A graduate of Harrison High School in Harrison, NY and Northwestern University, Jon Varlamos received his Master’s degree in teaching from Fordham University. He began his teaching and coaching career at West Hempstead and Locust Valley High Schools before moving to Walt Whitman High School as an Assistant Principal, where he’s spent the last 19 years.
Jon discusses the mindset and behaviors of teenagers in today’s schools with specific focus on being present, coping, interacting and social media’s effect on all of this.
Key Takeaways
- Really focusing on the effects of social media on our young adults’ behavior, actions, interactions, mindset. It’s not going away, this is their world.
- One of the biggest concerns is that teens get a lot of their “experience” by watching other people’s experiences on social media.
- Parents can look back at life before cell phones when they learned from real world experiences. Teens today are often missing that real-life interaction.
- Parents can help their teen work through what they’re seeing and hearing through social media.
- It’s good to set phone expectations and boundaries as a family so everyone can be responsible based on guidelines.
- Healthy expectations of your teen is important so they realize it’s not what they see on social media. Talk with them about their goals and how you can support them without applying pressure that overwhelms them.
- It’s important to allow your teen to make mistakes and learn rather than jumping in to save them from the learning experience.
- Respect and responsibility can be taught as parents’ model that behavior.
- It’s ok for parents to admit when they’ve made a mistake or acted inappropriately.
- Parents can approach a teacher, a coach, an administrator to talk about any concerns. Tap into that support.
Resources:
- Email: jvarlamos@shufsd.org
