Tips for Teenagers

Sydni Booker, Santana Outlaw, RaVaana Griggs, Adam Bennett

Based on the I-Search papers that we completed on teenage development, here are some tips for teenagers to help them be happier and to help them develop in positive ways.

1. Figure out what’s right & what’s wrong online. Also, don’t become easily influenced by things such as substance abuse & drinking.

2. Find positive ways to build self-esteem, such as sports or hobbies.

3. My tip is if you have a problem talk to a friend about it first before it gets to the point where you have to talk to a parent about it.

4. Avoid judgments about you or others and don’t fit yourself in society’s shoes.

To Our Fellow  Teenagers

By:  Cash’e, Donmir, Epifanio, Paul, and Rymir

Based on the I-Search papers that we completed on teenage development, We Have decided that is would be helpful to teens to create some tips for teenagers to help them be happier and to help them develop in positive ways.

1. If you are a teenager accept the help from people you can trust such as your parents or other trusted adult that will help you and try and understand the help that is being given.
   
   

2. If you are a young athlete do not forget the key values that can be provided by sports as well as their parents, they should focus on the amazing possibilities such as discipline, honor and scholarships.
   
   

3. If adolescents is struggling with Anger management they should go to a therapist if you have any emotional problems or go to someone with personal experiences that can help you gain insight on how to deal with it.
   
   

4. Do not let technology change who you are because your life is a full with a bright future that needs your adolescent’s mind focused on their work so that one day the can be successful.
   
   

5. Do not always depend on the support of your parents because if you allow yourself to become entirely dependent on them you will be destined to fail without your own confidence.

1. Peer pressure happens to anyone and you should know that you’re not alone in that situation if you just speak up they will listen to you.

2. Don’t let your social status and level of popularity stress you out, but simply take note of what things you have to do to gain respect. Respect gains a higher social status.

3. Teenagers need responsibilities at home to have structure outside of home such as school and public places.

4. Teenagers should communicate to their parents about the changes to their body to help them to understand them more.

5. Social media can cause a wide spread of problems when it comes to teenage growth.

​Based on the I-Search papers that we have completed on teenage development, here are some tips for teenagers to help them be happier and to help them develop in positive ways.

1. Learning to stand up for yourself and your beliefs are important steps in becoming a responsible adult.

2. Social networking can negatively affect your respect toward oneself when browsing on it for a lengthy period of time. Use online networking when vital, than an alternative to cut time.

3. Never give in to peer pressure.

Based on the I-Search papers that we completed on teenage development, here are some tips for teenagers to help them be happier and to help them develop in positive ways

1. Andre: Don’t judge what someone is based on what you think they should be, or what they are not

2. Saraa: Have a positive mindset that can help you overcome anything, even low self esteem. People who have something in them that they don't like can actually change it instead of looking at it disgustingly.

3. Max: If you find yourself being influenced in a negative way, realize what you could be getting into, and distance yourself from whatever is influencing you in a negative way.

4. Yarisnel: Learn how to talk to your parents about certain things that may affect yourself and your parents in the future.

5. Jorge: Don't care about what people think. Believe in yourself!

This unit was about expressing ourselves individually & in a group by making a video. It was also about how people can express themselves in different ways with different things in their videos. Our video gave a look into how people with different interests and backgrounds can manage to get along. Our video also showed several ways in which we interacted with each other.

2b. For each video, there had to be a certain topic to it. We had, “Fringed topics.” Since we had a tricky topic to work with, we had a difficult time making the video. We decided that we should just express ourselves in the video. After making the video, we looked at it together and found out that the video would reflect on fringed behavior rather than fringed interests.

2c. As explained in the previous paragraph, our topic was “fringed topics,” but we changed it around to make it fringed behavior. Key points & focuses of this topic were self-expression, honesty & interest in the actual assignment. After having writers block & collaborating, we finally decided to focus on the self-expression part.

My video is about self-expression and my hobbies and interest.some of the things i had in my video was a couple of the bands I like for example The Beatles and Florida Georgia Line. Another thing that was in my video was the tv shows i like for example The Walking Dead and WWE.

I like The beatles because thats what my dad raised me on and thats how i learned to love them.

The reason that I like Florida Georgia Line is because they are really good and that I really like their songs. The reason that I like the walking dead is that it is one of the shows that i am able to watch with my dad and my brother. The reason that I like the WWE is that it is really interesting and it is also cool.

Our Express Yourself Group video, was a journey that we would all cherish. The video has many things which we are doing at a constant rate everyday. The video starts out with differences we all posses, then showing some similarities we all have. Jordan is artistic, while we are not that artistic to create drawings and sketches he can create. On the other hand, Cash’e is not that interested in sports, while the rest of us participate in some sport. RaVana, wants to go further educate herself in some kind of cosmetology school. However, we all would like to pursue a career in the science field. Finally, Mallika has a completely different taste of music than us, Bollywood. Even though there is the difference that Mallika possesses, the video shows the similarities we all have. We all are die-hard fans of fried chicken, we can eat it all the time. Many pictures of us together were also included, as well as our school goals.We showcase our characteristics, on a whiteboard as well. Some characteristics mentioned on the whiteboard included that we all are honest, caring, friendly, and etc. The video closes out with the the characteristics displaying.

