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.
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.
Hi Bryan, I really enjoy to read your blog, it is a pleasure because there is always something new to learn.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad to know that you are excited to take this course because since you are interested you will be eager to learn even more.
I agree when you state that is not only their bodies that are changing, but also their brain, feelings and emotions, and that is the reason why I feel that working with teenagers is a huge challenge for us as teacher. But just as you said, it is a challenge that we will learn to face throughout this semester.