ROLE OF THE TEACHER IN FACILITATING DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN

Unbelievably, you as a teacher can really transform the life of a child. Let us now explore a teacher’s role in facilitating different dimensions of development of children. While teaching, whenever you come to know about specific physical needs of children, you should consequently plan your programmes. 

For example– 

Making a child with low vision sit at front desk; using larger fonts on chalkboard; high quality audio aids, etc. Knowledge of the pattern of physical growth and development helps the teacher to arrange school programmes like co-curricular activities. 

1. Besides, you should emphasize on sitting in right postures, regular medical check-ups, regular exercises, play activities, and nutritious diet for the children. The teacher’s facilitation in cognitive development of a child needs great attention. 
2. You should ensure that students maintain cognitive balance between new experiences and what is already known; challenge their illogical explanations and ask them to explain their reasoning; express confusion or explain that others think differently when students show egocentrism; relate abstract and hypothetical ideas to concrete objects and observable events and many more. This balanced cognition helps them develop emotionally. 
3. Stable emotions are important for a harmonious personality of an individual. Your role as a teacher may include equal treatment to all children in your classroom; planning dynamic activities; balanced emotional behaviour of yourself; creating a trustworthy environment; and enabling students recognize emotions of others and express their own feelings. 
4. Furthermore, the teacher’s role in developing psychosocial behaviours here is to encourage responsibility among students by assigning group tasks to value their hard work and task accomplishments while discouraging excessive competition to avoid feelings of inferiority; promote social interaction among diverse groups like assigning partners to students with special needs to develop an understanding. This may help them in developing morally too. 
5. You may facilitate moral development among children by modelling appropriate moral behaviour. You should talk about reasons why some behaviours are inappropriate, e.g. throwing chewing gum here and there may spoil somebody’s hair or clothes. 
6. Besides, you may incorporate moral issues and dilemmas during classroom discussion, e.g. discussion on wars between two countries. 
7. A positive reinforcement to students may also help in encouraging morally desirable behaviours among them.