AN ARTICLE ON ADOLESCENCE
Dr.Kesiraju Ramprasad
Educational Psychologist
+919885400059
kesirajuramprasad@gmail.com
Adolescence is the transitional period between childhood and maturity between the ages of 11 to 20. The word adolescence is Latin in origin derived from the verb ‘adolescere’, which means “to grow’ into adulthood. Adolescence is a time of moving from the immaturity of childhood into the maturity of Adulthood. There is no boundary line that denotes the end of childhood or the beginning of Adolescence. It touches many aspects of the individual’s behavior, development and relationships. These transitions are biological, cognitive, social and emotional. There are so many physical changes that occur in the growing of a girl or boy as the individual passes from childhood into adulthood. The physical changes are triggered by ‘hormones’, chemical substances in the body that act on specific organs and tissues. In boys changes incurred production of Testosterone a male sex hormone, while girl’s experiences increased production of the female hormone Estrogen.
In this period secondary sexual characteristics appear, girls and boys begin to look like mature women and men. In boys the appearance of pubic hair and it grows coarser and thicker.
Children who are in adolescents think that are more advances, more efficient, and more complex. During adolescence they are thing better than what is possible, instead of limiting their thought to what is real. They can think hypothetically. They can think about abstract ideas. The Adolescents increased facility and interest in thinking about interpersonal relationships, politics, philosophy, religion and morality, friendship, faith, democracy, fairness and honesty. In this period they develop egocentrism. They are more likely to question others assertions and less likely to accept facts as absolute truths.
Many parents and teachers wonder about the susceptibility of adolescents to peer pressure. Susceptibility to the influence of parents and peers changes during adolescence. Many adolescents today have problems and are getting into trouble. There is a lot of pressure include poverty, violence, parental problems, friends and family. They have concerned about significant issues such as religion, gender roles, values or ethnicity. Child may feel scared, angry, frustrated or hopeless. They may feel guilty where they went wrong. Of course these feelings are normal but it is essential to understand each other.
Problems in the parents frequent fighting or hostility among the family members, problems in the school or environment can also be cause for the behavior problems. Some other factors may influence such as youth attention, hyperactivity, learning disorders, volatile, temperament and even the early onset of adolescence.
They have irrespirable perceptions about dress, fashion codes, wrong and unrealistic ideologies about friendship and courtship. They have perceptional or preconceived complications about their teachers and parents. They have attraction towards opposite sex. They have unrealistic and illogical curiosity about sex and related issues.
They face eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia or obesity, depression or violent behavior or anxiety or stress or sleep disorders or unsafe sexual activities.
One of the common symptoms of adolescence is the rebellious wild teen continually at odds with father, mother, brother, sister and some times with teachers. It may be the emotional ups and downs of them.
Every educate teacher and parents once again read books more carefully about the teenage problems. They have to think back about their teenage years. Remember your struggles in that period. Accept some mood changes in your child or students. You try to understand them positively and their conflicts. The more you know and think about them, the better you can prepare.
Talk to child:
Every parent and teacher have to inform but don’t overload them with information just answer their questions.
Put yourself in your student’s or child’s place
Practice empathy by helping your child understand that it is normal to be a bit concerned.
Think twice before you object:
If teenagers want to dye their hair, point their fingernails, wear fashion clothes, going to picnics and parties with friends or opposite sex, you think before you object. Teens want to shock their parents and it’s a better to let them do something temporary and harmless. Leave the objections to things that really don’t matter.
Don’t keep difficult expectations:
Teens will likely act unhappy with expectations their parents and teachers place on them. They expect good grades, acceptable behavior and follow the rules of the house and school .When they cannot reach them they feel frustration.
Know your child / students friends:
Kindly know your child’s friends and their parents. The regular communication between parents and teachers can go a long way toward creating a safe environment for all teens in a peer group. If teachers and parents watch their kids Indirectly they will not do any unlawful activity.
Respect kids privacy:
This is a most important task. You will need to grant some privacy. If you find any difficult situation then you can invade your subject’s privacy. You can verify their phones, mails and books.
