Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence in an Urban Context

I have always wanted to pursue a career in the field of children and teaching. Children are my passion and I love to see children as they learn, grow and develop. All my life I had many encounters with children of all different ages. My first job actually was at a after school where I taught and helped students with their homework and needs. Ever since that job, I have never stopped wanting to teach children. I had my first job when I was a junior in high school and until now I still work at the same place. I always seem to go back to this job. I would work for one year, quit, then go back after another. In the meanwhile I also worked at two other after schools, teaching during the school days and also the summers. I now currently work on Saturdays teaching fourth graders to help them with their upcoming ELA exam. I also tutor a 7th grader. Then on Sundays I am a Sunday school teacher for the 3rd graders teaching them about the word of God.

Going to work every Saturdays, I see the same students that I have taught back in 2007 when I first started working there. It amazes me every time because they have grown so much, not just physically but also mentally. I have come to realize that many students change over the years, while some students remain the same throughout. There was a student of mine named David who never ever listened to a word I said. He was in 3rd grade back in the days and he was indeed a trouble maker. None of the teachers wanted him as a student because all he ever did was fool around and distract the other children. It is kind of shocking to think of right now, because usually 3rd – 4th graders are what teachers prefer teaching. However this student was not the case. He wasn’t the most brilliant of the bunch, in fact he always scored the least of all the students. He would always end up working alone in the corner and was also getting yelled at. Now after 4 years have passed, he still attends the same after school. Now I see him preparing for the SSHSAT’s (the specialized high school exam) trying to follow after his brother’s footsteps. This child now receives decent scores on his exams and is now a well behaved boy. What was the sudden change? Did the discipline from the after school and at home change him greatly? I think that the environment and parents take a huge part in shaping the lives of children. David’s mother came to the after school many times, discussing his behavior with the principle of the after school many times. For David’s case, his change turned out to be a great change for him and he is now striving to achieve the best.

Meanwhile other students such as another student of mine, Alice, will always remain the same. During the days when I used to be her teacher, she would always fall asleep while doing her homework and she would always cry when I scolded her for not paying attention. Her grades were mediocre and they never seemed to go up because of her attention span. It was the attention span of a fly. The principle of the after school was fully aware of Alice’s tendency to cry and not do her work. However, unlike David’s case, Alice still remains the same Alice today. Although her grades surely did go up during the years, her tendency to cry and sleep during class has not. I feel like her parents did not enforce a strong enough discipline to Alice which did not help her to get rid of this bad behavior. If the parents keel spoon-feeding the child and keeps letting things go when she cries, she will see this as a way to get away with almost anything.

From my past experiences, I have seen that 3rd to 4th grade of a child is the most important. It is when the child learns and fully understands what is good and what is bad. After the 4th grade, some students develop an attitude toward older people, thinking that they are smart enough to know things better than the older people. Maybe this is not the case with every student but in my case it is true. Teaching bible study every Sunday helped me realize this little theory of mine. I have seen these children ever since they were born and have watched these children grow over the many years. Every Sunday we do praise and worship before anything else. The teachers would teach these students body worship and help them engage in bodily movements with the Christian songs played n the background. When these children were young, say about 3-7 years old, they would gladly jump around, sing with the music and happily do the body movements that the teacher had taught them to do. However, I have seen that as these same children grew up to be over the ages of 8, they no longer wanted to jump around or follow the motions of the teacher. This is where the environment and the surroundings of these children come into affect. I have asked these student countless times why they no longer want to do this anymore and all of them have simply replied “its not the cool thing to do,” “its boring..,” or “its embarrassing.” I have heard these same excuses countless of times. And this is where I have realized that these children… are no longer children anymore. They are indeed growing up and are developing adult thoughts. The children of our world are growing very quickly. Quickly adapting and learning with their surroundings. And especially with the media and technology rapidly growing, it is a scary thing how fast they grow every year.