Looking for Alaska Connections

The biggest connection between Looking for Alaska and things we have been discussing in class that stuck out to me was the idea of adolescent brain development.  At age 20 I am barely out of adolescence and my brain is still developing, but in just the few years since high school I have already noticed many changes in the way I process information and relate to others.  I have become less self-centered and more interested in pushing myself understand the perspectives of others.  I place far less emphasis on the perceived opinions of others because I know that they don't define me. I am not intimidated by social situations like I used to be because I don't think of people in terms of their place in the social ladder that was high school.

The really cool thing about John Green's writing in this novel is that it is extremely relatable.  Reading through the perspective of Pudge, the main character, I can immediately put myself in his shoes.  It is like I am back in high school.  He is struggling to make friends, deal with different social pressures like smoking cigs and drinking, and trying to figure out the crush he has on a girl (Alaska).  He is trying to work out who he is and what his place is in the world.

That is not at all to say that I know everything about myself one hundred percent of the time or that I always know what I am doing or anything like that.  But I do believe that it is important as teachers to keep in mind that our students are seeing and experiencing everything from a different perspective.  For me, I think that remembering the stressors and pressures of high school will critical in terms of relating to my students.  This novel helps bring me back and look from a different angle.