Alex Ramjattan Adolescence Recapitulation

My adolescence was something that I never really thought about. I suppose I dealt with it in a way where it was a part of my life that was happening but I just never noticed it because I was enjoying life as it was. It was like eating an ice cream cone. When its boiling hot outside in the middle of the summer and you eat an ice cream cone, its melting as you eat it but you dont notice it because youre eating it and enjoying the ice cream. The only time you know that the ice cream is melting is when you feel little cold drops on your fingers. Those little drops are the times when I noticed physical and mental changes with me. Even though I was different, I didnt feel any different. I think because of this is why my adolescence wasnt very interesting to me and why I never really cared about the changes about me. Now that I think back to it, nature has always been a part of my life and was a part of my adolescence. I was always outside, roaming the lands of my front and back yard or the local park. I was nave and carefree because I was always running around and causing mischief amongst everyone. I never understood nature, up until nature decided to hit me. I was playing on a swing set and I saw bees around it but I didnt know what they were capable of. I soon got bored and was about to leave the swings until one of the bees stung me in my ear. This marked the first time I became a little less naive and started to become aware of my surroundings and the consequences of what I do. Nature was an unforgiving force when you make it mad; however, nevertheless I viewed as a beautiful thing. When I was in middle school I never took notice of my height or the sound of my voice. It was just there, and again I didnt really care much about it. I only became aware of it by the

end of seventh grade when my friends started pointing out that Im shorter than them and my voice cracked a lot. I started to take notice that all of the other boys voices were deeper than my own. I didnt make a big deal out of it though. By the time I started eighth grade my voice became deeper as well. Thats when I realized that I was maturing a little later than everyone else and I was okay with that. I had nothing to be ashamed of. All through my adolescence Ive always felt accepted as who I am. No one ever discriminated against me so I never thought about the differences there were between other people whether it be that I was shorter than others or a different color. I always thought of myself as one with everyone else because I always got along with everyone. Ive always been good with relating to people and knowing what to say. I think thats why no one ever had anything bad to say about me. Ive just been a good people person. In addition to being a good friend to everyone, I was one of the top people in my class so a lot of people came to me for help. This is something that liked and one of the things that helped me realize the teacher inside me. Being smart was a talent of mine that kept me from being picked on by anyone who didnt like me. I knew how to talk to people and make friends with them instead of being enemies. Friends and school were just one of the many other cultural tools that made me who I am today. One of the main cultural tools that helped me become who I am today is family. My family has impacted my life since before my adolescent years, especially my mom and dad. They were always there to keep me in line and keep me disciplined. If it werent for them I wouldnt be who I am today. Their main focus was to make sure I got as best of an education as I could so that I could be successful in life and to this day I still thank them for everything they have done for me.

Religion was also a cultural tool that helped me through my adolescent years. The religion of Hinduism has many gods and many stories to tell and all of the stories have some sort of a moral to them. Even though I have been slowly losing faith in my religion, the stories about the gods and goddesses made me think a lot about life itself and how it all applies to me. Sometimes I find that the stories of the gods are similar to the way my life has been such as the tale of Lord Hanuman and the lifting of a mountain. In this story a man is severely wounded in a war and in order to save him, Hanuman is sent to retrieve a powerful life-restoring herb. However in order to bring the herb back it must stay on the mountain, so Hanuman carries the entire mountain to the man and saves him. To me this is like wanting to always be there for anyone who needs help, whether it be with something simple as homework or a personal matter that a person cant turn to anyone else to but me. Helping others is something that makes me feel good inside and motivates me to be a teacher. Now that I look back to my adolescent years, the media hasnt really affected me much. The reason for this is because I was always looking up to my older brother and followed what he did. Whatever he liked is what I liked because I hadnt found my own identity yet. As the years went on and I started parting my own way I realized the differences in the things we liked. I feel like my older brother was just a guide for me to help me find who I am. Before I knew it I became so involved with music and the saxophone then different forms of music and then different television shows. From these television shows I started to think upon them and wonder if things like what happen in the shows actually happen somewhere around the world or if such things exist in our never ending universe. Going back to talk to my older brother weve come to realize that we both have similar views and can identify with one another. Because my older

