Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior
Open Access

Adolescence; Covid era; Childhood; Educators; Lockdown; Pandemic; Teachers

Introduction

We not only watch grow----------We help them grow”

Adolescence is one of the most fascinating and perhaps most complex stage of life. Adolescence is a period beginning with the onset of puberty and ending when individuals assume adult roles and responsibilities. It marks a period of rapid development between childhood and adulthood involving complex social, biological and psychological changes. It is a time of rebirth. The term adolescence comes from the Latin word adolescence, meaning “to grow” or to “grow to maturity”. The developmental stage of young adolescence has been referred to as the “turning point” between childhood and adulthood [1].

While all the periods in the life span are important, but adolescent period is considered to be difficult and critical. This is one of the periods when both the immediate effects and long term effects are important. Adolescence is a transitional period. Individually, adolescents experience rapid physical growth and change accompanied by shifts in cognitive and emotional capacities. Technically adolescent is the period from the beginning of sexual maturity to the competition (complete) of physical growth. It is a period when an individual becomes sexually mature until eighteen-the age of legal maturity- is divided into early adolescence. Due to complexities and challenges faced by an individual during this stage, psychologists have termed it as a period of great ‘stress and storm’, ‘stress and strife’. It is characteristically an important period in the lifespan, a transitional period, a time of change, a problem age, a time when the individual searches for identity, a time of unrealism, and the threshold of adulthood. At no other time in life, do so many shifts in development and social contexts occur simultaneously. WHO has defined adolescents as individuals aged between in 10-19 years? Not gold but men can make a nation great and strong, and adolescent is the largest and most rapid expanding segment of any country. It is most fertile and most vulnerable segment [2].

Teachers play a significant role in the lives of Adolescents. Teachers follow students through each pivotal stage of development. At six to eight hours a day, five or six days a week, we as teachers are poised to become one of the most influential people in your students’ life. After their parents, children will first learn from teachers (us). Their elementary school teacher. Then, as a middle school teacher, we will guide students through yet another important transition: adolescence. Time management is important concern related to overall wellbeing and quality of life for adolescents. To accomplish goals and be successful in life, a person needs to follow certain traits. Time management is one such quality. Time management is of the paramount importance, especially for the overall growth and development of adolescence. The adolescents spend more of the time in personal cleanliness, playing games on phone, excessive use of social sites such as whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook etc…they waste their time and energy too [3]. They did not spend any time meditation or remembering God, moral teachings, caring of old persons and family, patriotic and national values. To make an individual productive member of the society, there is a great need to him about how to manage time. It is the responsibility of the teacher to help him in this dynamic process through which an individual is helped to unfold his potentialities and change for better knowledge, enlighten and self – realization. It is the period of an individual’s development as the incidents of this period greatly affect the whole personality of the individual. It is a spring of a human being and an important era in his total life span.

Hence it is critical for teacher to understand the various social, physical and physiological changes that occur in an individual during this period and ways to deal and help him/her. But still we answer their questions, listen to their problems and teach them about this new phase of their lives. As a teacher, you will show your students how to become independent and form their own relationships; you will carefully guide them and intervene when necessary. Armed with his knowledge, teachers can offer safe spaces for youth to explore and test their emerging ideas of who they are and who they want to become.

Teachers are fountains of experience. Teachers are responsible for more than just academic enrichment. Great educators always connect with pupils and help to reach them on multiple levels, because the best teachers are committed to their students’ wellbeing both inside and outside the classroom. All type of changes biological, social cognitive etc. take place during the adolescent stage. Teachers can do a lot of help to adolescents to develop a balanced personality. This is the time when a teacher can do a lot of help to adolescents to develop a balanced personality. Teacher provides knowledge to adolescence and equips them to be sensitive to the diversity in youth’s experiences and the competing forces in their lives. Teacher should have the knowledge of adolescent’s psychology to understand them properly. Adolescence is the stage where maximum growth takes place. It is the responsibility of the teacher to provide suitable environment in schools or colleges. Their eating habits should be checked. They must be given knowledge of health, personal hygiene, various diseases and their prevention to keep tem fit for growing. All the biological changes of physical maturity bring a new interest in sexuality. At this time they can attract toward opposite sex due to their changes feeling. Teacher should also provide adequate information of the sex hygiene and physiology. Here teacher should present his ideal life so that students could learn from the life of his teacher. The forceful inhibition and taboos and restrictions imposed in this direction bring disastrous results. A cheerful teacher is a source of inspiration to his students. Teacher should be sympathetic and patient. Teachers must try to understand the influence that changes the behaviour of the adolescents. Teacher should develop in the adolescent a relationship of friendship [4].

