By:Mohamoud Dahir Omar
Somalilandsun – Although all children develop in their own unique fashion, as a direct result of both hereditary and environmental influences, there is a certain pattern of development that applies to nearly all children. It is crucial for today’s teachers and educators to have a thorough understanding of that development. Schools today play an important role in the socialization of children and therefore it is critical that teachers know how to best socialize their students. An understanding of basic human developmental stages can be used to gear the teacher’s lesson plans in order to maximize the success of students in Somaliland both the academic and the social realms of their lives. This understanding can also be used to minimize problems in the classroom In Somaliland where most of the teachers aren’t well-trained and teachers are badly scolding the students and students are abusing their teachers.
Human development is one of the biggest contributing factors to human behavior. As children go through their different stages of life, they approach learning in different ways. When Teacher or an educator has an intricate understanding of human development, he or she can use that understanding to make assessments about the behaviors of children in the classroom. This can be used to prevent problems in the classroom that often result from normal developmental acting out behavior. Such problems may also occur as a result of having a small number of children within the larger classroom who are at a different developmental stage of their lives from the stage of the other students.
Most of Somaliland Teachers do not understand the role of development in the behavior of the classroom and often find that they are frustrated in their working lives. This is because they simply cannot relate to why their approach to teaching the children is not working. As usual happens in Somaliland schools Teacher who fail to gear their lessons and teaching approach to the correct developmental stage will find that they are not reaching the children in their classrooms. This can upset the power balance between student and teacher and creating a chaotic classroom environment.
Additionally, most of the teachers in Somaliland always fail to understand the developmental stages of their students frequently have problems with one or two specific students. These are generally the students who are developing at a slower (or occasionally faster) pace than the larger group, and so they stand out to the teacher. For my experience of teaching without an understanding of why that particular student’s behavior may differ from the behavior of the other students, most teachers in Somaliland may feel that the student is merely a problem student and start to beat him/her. This also leads to a chaotic classroom environment, which is problematic not only for the teacher but also for the individual’s students who may fail to accomplish appropriate development as a result.
It is critical that the adults who are in a child’s life, especially during critical developmental stages, are able to successfully lead these children through completion of each stage and on in to the next developmental stages of their lives. For example, the stage when children go through middle school is a time when they can be heavily influenced by external factors. With the pull of peer pressure in place, teachers may find it difficult to reach their students at this stage of life. However, there are numerous things that middle school teacher/educators can do to positively influence the students in their classrooms, creating a more positive classroom environment and contributing to the development of each individual student.
All in all the importance of Teachers and educators understands of their students’ developmental stages is clear. Teacher/ Educators play a critical role in the socialization of their students. Middle school is a particularly time of great confusion and a time when students are undergoing dramatic changes that will shape who they are for the rest of their lives. By teaching them appropriate socialization and helping them to develop a strong sense of personal identity, teachers in Somaliland can lead the children and overall Somaliland students in to becoming healthy well-developed adults.
Mohamoud Dahir Omar
Education Analyst
Tell: 0634423327
