Talking Adolescence

Dear Families,

The faculty lounge here at our Charlton Street building, is stocked with professional resources, including “The Economist,” “Current History,” “Earth First,” and many books to encourage and support our faculty’s great work and commitment to staying informed. Recently, our high school librarian, Karyn Silverman, passed on the title of a book to me, a title which had been passed on to her from a professor at CUNY, to include in our professional resource collection. Unlike some of the other titles in the lounge, many of which have more to do with curriculum design and pedagogy, this title is one to pass on to any parent of an adolescent: Talking Adolescence: Perspectives in Communication in the Teenage Years, edited by Angie Williams and Crispin Thurlow. This is not a new book, published in 2005, but an important one for parents. In the forwarded email, the CUNY professor says the title “…is worth the price for the introduction alone.” The introduction, called “Deconstructing Adolescent Communication,” begins “Adolescence is first and foremost an economic and institutional construction, invariably marked less by chronological age and biological stage as it is by the conditions and realities established by formal education, the law and emplyment in the marketplace. Beyond that, adolescent is pretty much whatever adults say it is!”

This is a facinating issue, and the book includes such chapters as “Adult Constructions of Young People’s Communication,” “Young People’s Communication in Peer Contexts,” and “Young People in Communication with Adults.”

Talking Adolescence… is worth discussing. It is on my winter break reading list. Please let me know if you read it!

All the best,

Ruth

Calendar:

  • The school’s calendar can be accessed by clicking here.
  • For general LREI Athletics news go to this link . This page will provide general announcements, game summaries, league standings and season recaps.
  • November 16, 2007, Ninth Grade history trip to The Cloisters, all day.

Updates and announcements:

  1. Would you like to contribute to a great cause and get in a good run or walk at the same time? Join the LREI Race to Deliver team! God’s Love We Deliver will hold their annual 4-mile run/walk called the Race to Deliver on Sun., Nov. 18; this year will be the first time there is an LREI team! To join, visit http://www.racetodeliver.org, click on Join a Team, and choose LREI from the list of teams. Prior to the main race, there are Fun Runs for kids, at manageable distances. It is lots of fun, the kids get goody bags, you can run, walk or cheer on the participants. Even if you don’t run, your children can participate in the kids’ runs, and any running friends you may have can sign up to be on our team as well.
  2. Many of you have read the reports in the news about MRSA, a methicillin resistant Staphlococcus aureus. MRSA is a strain of bacteria that does not respond to the penicillin family of antibiotics although it is treatable with other types of antibiotics. Please read the attached letter from School Nurse Kitty Highstein about this health issue.
  3. For updates on faculty performances, openings, presentations, and publications visit the Faculty in the News page on the school web site.
  4. LREI is a member of NYC-Parents in Action (NYC-PIA). NYC-PIA provides parenting education, information and a communications network to help parents prepare their children and teenagers to cope with social pressures and to make sound choices towards a future free of alcohol and drug abuse. Please read the attached flyer to view their 2007-2008 calendar. You can also access their website at http://www.parentsinaction.org/.

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