Unfortunately a large number of adolescents are unable to identify their talents and are prone to select an inappropriate career for them in the influence of the society and lead a frustrated life throughout. Career counselling helps the students to select their careers according to their choices and interests. Teacher plays utmost important role at this stage. Teachers should help the students and provide sound guidance to them because without sound guidance and counseling, many students loose direction and engage themselves in bad behavior such as drug abuse and alcohol indulgence, missing classes, dropouts and so on; as a result they lack both focus and direction resulting to total failure in life. Teacher should behave positively and affectionately. Teacher can help youth manage these learning experiences. Therefore it become necessary and a prime duty of the teacher that he should guide the students about their career and career counselling be given a due importance for proper channelization of energy of the adolescents [5].

Teacher plays a very important role in students’ life as well as in society. Teachers are very important to the classroom as they have a different approach to teaching than others. They also motivate their students to learn in fun and engaging manner. Motivation is one of the strongest tools that come from a teacher. The role of teacher today’s (Covid era) has become very challenging, complex and multifaceted on account of the explosion of knowledge and the explosion of new means of technology. For many years, all the educational institutions following the traditional style of teaching throughout the world. In traditional teaching style is of a lecture throughout the class. This is the most preferred teaching style by the teachers. Due to Covid-19 pandemic, the most governments decided to temporary close schools, colleges, universities. It has affected educational system worldwide. When educational institutions were closed the alternative of classes is going through online mode. There is a change in educational institutions. Corona virus forced the whole world/ millions of people to sit at home .All the schools, colleges and universities are opted to continue their normal classes on online platform that allows teacher and student to meet and conduct classes over the internet. During pandemic education sector influenced by technology. It created burden over teachers regarding virtual classes. During covid era, the pandemic has not only affected the mental state of students since teachers have also accumulated a high level of stress since the beginning of the crisis. The pandemic Covid-19 resulted in an unimagined situation of the world and it introduced an unprecedented use of technology in the education system, teaching and learning process. Schools and colleges stopped running regular classes and there came the time of online classes which brought both students and teachers on online platforms for teaching and learning.

When the whole world is undergoing through an unexpected situations, teachers play very important role during that time. The teachers being strong role models are adopting new methods to stay in contact with their students. via what sap, chats, audio or video calls. Teachers make efforts to stay in contact especially the ones who are underprivileged students. The emergent transition from the offline to online form. The teachers prepare Power Point Presentations, videos etc. During lockdown, teachers have suffered stress from having to adapt (in record time) in order to provide online classes, the teachers worked as a researcher as well as a facilitator for guiding adolescents and helped them how to use technological means. Teachers have to guide and inspire the students and act as partners in the teachinglearning process providing purposeful activities. This is the duty of the teachers to assimilate a set of values and develop in a pragmatic manner to face the challenges of the 21st century. The value we impart to our children today, consciously and unconsciously, will have a major impact on society tomorrow.

Before corona teachers were directly interact with his/ her student in classroom. Teachers explained the topic and also provide general knowledge of different topics. The students also ask their doubts and teachers helped them to solve their queries. Before corona, people thought that nowadays, study can be done anywhere there is no more need of teacher when we have so many applications and soft wares in our phones. After corona, people felt that teachers are very important because there is no conversion of knowledge that is given by the teacher to his/ her students. As the students struggle to learn from home, during pandemic, the value of the teacher has risen. Teacher knows about their class students’ weakness and work on that to improve the ability of student. Many times teachers modify their teaching method with group activities. Teachers are the backbone of education system [6].

Teachers, generally teach before a live audience, that is the students and they also clear the doubts of the students. The active presence of the teacher and students in the classroom. The teacher can judge whether the students have understood what was taught by asking questions, asking randomly selected students to read certain passages or to solve a question on the board etc. Teachers are real supporters. Overall they play a key role in everyone’s life and provide brightness to their students’ future by giving them valuable knowledge. The teachers play the role of guardian, friend and mentor along with their primary duty [7].

From our childhood, we learned a lot. From letters to words and from words to sentences, they were teachers who prepare us through love and encouragement. Apart from that, teacher nourishes the students for a better future. As students spent most of their day in school or colleges, the impact of teacher in student’s life cannot be ignored. A teacher is a symbol of purity, of good, of truth, of long life learning. A teacher creates the idea and ideals and also destroys evil in both mis-deeds. We can say that a teacher is just like a light in dark.

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