apt.
- The logical reasoning (pre-frontal cortex) part of the brain matures last. I describe this to my students as 'the common sense headband' due to its location at the forefront of the brain. Nowhere is this epitomised more than in an argument, you shout and lose control (limbic system) and then 5 minutes later think of a clever response (prefrontal cortex). When my mum said 'count to 10' she had neurological insight. The prefrontal cortex is the break to the limbic system's accelerator, it is particularly prominent in mums who are biologically programmed to worry about consequences to excess in order to protect their children.
Consider your attitude to theme parks, as an adult you would look at The Oblivion Ride and think 'I remember that crash in the news.... I will probably be sick because it is spinning.... etc'. A teenager, on the other hand, would sprint to the ride, think nothing of a 4 hour queue and wouldn't even hold on to the bar. Studies even show that if teenagers had experienced a horrific experience they would still be likely to take the same risks again.
- The brain matures on average by aged 26 so this trimming takes some time. This explains some of my not very logical decisions in my students days!
- The teenage brain has an awesome capacity for growth due to a greater plasticity. I can't quite believe how much knowledge I stuffed in my head at GCSE and A level. Teenage brains are wired to learn and so this is a great time to develop skills and undergo learning. Frustratingly this can be countered by a lack of long term thinking in the prefrontal 'common sense headband'.
- Teenagers can't read facial expressions and read tone of voice. This explains that inappropriate giggling or that incredulous moment in class when they haven't read my 'don't mess with me' posture. Always swiftly followed by the 'how dare you..'
So how can we work with and understand teens? Here are some thoughts:
- Teach them about their brains so that they can recognise when their 'chimp' is in action. This has proved really useful in pastoral conversations.
- Give teens time to consider their responses so that their common sense headband can kick in.
- Go easy on teens, they can't work out consequences too well so point them out. As a PSE teacher this gives great justification for your subject.
- Encourage them to tell the truth, teenagers will lie to avoid your consequences in an emotional response. Frances Jenson's book, sadly, is full of stories of teenagers leaving unconscious friends for dead for fear of getting into trouble.
- 'Don't do this' approaches are unsuccessful for teens, it is in their nature to push away from authority and so will increase risk and thus make it more attractive. It is better to define decisions as 'choices' with consequences. We need to help young people with how to mitigate should they ever make poor choices. For example if they are going to drink underage, they should aim to eat before, drink water and make sure one of them is more sober to get help and inform them of the effect it will have on their growing brain. Note that this is not a case of allowing them to do what they want, teenagers actually want boundaries to help them with decisions.
- Help them to take 'safe' risks. Mountain climbing, drama, ski-ing, competitive events and theme parks are all a key to happiness.
I will finish on a success story. As a teacher I was given pastoral intervention with a small group of year 9's who were almost impossible to teach, we used Steve Peters Chimp Brain management to identify their biggest fears, the unanimous fear was reading out loud. With plenty of training with their chimps we created an assembly where they volunteered to read out paragraphs to over 300 pupils, I can picture the intake of breath as 6 of their most notorious naughty kids volunteered to read out in assembly and nailed it. They were buzzing, I can't say it immediately changed their ways but it gave them a positive experience in secondary school, which some of them had sadly never had.
This is all easier said than done, I don't have teenage kids yet and so I am in for fun times in the future and may come back and regret my words but knowing about the brain will help to understand when a teen scrapes their bag against the newly painted walls at school or home. Point out those consequences calmly and inspire them to run a 'karaokeathon' or is that just me?
Best books on neuroscience:
