Physical and Psychosocial Development of Adolescent Students

This week we had the opportunity to learn about the different changes that adolescents face during this phase of life. When I think about my own adolescence, I realize that it was not so shocking for me because, luckily, I was very well informed about the things that would happen to me, at least in a physical way.

Since I was a child, I have always been surrounded by older people, in other words I was always the youngest among my friends and relatives. Therefore, a lot of -good and not so good- information came to me about  what to expect during those years of my life. Because of this, I did not have any issues dealing with my physical development. On the other hand, when it comes to my psychosocial development, I did not know what to expect. In fact, I was not even aware I was going through that. During my childhood things were easy, I had everything I needed inside my family, my older brother and cousins were my best friends, and I was very dependent of my mother. However, when I entered adolescence I did not feel that comfortable with them anymore, but I did not want to be alone either, so I started to make more friends to the point that I felt more comfortable with my friends than with my own relatives. Besides that, I also think that at some point I struggled a little with my own identity. I realized that I was just following my own brother's steps, trying to imitate him somehow, and I did not felt that I was being myself. At the end, I think I was able to find my own identity, and up to this point of my life, I feel really comforta
ble with who I am.

After studying the different things that happen during adolescence, now I understand why teenagers feel misunderstood most of the time. In my opinion, the main reason is that they do not understand themselves, and they do not know what is happening in their bodies and minds. Adolescence can be a contradictory stage. They want to be independent, but they do not want responsibilities; they want to fit and be accepted by society, but they want to feel unique and special; they do not want to be attached to their parents anymore, but they are afraid to face the world on their own. However, they are not guilty of this, is just that they are going trough hormonal changes which affect their moods and behaviors. I believe that parents and adults in general should be informed about this, to be able to take care of them by warning them about the threats of life without interfering with their freedom. Also, adults should thy to empathize a little bit more adolescents, since this stage of life can be difficult and shocking.

As a teacher, I would like to help my students by being a guidance in this stage of life, by making them feel comfortable with themselves and others, by increasing their level of confidence, and by encouraging them to be themselves, and by motivating them to have a goal in life and to stay focused on it.

Meeting and Dealing with Changes in the Brain of a Teenager

New year, new semester, new experiences. I just started my Teaching Practicum II course, in which I will have the opportunity to work with teenagers. There were many ideas about what to expect from this class before it actually started. I felt excited, personally I feel more comfortable working with adolescents, although I know that it is one of the biggest challenges that teachers all around the world face. Teenagers are well know for their miss behaviour towards parents and teachers, that is why I have been looking forward to take a course in which I learn how to deal with this situation.

As part of our first assignment in this course, we conducted an investigation about the development of brain during adolescence. While doing my research in the National Institute of Mental Health (www.nimh.nih.gov) and Brain Connection (www.brainconnection.brainhq.com) websites, I learned something I did not know before, that the human brain is still under construction during adolescence. In fact, the brain doesn’t look like that of an adult until the early 20s. The main difference between a teenage brain and a fully mature brain lies in the frontal lobe, which is still under development during adolescence. The frontal lobe is the part of the brain that we use to make rational decisions. Thus, adolescents behave more emotional and impulsive than adults because  they are not making decisions with their frontal lobe, but with their amygdalas. Once adulthood is reached, the overall focus of brain activity seems to shift from the amygdala to the frontal lobes. This fact influences many aspects of the lives of teenagers, who might go through difficult times while facing adolescence.

Considering all of the information stated above, I believe that working with teenagers might represent a challenge. Nonetheless, it is a challenge that I am looking forward to face. I have had few experience teaching teenagers before, and I have had both good and not so good experiences. Therefore, my expectations for this course are to learn a lot about adolescents, their behaviors, and how to deal with them. I must admit that I feel excited about this, and I feel committed to learn as much as possible. I also believe that this course will help me a lot to empathize with teenagers, because they are not just rebel monsters as many people think, they are going trough a stage in life in which not only their bodies, but also their brains, emotions, and feelings are changing, and most of the time they are not aware of this. That is why, guidance is important for them, and I expect to learn how to be a good mentor for my future teenage students.