University of the People

Dr. Jennifer Holmes

EDUC 5420- Adolescent Development

Unit 8 Reflection

Wednesday 4th January, 2022

 As I reflect upon this course content, there are many things I learnt about ‘Adolescents

Development’ that I wasn’t aware of and knowledgeable about. As an educator it is important for

me to be aware of the changes taking place during the adolescence period and factors that affect

adolescents’ development. I can say that I have greatly benefited from this course since I learnt

how to deal with the teenagers I work with and to understand why some of them behave the way

they do. It gave me a clearer picture of what adolescents are faced with and also made me think

about my experience and what I went through when I was a teenager. Three of the many

experiences, concepts, theories, or ideas that enlightened you are as follows;

1. As I reflect upon my personal experience as an adolescent, I can connect what I am

experiencing to my teenage memories. My conclusion is that educators can benefit from

studying adolescents’ development and reflect upon it during their teaching practice in

the classroom. There are certain ways that some adolescents behave and I often wonder.

However, Freud’s theory has helped me to understand adolescents’ behavior a little more.

Freud helped me to understand that such behaviors can be as a result of unresolved

psychological matters (Kuhn, 2008). According to Erikson’s theory we know that

adolescents experience the identity crisis vs confusion period. They are trying to figure

out what is happening in their lives. One of the ways I can help my learners is to show

more empathy and patience towards them because that is what I wanted when I was an

adolescent.

2. This course has been an eye-opener for me on the many issues that adolescents might

experience during puberty, the effects and how educators can help to promote learners’

development. I think that it is important to have teacher-student relationship because it is

a way to show support when needed. Once a healthy relationship is established, learners
 will begin to open up and would want to share their thoughts, ideas concerns and worries.

Saikia (2020) posits that teachers are role models to their students and help students to

better adjust to their environment.

3. Lastly, I got to learn a little about Amish church and their beliefs. Amish adolescents

seem to be under great pressure in deciding to choose between the modern and luxurious

life or to follow God. Adolescents need moral support and sometimes their families and

communities are not there to guide them hence where our role as educators come in.
 References

Kuhn, D. (2008). Formal operations from a twenty-first century perspective. Human

Development, 51(1), 48-55. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26763967

Saikia, R. (2020). Social Adjustment of Adolescent Students and Role of Teacher.

IJIRMF202005038.pdf