Creating these videos as a group, to share our similarities and differences was not the only goal. Our video is trying to spread a theme, a message to people who tend to differentiate themselves from others. A theme which we were trying to share out was, be confident in yourself when it comes to expressing yourself. We applied this theme in our lives as, helping Mallika gain confidence by sharing Bollywood music videos. She was nervous at first, but after gaining self-confidence it was easier for her to express her music taste. Be confident in yourself when expressing yourself to a wider audience. It definitely helps you in the future because you are not too shy. Another, theme which is indirectly being imposed is being different. Being a different person, possessing different characteristics and personalities makes you unique than others’. So, if you being a person who is trying to fit in, you are losing your own uniqueness. This theme doesn’t look like it is being imposed, but it is. The two themes mentioned above were the themes we wanted to mention through the video, as it is carrying an important which needs to be followed soon.

Mallika Saini's Artist Statement

The complexity of my life, has been explained through the video. I have displayed key things which are close to me and define me. For example, the pictures that relate to festivals show that I am really close to the cultural festivals. Such as Diwali and Holi, since those two are the festivals which I have been more prone to than others. Another, element which shows the complexity of my life are my family and friends. My family are people who I am tremendously close to and they help me define in every possible way. They are a part of my life which I have valued since the day I was born. Finally, another way the complexity of my life is presented through my video is my love and affection for Bollywood and cricket. I can view Bollywood movies all day and night, they lead me into another whole world. Cricket, is another thing which represents me because I love watching cricket, especially the International Indian Cricket team and the Kolkata Knight Riders. They way the can bat and catch a heavy ball in the air flying with great pressure amazes me. These are key parts of my video which represent that I have different and unique from others’.

There is so much into my life, that my video needs a bit more explanation to some people. My video includes some details on my religion and festivals, as you might already know I am not a Christian. I am from a Punjabi family, I follow Sikhism which has different holidays than Christians do. For example, you might not understand why my sister is putting color on my face or why we have color on our face at all. This festival is most known as Holi, meaning the Festival of Colors, where we celebrate the wonderful colors life gives us. You might need to understand those pictures in order to understand the video overall. I believe that knowing that I am a Punjabi, following Sikhism will allow you to understand the video much better. This is important because the role of religion and festivals play a huge role in my life.

Expressing myself through a video, was a very touching project to me. It was a very one of a kind way to let us express ourselves to our classmates. A way for others’ to learn how I define myself and express myself. Through the procedure of making this project I learned many things. One of the many things I learned throughout the project was that there are many ways to express ourselves. I mean I created a 2 minute, 10 second video and expressed many things about myself. I always believed that for expressing ourselves to a wider auditions to have to express every single thing. However, in this video I was able to express myself in many ways, religion, music, family, etc. This was the biggest lesson I learned by completing this project. Overall it is a small, simple, but very inspiring thought I realized as I was making the video, as well as presenting it.

Saraa Fadl's Artist Statement

For my individual video, I put pictures of my religion, values,my love for soccer, and quotes that I love. These pictures show who I am. These things are what builds up to who I am. As I was creating this video, I made sure that I represent every topic as I can so that the audience can understand the type of person I am.Even though I showed a lot of pictures that can identify me, there were still things that I haven’t mentioned.For example, I didn’t show my career since it wasn’t really on my mind as I was creating the video. My career is becoming an FBI agent. As I was watching my video, I saw that I put a lot of my friends and family. The reason behind that is that I value them the most. So, to sum it up, I think that the way I created this video is exceptional to me.

We learned that there are people different from us in the world and, we should not judge them based on their appearance, thoughts, feelings, and the way that they choose to express themselves. Our video represents our community’s open-mindedness by having interviews that asked people in our community questions about acceptance, and feeling accepted in our community. Open-mindedness is being accepting of other people, thoughts, and feelings. You don’t hold bias against anyone without a legitimate reason.

We must accept others for who they are and what they believe or do. We must accept that this is the world we live in with many different people who may not share the same as us. My video shows who I am and what I find what’s significant to me and what I appreciate as a person.  

That’s what I felt comfortable with to share with everyone. That was the first step of removing the “mask."

-Kareem

My video was a bunch of photos that I have taken, and most were posted on a social network. The whole idea behind my video is that we express ourselves through social media. I learned about that in class, and by doing this project and looking at what I post on social media such as Twitter or Facebook, I have learned that it is indeed true.

I am really fond of my hats, so that is what my video is mostly about. I do have some of my other favorite things in it as well, but most of my video was about me and my hats. Some of my favorite things were also in the video such as my favorite college, sneakers, foods, and sports players.

For my video this showed people and things that helped mold me as a person. Things I would say were music and family. This showed my views on those topics about the person I am now and who I want to be. I learned that I’m a unique person in this world and is just trying to find my way in life.