Building Adolescent Social Intelligence With a Dance Physical Education

Final Research Paper Outline

Adolescents in high school benefit from the planning and execution of a social event such as a dance or party physically, emotionally, and developmentally.

The high school students should help organize and throw a party for themselves.

The party should involve school staff, parents, and adult members of the community.

The planning of and the participation in dance/party combines many skills that adolescents need to develop into healthy adolescents and later into healthy adults.

The party gives the high school students opportunities to practice and hone skills that will improve their self-esteem, self-confidence, individual identity, social intelligence, and social reality construction.

Parties and Socialization

A. The party is a form of socialization that builds very important social skills.

B. The party is a demonstration of how to understand the importance of social skills for development.

C. The party is a formative experience, which illustrates importance of social skills for the future.

D. The party is a demonstration of the connections between social skills and friends.

III. Parties and Friends

A. The dance is an ideal activity to practice the skills it takes to make friends.

B. Students may not fully understand the meaning of the skills to make friends in all parts of their lives as well as in their futures.

C. The dance may contribute to the formation of friendships as well as the continuation and deepening of friendships, all of which benefit the youth in numerous ways.

IV. Parties and Adolescent Involvement

A. The dance is a positive way for increased adolescent involvement in school, which helps development.

B. Healthy development includes adolescent involvement in their own social activities.

C. Adolescent involvement in activities such as the dance fosters connection to school, community, and peers

D. The dance combines adolescent involvement, adolescent socialization, and adolescent development.

V. Adolescent Socialization and Health

A. The paper illustrates the connections among parties, socialization, development, and health.

B. The paper illustrates the present and future implications for socialization, social skills, and health.

C. Social skills and social intelligence used in the party experience will benefit adolescent health in the present and in the future.

Conclusion: The kids should participate in planning the dance/party and they should participate in the dance. The party is good for the kids because they practice social skills, expand their socialization experiences, and build friendships. All of these activities are good for the kids' physical and emotional health & intelligence. Social activities like this parties help all kids whether general education or special education, whether native speaker or ESL student. With the presence, supervision, guidance, and moderate participation of adults that are school staff, parents, and other community members, the party connections the teens to each other, the teens to the adults, and everyone to the physical space/community where the planning and party took place.

Final Research Paper

As stated in the research proposal, socialization is a key part of personal and professional success in the 21st century. The adolescent period especially can be influential with regard to an individual's social development and social intelligence. People who develop healthy social behaviors during adolescence & early adulthood practice and refine them as adults. Effective and meaningful socialization does not occur purely by accident; there is an art, skill, and a science to socialization. The students, in conjunction with school staff, parents, and other adult members of the community should organize and participate in a social event, such as dance or party. Such an event will strengthen the school, the community, and the students. Social activities have the potential to be potent learning/educational experiences while still being a leisure activity. The paper will explain the many benefits of a properly organized party for the students that requires their involvement at all stages of the dance. The party gives the high school students opportunities to practice and hone skills that will improve their self-esteem, self-confidence, individual identity, social intelligence, and social reality construction. Adolescents in high school benefit from the planning and execution of a social event such as a dance or party physically, emotionally, and developmentally.

Adolescence is a stage in human development. While adolescents are a special group of humans, when considering their development, we should consider how the party or any activity affects their overall development as humans. Humans use social activities such as parties and dances that assist in the construction and comprehension...

Students that participate in the dance will gain skills in socializing and the gain skills in how to grapple with social reality. Understanding that there is a social reality is a critical skill that adolescents need as they move into adulthood. They should also be prepared in how to interpret and extrapolate meaning from social reality because they will need to navigate it. Social reality for adolescents as well as for adults is tough territory to navigate through and to survive.
…humans are understood by examining the mentalistic symbols, meanings and values of the social realities they construct…adolescents fashion these social realities by observing social phenomena and engaging in symbolic discourses within the context of socializing agents…adolescents create or become aware of meanings as they observe and interpret events in the social environment…or interact with others in social settings, (for example, with peers.) (Peterson & Peters, 1983,-Page 68)

The party is an interactive model by which student engage social reality. For many adults, high school is extremely formative. Adults also claim that in a number of social situation with other adults, the social scene and interactions closely resemble those experience during high school. The dance is an actual experience as well as a symbol to which students will refer in the future with or without their conscious awareness. The dance is a social environment after which many others in their adult lives will be patterned. Therefore the dance is a useful model and experience of the adolescent social environment.

The party/dance is a chance for fun and celebration, as well as learning. If planned and executed with consideration and research, the party will reinforce many of the components upon which professionals agree are key to healthy development of adolescents.

Scholars at research and policy centers, on national committees, in the government, at foundations, and in youth programs have reached general consensus on what constitutes healthy development. Lerner, Fisher, and Weinberg (2000) summarize the ingredients into the "five C's" (p. 15). These positive attributes encompass: competence in academic, social, and vocational areas; confidence or a positive self-identity; connection or healthy relations to community, family and peers; character or positive values, integrity, moral commitment; and caring and compassion. (Roth et al., 2000,-Page 3)

The planning stage of the party would contribute to competence in academics, social skills, and vocational areas such as construction, decoration, organization, and leadership/management. The students who assist in the planning will definitely have a strong sense of confidence and accomplishment when they see how their work is enjoyed by their peers and community. All the students and adults involved will feel a connection to each other, to the school, and to the community. Strong interpersonal connections are another sign of healthy development and a result of the proposed dance. The students will build their personal characters as well as learn about their characters. Self-exploration is a normal aspect of adolescence. When a person dedicated him/herself to a specific task to complete over time, such as a leisure event, that person knowingly or not is engaging in a way to learn more about him/herself. We often learn a lot about ourselves in the goals we set, the experiences we have as we try to accomplish the goals, and in the reception of our actions by others. The party is a fine opportunity to build all five of the C's of positive attributes and healthy adolescent development clearly and directly.

During the planning stages and participation stages of the party, the adolescents/high school students will have many opportunities to make friends and to deepen friendships. The creation and sustainment of friendships is a beneficial aspect of adolescent development and health. Friends serve many purposes that are ultimately positive for adolescents while they are young and as they develop into adults.

Cross-sectional comparisons show that, first, children who have friends are more socially competent and less troubled than children who do not; they are more sociable, cooperative, altruistic, self-confident, and less lonely…Making new friends predicts gains in school performance…Having friends thus seems to contribute specifically to affective outcomes across normative school transitions. (Hardup, 1996,-Page 4)

While the students plan the party they will work in groups based on what part of the planning in which they are involved. Students who are not friends will have the chance to socialize with students new to them as well as ones with which they are already familiar. The actual dance itself is a huge opportunity for all of the students, whether they are in advance placement or special education, to interact and be with each other. Making friends as a result of planning and having a dance will have a positive effect upon the adolescents' behavior and performance personally and academically. This is another way that having a dance…