Reflection Note Questions and Template

Week 1 Biological Foundations

1. What changes do you notice in the character that hint at the biological changes taking place during
adolescence?
The main biological change that Alex experiences over the course of the show is that her breasts get
larger. There are other more nuanced changes as well, such as a slight deepening of her voice.

2. How do others in the adolescent’s life handle these changes, or talk about them (e.g., what
approach do parents take to puberty? You may wish to comment on whether, for example, parents
make jokes about puberty as “just a phase,” act in ways the adolescent finds embarrassing, etc.)
Alex’s biological changes are largely ignored by the cast in Modern Family. This is likely due to the fact
that Alex is not supposed to be a sexualized character and acknowledging her biological changes
would offer greater opportunities for sexualization.

3. What do you think is missing from the way puberty and other biological changes are discussed in
this context? (e.g., Do you find that gender is presented as binary? Is menstruation presented as a
taboo? Etc.)
I think biological changes, or puberty in general, needs to be further normalized and the comedic
nature of shows like Modern Family offers a great platform for such normalization. That being said, I
think the topic is still too taboo and presents too great a risk for television networks.

4. If biological changes are not discussed in the show/book you’ve chosen, why do you think this is?
Similarly to the previous point, the topic of puberty is still taboo and therefore was largely left out of
the comedic context.

5. How does the discussion/lack of discussion of biological changes in the show/book mirror your own
experiences with your family during adolescence?

Week 2 Cognitive Foundations

1. What stage of Piaget’s model of cognitive development does your character appear to be at? If the
character is not at the “expected” stage for their age, how does this relate to some common
critiques of Piaget’s model?
I reviewed that model and she’s definitely approaching Formal Operations at the onset of the show but
I could argue she still exhibits some characteristics of the Concrete Operations. Regarding the critique,
his model is often critiqued because cognitive development occurs more along a continuum rather than
distinct phases, so it’s not unlikely that she’d be in the Formal Operations stage at such a young age.

2. How would you describe your character’s approach to decision-making, and how does this relate to
the ways adolescents evaluate risk described in the textbook?

3. Do you find that your character is able to engage in perspective-taking? Thinking back to when you
were an adolescent, do you think you could put yourself in others’ shoes?
 4. What are some of the key environmental impacts in your character’s life that you think might be
having an impact on their development? Think about this in relation to the theory of genotype 
environment effects

5. Is there anyone in your character’s life who is helping to scaffold your character’s learning and
behaviours (relate to Vygotsky’s theory)? Was there anyone in your own life who played this role?
There is definitely some influence from her family (for example, she’s a middle child and that plays into
her cognitive reality) but she doesn’t have strong social support. I could use this as an opportunity to
critique the validity of Alex’s development, because it is unlikely she could undergo that degree of
cognitive development essentially unaided.

Week 3 Cultural Beliefs

1. Despite culture’s strong impact on development, it is important to avoid making generalizations

about all people within a group (see Narayan’s article). What are some examples you can think of
where individuals are impacted, but not determined by membership in a particular group?
The first example that comes to mind is religion. Individuals that follow a particular religion all share
certain rituals or patterns of thought, yet still can vary wildly in personal preferences or views –
including those about the shared religious belief. These people are impacted by the views of the
religion but are all very unique nevertheless.

2. What are some of the main agents of socialization in the life of your chosen character? Are these
similar to or different from the agents of socialization in your own life?
The main agent of socialization would appear to be exclusion or alienation for Alex. Both her older
sister and younger brother are so different from her that she tries to emphasize those differences by
rejecting social events and pursuing academics.

3. Do your chosen character’s experiences fit within Kohlberg’s theory of development? How/how
not? If not, can you relate this to any of the cultural critiques of Kohlberg’s theory you read about in
the textbook?

4. Sometimes White, Western, culture is made invisible because it is represented as normative. What
aspects of White Western culture can you identify in the life of your chosen character and/or your
own life?
One of the main goals of Modern Family is to satirize the traditional suburbia family from the post-war
era (which is the epitome of white, Western culture); Alex’s uncles are gay and her grandfather is
dating a woman of colour thirty years younger than he is – a very atypical family structure. In this
sense, Alex is living in the parody version of white, western culture.

5. What evidence can you observe for the development of moral reasoning in your adolescent, if any?
How does this relate to the three ethics?

Week 4 Gender

1. What are some of the gendered expectations facing your chosen character, and how do they
appear to be dealing with them?
 2. Can you see any examples of changing gender roles in the experiences your chosen character is
having? If the show/book is older, do any of the expectations around gender roles seem to be
different? If it is newer, how does the context of the show reflect modern challenges related to
gendered socialization?
3. Are there any gender stereotypes that persist in your chosen show or book? Keep in mind that
these may be more subtle than overt.
Modern Family absolutely reinforces gender norms within its character development. The father is
lovable but completely stupid (a very common theme in comedic shows – think Family Guy,
Simpsons, South Park, etc.), the mom is smart and completely in charge of the household, the
older sister is extremely concerned with her aesthetics and friends, and the little brother is a
dumbass. Alex is actually the most “trailblazing” member of that family in terms of defying gender
roles with her strong interest in STEM subjects and a relative disinterest in what boys think of her.
4. What do you think about the presentation of gender in your chosen show or book? Do you find that
it creates a binary between female and male?
In some cases, yes, as I explained with the family above. Also there’s quite the binary with Jay (old
dude) dating Gloria (Sofia Vergara) – you’d never see the reverse situation in mainstream media
content. They complicate the binary, though, with Cam, who’s the bigger gay dude who seems to
exhibit femininity in his mannerisms.
5. Can you think of any ways of developing interventions that open up the possibilities of occupying
various gender roles in adolescence?