Monitor or what kids see and read:
Beware of what they see, watch and read. Don’t be afraid of to set limits on the amount of time.
Make appropriate rules:
Reward your student and child for being trust worthy
TIPS TO TEACHERS TO HANDLE ADOLESCENTS
The Teacher who takes extra precaution and care regarding Adolescence will become a best teacher. The students will remember them lifelong:
The Teacher has to anticipate classroom situations where the student’s emotional state will be vulnerable and has to apply suitable strategies.
The teacher has to encourage the students by using examples to read adult and apt behavior books.
Check the students basic capacity to communicate and adjust your communication
Use wide variety of instructional equipment.
Class room teaching should be simple and clear.
Make students participate in group activities because it makes them socialize and emotionally calm.
Monitor the intelligent student carefully because they can distract the class.
Monitor the problematic students carefully, if not they can spoil the mood of the class room teaching.
Teachers have to reward students for good behavior. If not they can create problem.
Some aggressive students create problems in the class to draw the attention of the teacher. It is possible to modify their behaviour by giving them apt recognition.
Handovering responsibility to the behavioral disorder students sometimes reduces their aggression.
The students with behavioral disorders should be encouraged to move and do activities with different groups.
Show concern and care on the students who have behavioral disorders.
Show confidence in the student’s ability and keep and set goals that can be achieved.
Plan for successful participation in the activities. Make them success in the activity. That helps them to reduce their tension. It gives a sense of recognition. Make them realize the importance of getting success and winning.
Interact and show concern on the students with behavioral disorders. Listen to them and guide them whenever they approach you.
Start counseling and guidance centre in the institution.
Teach empathetic building exercises to the students.
Appoint a school psychologist and hand over the responsibility of those students to him.
Teachers should be role model to the students. Their behavior should be exemplary. They should not shout at students with anger and emotion.
Let the students know the expectations of the teachers on them. Help the students realize their goals and objectives.
Teach students SWOT analysis. Make them realize their strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats.
Help and make them realize the importance of time management and value system.
Don’t expect immediate change in the behavior of students. It is a slow process. It takes time to change their mind set.
Show visual teaching material and expose them to students. Ask them to use it.
Avoid debating and arguing with students who have behavioral disorders.
Enforce class room rules effectively.
Provide encouragement.
Reward with prizes than punishments. It increases their self esteem.
Praise all good performance and behaviour immediately.
Find ways to encourage the student instead of criticizing and blaming.
Be supportive and extend helping hand.
Be their side in trouble situation and help him to come out of it.
Provide an environment where the student can easily share his feeling emotions and pains with you.
Encourage others also to be friendly with them.
Organize an emotional freedom cell. You train some students to listen and comfort the behavioral disorder problem friends in the class. This helps them to redress their emotions. This cell facilitates the problem students to ease their emotions.
Teacher has to respect the self esteem of the students. It is an important aspect. In the nucleus family culture it is highly needed.
Many problems of Adolescence are due to failure in understanding the anatomical, morphological and psychological changes expected during Adolescence.
Misleading, misguiding parents, brothers and sisters are also cause for the problem. Assess and guide them properly.
The students receive wrong message from cinemas, internet, TV Serials and yellow journals. Teachers have to advise them in a cautious way. They have to inform the evils and outcomes of unlawful activities.
Teachers made them to read biographies of successful people.
Most of the adolescents face problems with Inferiority / Superiority complex about skin color, beauty, height, mental ability, IQ and family status and caste. Handle them carefully.
Every teacher has to understand the feelings of the Adolescent boys and girls. They have tensions of attending the classes, examination and tests. They have low IQ feeling, fear about failure in examinations, low scores, fear about future career. Timely and effective guidance helps them to over come it.
Irrespective of all the precautions some Adolescent may turn into disgruntled, impatient group of people due to grooming of misconceptions about society, love, law, relation etc. A section of population may turn hostile against the whole society which breeds and deepens the antisocial activities and perverted thinking.
If the teacher has a dominant personality to effectively guide the adolescent at right time. They turnout to be very useful section of future population .Those teachers will be in the memories of all the students permanently. Those teachers cherish life long. The role of the teacher is beyond class room.