brother and I could see eye to eye, we never had to get into fights over whom was right or who was wrong because we were able to see the other sides of the stories. On the other hand, there were some things that I always kept to myself like my love life or just things that I think about. In order to hide the fact that there are things that I couldnt talk to other people about I would always put on a smile or just laugh out of nowhere. No one would understand why and my reason for this is because Im weird. I figured that by smiling or laughing in front of someone, it would make them smile or laugh as well. Seeing other people happy is what makes me happy. Ive always thought that its better to smile than frown; otherwise Id be miserable for the rest of my life. As I got older during my adolescent years I always viewed the adult world in different perspectives. One perspective is that the adult world is fun. I saw it in this way because I thought that adults can do whatever they want when they want. On the other hand I saw it as annoying because I also saw that adults had their rules that they had to follow. Another perspective Ive seen the adult world in is that it is really hard. Ive been able to see that adults have to deal with a lot more than kids do. I realized that as you get older, things get harder. Before I was a teen I think the thing that seemed most attracting to me was the freedom. I felt like there was so much more I could do as a teen like go out with friends. As a kid I was always restricted to being with my parents and not doing anything fun. Also, as a teen, there was always hype about going out to parties or other hangouts amongst the different groups in school. I never took into account as to what clique I belonged in. I just went to school every day to learn something new then went home and do homework and sleep. Sure I had friends who always hung out together but to me, the idea of hanging out with friends just wasnt attracting to me. To add to this, I was needed at home most of the time to take

care of my younger siblings, which I didnt mind at all. I like the way I did things and by doing my own thing is how I defined myself. This resolution to how I identified myself was achieved because I am happy with who I am and how I turned out. There has never been something about me that I didnt like and I think because of this is what will help me become a successful teacher. I know that everyone isnt perfect so even though there hasnt been anything I didnt like about myself, there would be a few things that Id change if I were to do it all over again. Now that I think back on it, Id change the fact that I didnt hang out with any of my friends. Ive gotten an antisocial label in high school because towards the end of high school I didnt talk to many people. If I was able to hang out with my friends when I was younger and continue to hang out with them then I think I wouldve been more social. On the other hand, not hanging out with friends wasnt so bad for me because I did get a job at the age of fourteen at a McDonalds near me so I made plenty of friends there. In addition to working, I got paid which felt good because I earned it myself. If I were to pass something on to a student, Id tell them that whatever action they take, theres always the down side to it, but the up side is definitely worth it all. Ever since I decided to become a teacher, Ive always thought about how it would be to talk to teens when I am no longer one. I think that even though Ill be past the teenage state, Ill still feel like one on the inside. That teen part of me will be the best way for me to relate to my teenage students. The reason for this is because Ive already been through all the problems a teenager has to go through and even as an adult there are more problems to deal with. However, the best way I find to deal with this issue, and as advice Id give to the young adolescence is to not rush things and just take everything one step at a time. I know it all seems hard now but just be happy that this how life is and there will be much bigger things in the future, like the entire college experience. I believe that giving teens advice about life is the best thing I have to offer.

While its true that my subject area, math, is what I want to teach is very important, I believe there are things in life that are much more significant than just teaching mathematics. The teens that I think I would find easy to relate to are the ones who not only take an interest in me and math, but the ones who want to know what I have to offer them. I believe this because theres always something that sparks someones interest and when someone has an interest, they want to talk about it and want to learn from someone who is knowledgeable on that topic. That being said, the ones that would be hardest to relate to are the ones who constantly have little problems and wont get over the idea that world is centered around them. By this I mean the teens who only think of themselves and the little problems they have in their life. Teens that are focused on the little things in life, I believe, are the ones who dont see the bigger picture in front of them and I think its hard to relate to them if they are not focused on anything but themselves. Though I never thought much about my adolescence during my teenage years I feel like I have learned a lot about teens because I myself used to be one and I feel that I am capable of passing on the advice one needs to know for the future. As a teacher I know there will be little problems that I can overcome. The biggest problem, however, that I believe is the biggest problem for all teachers is that we all lose sight of what it is to be a teen as we get older. There are things that happen now that some teachers just dont understand and wont understand. In order to solve this issue, I as a teacher must be open minded about everything and be prepared for different things in the future. We were all once kids, so it is imperative that we as teachers do not lose sight of what we once were and be able to apply those teachings that we learned back then to todays generation.