Week 5 The Self

1. What “possible selves” has your adolescent tried out over the course of the episodes you’ve
watched/chapters you’ve read? Why do you think these possible selves are present in some
situations and not others?
2. How would you describe your chosen character’s self-esteem? What influences do you think have
impacted their self-esteem?
3. Would you describe your adolescent as emotionally volatile? Why/why not?
4. Erikson writes about the crisis of identity versus identity confusion around love, work and ideology
in adolescence. Can you link this theory to your adolescent’s development and experiences?
5. It might be challenging to observe this conflict in your teen; if it is, relate this challenge to the
postmodern critiques of Erikson’s theory and discuss how gendered ideologies inform perspectives
on adolescent development using examples from your show/book.

Week 6 School

1. What are your chosen character’s experiences of high school like? Generally good? Generally
bad? A mix of both? Why do you think this might be?
2. If your character is a high performer, what do you think explains this? If not, what measures do you
think would be helpful for them to be able to achieve?
3. If you were designing a high school environment that was conducive to inclusive adolescent
learning and socialization, what kinds of things would you include? (Think about subjects, course
set up, resources, physical spaces, etc.)
4. Does your adolescent’s family have high expectations on their child for school achievement? How
does this/the lack of this impact your character’s attitudes to/achievement in school, in your
opinion?
 5. Does your adolescent belong to any of Clark & Trow’s “student subcultures”? If so, which one and
what evidence can you provide to support this? If not, why do you think this is? (Critique subculture
model, for example)

Week 7 Family Relationships

1. Describe your adolescent’s relationship with their parents; how does this relate to patterns of
parent development in midlife and adolescent development?
2. What type of parenting style would you use to describe your adolescent’s parents?
3. Describe a moment in which your adolescent had a conflictual experience with their parents: how
did they manage this? What was the outcome for parents and child?
4. Use examples from your show/book to illustrate the differences between family structure and family
process
5. How does your chosen character’s family relate to or differ from normative family structures?

Week 8 Friends and Peers

1. Has your chosen character experienced peer influence? How did they handle this? Is it difficult to
determine who is influencing who, in their peer group?
2. Is your chosen character similar to or different from (or both) their peers? Has this changed over
the course of their experiences on the show? What might account for this?
3. Does your adolescent draw more on their family or friends for support? Why do you think they draw
more on one than the other?
4. Is your adolescent a part of a crowd, or a clique? Or both? How do you know?
5. Has your adolescent experienced bullying, or been a bully? Or both? Why do you think this might
be, and what are the impacts on their health and mental health?

Week 9 Love and Sexuality

1. Is your teen involved in any romantic relationships? What impact do you think their age and gender
have on the forms love takes in their lives?
2. Explain Sternberg’s theory of love in relation to your teen’s experiences. If the theory does not
seem to fit, you can critique the theory using examples.
3. Imagine your character is suddenly thrown 50 years into the past. What differences might they
observe in the way relationships and love play out?
4. What kinds of sexual scripts can you observe in your chosen show/book?
5. Where is your adolescent getting their ideas about sex and sexuality? If not from sexual education,
how do you think sexual education might be improved to be more relevant to and informative for
their lives?

Week 10 Media

1. What kinds of media does your adolescent engage with? Which of the major uses of media do they
appear to be fulfilling in this engagement?
2. Can you see evidence of the ways in which media impacts your adolescent’s socialization?
3. Reflecting on the increase in social media use in recent years, can you see any differences
between adolescent socialization in 2017 versus when you were in middle and early high school?
 4. Do on or offline influences appear to be having a stronger effect on your adolescent’s
development?
5. Does engagement in social media cause any additional conflict in your adolescent’s household?
Why/why not?

Week 11 Work
1. Does your adolescent have a job, or engage in volunteer work? In what ways does this reflect their
level of privilege?
2. What impact does working/not working have on your adolescent’s life? (e.g. physically?
Psychologically? Socially? Economically?)
3. Do you feel like adolescents are well prepared to enter the working world? Why/why not? Try to
use examples from the show/book and/or your own experiences
4. Would Super’s theory or Holland’s theory of occupational choice and identity (or neither) be a good
fit for your adolescent’s work and identity?
5. What contextual factors have influenced your adolescent’s choice of work/volunteer work?

Week 12 Challenges and Resilience

1. Explain the difference between internalizing and externalizing problems using examples from your
show/book
2. Does your adolescent experience more internalizing or externalizing problems? Does their
experience fit with gendered assumptions about what youth will experience which problems?
3. Has your adolescent engaged in substance use? What factors do you think influenced their
engagement/non engagement?
4. Do you see any of the protective factors associated with resilience in your teen?
5. What else might help your teen to develop resilience?