MODULE: The needs of the emerging adolescent

 

Written by S. McNeely

 

1.        Statement of learning outcomes:

                 As a result of reading this module, the participant will be able to:

·          list the needs of emerging adolescent

·          describe how middle schools typically are designed to try to meet those needs

2.        Performance indicators:

As a result of reading this module, the participant will be able to:

·          Look at web sites of various middle schools and determine if they are designed to meet the needs of the emerging adolescent

 

3.        Content:

 

The typical emerging adolescent (herein called “student”) is developing across a variety of domains and has a variety of needs for meeting these domains. Up until puberty, most children have been growing at a slow, steady rate. Some are taller, some heavier, some proportioned to appear more obese, others skinnier. With the onset of puberty, growth changes are rapid, and hard on the child's body. Muscle-fat distributions change with the growth. Additionally, while there is skeletal and bone growth, this growth is going to be mediated by body proportions, and nutrition. Adolescents who are not getting enough calcium will have problems with their bone growth, or their teeth density.

 

Somewhere between the ages of 9 and 17, puberty is going to start in most children. Approximately 18 months before boys, girls start to have activation of their endocrine glands that produce hormones that lead to physical changes that we label as puberty. Following a growth spurt, there is development of primary and secondary sex characteristics, including becoming fertile, and developing an increased sexual libido. In boys, the growth spurt is often welcomed, and early maturing boys tend to be more active in sports and engage in more social participation. In girls, the growth spurt may not be welcome. Some girls do not welcome the added body weight and breast development. They are likely to have problems with their self-esteem, and may withdraw from interactions with others, some who may be teasing them or harassing them. Some girls welcome the change, looking at it as an important step toward womanhood. They are not as likely to have problems with their self esteem and may not only have better psychological adjustment, but also have positive peer relations, and better school achievement (Brooks-Gunn & Warren, 1988).

 

The steps of puberty are somewhat different in girls than in boys. For girls, the usual steps include the budding of the breasts, widening of the pelvis, appearance of pubic hair, breast enlargement, appearance of underarm hair, menarche, ovulation, changes in height and weight. Normally, the onset of ovulation occurs three to six months after the start of menarche (the first menstruation). For boys, the usual steps include a growth spurt, appearance of pubic hair, enlargement of the reproductive organs, spermarche, appearance of underarm hair, appearance of face and abdomen hair, and then appearance of chin hair. Normally, once there is appearance of chin hair, the reproductive organs of males are fully developed.

 

The rise in endocrine gland activity leads to oil glands becoming more active, especially on the outer layers of the skin. For 4 out of 5 adolescents, this leads to skin problems, usually acne. More gland activity is also seen as the sweat glands become more active. This often leads to unexpected perspiration, and body odor. The increase in gland activity also leads to slight to modest enlargement of the breasts. For females, this is normal. For males, the enlargement is called gynecomastia. For many males, this is upsetting, although it will usually resolve itself in 12 to 18 months.

 

Nature and nurture play a large role in physical development. While heredity will play a role in the onset of puberty, and in the body typing of the adolescent, the nurturance the child gets will also be important. A child who is not shown affection and provided appropriate stimulation may have problems with development. Nutrition plays a part in the onset of puberty. Poor nutrition can delay onset of puberty. Additionally, being short or thin may also delay onset. Nutritional imbalances and body type may also impact how the changing hormones impact the emotions, moods, and volatility of early adolescents. The onset of puberty, and the impact that it has on the individual, can also be affected by stress. The adolescent who is facing stress may have more problems with puberty. Nutrition and stress may also be exhibited in eating disorders. Early adolescents who show signs of bulimia or anorexia may have problems with puberty starting. It may start late, or not at all. If it started, and then the early adolescent begins to have eating disorders, the continuation of puberty may cease. These puberty-related problems may also occur in children who are being too physically active, or have specific physical problems.

 

Early adolescents often do not realize that they are growing as fast as they are. Nor do they realize that their arms or legs are disproportionate as they grow. They may not realize that changes in hip and chest width change how their motor coordination works. The early adolescent may adjust to one change in coordination, and along comes another one. This leads to problems with skills in sports and games, and frustration among those early adolescents who are encouraged to compete. Additionally, too much physical activity during this time may actually harm the body and lead to long-term medical problems.

 

Fine motor skills are also usually impacted by the onset of puberty. The changes in fine motor coordination may lead to temporary problems with typing, building models, sewing, and other skills that involve the hands. These skills may also be impacted by the fact that vision may change. In some early adolescents, the growth spurt leads to changes in the contour of the eyeball. This may lead to changes in vision. Some of these changes may be temporary, and the early adolescent adjusts without the need of visual supports, such as glasses. For others, the visual supports are needed.

 

Physical maturation and puberty lead to the body being capable of fertility and reproduction. However, that does not mean that the body is actually ready for sexual behavior and reproduction. For adolescent girls, the uterus and pelvis are usually not developed enough to fully support a pregnancy or birth. In most adolescent girls, the uterus is not capable of providing even 50% of the nutrients and support that a fetus requires for full development.

 

Most early adolescents start to feel sexual feelings and start to act upon them in various ways. For some, they engage in friendships, but do not initiate sexual activity. Others start sexual exploration and try out various sexual expressions. They may not consider all their choices and options, and may be afraid of sharing that they are sexually active. Some early adolescents will explore various sexual orientations, and may face persecution by others for these choices. Unless they have had good sexuality education, few early adolescents are going to be prepared to prevent pregnancy, prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and take care not to endanger partners. As a result, there are many early adolescents who find themselves pregnant, or ill. The availability of resources to prevent pregnancy, limit the spread of STDs, and provide medical care without parental consent vary with state laws and various federal mandates.

 

If the individual has had good health education, by early adolescence, one is ready for puberty. One also will have typically fostered a good, healthy lifestyle. The more that wellness and prevention have been stressed, the more likely it is that the early adolescent will have developed resilience to some of the health issues which face him/her. The typical middle school student faces a variety of health concerns that have not previously been an issue. The changes in puberty require increased focus on good nutrition. Additionally, the individual faces more concerns with diseases, such as mononucleosis, because of a lack of good nutrition and sleep. Middle school is the time when most early adolescents face issues of smoking and tobacco use, drug, and alcohol use. Like sexuality, early adolescents face peer pressure to engage in various behaviors which endanger them. If the early adolescent has been given good information, and not scare tactics, he/she may resist the peer pressure, and avoid endangering behaviors.

 

Physical development may enhance interpersonal problems that the early adolescent has with parents or peers. For some individuals, they are more likely to be abused, or to abuse others because of their body growth. Abuse may be physical, or sexual. Some parents find it difficult to deal with the changes that their child is going through, and may not know how to appropriately discipline or deal with the child. As a result, some early adolescents endure physical neglect or abuse during this time. For other early adolescents, there is a realization that they have been being physically abused. Some learn about this as they engage in discussions with peers, or have sex education. Others find themselves pregnant because of the abuse, and may not even know that they are pregnant. It is important to remember that both males and females may be abused, and we lack good numbers on actual abuse. Some researchers report that one in every six middle school students have been, or are being abused. Others put the numbers somewhat higher, going as high as one in every three students. If a teacher suspects abuse, he/she needs to report this to the state, following the mandated reporting procedures.

 

The ideal middle school is one that recognizes that physical development is going to require special considerations in the design and implementation of the school processes. A middle school building should be built for helping students grow physically. There should be private rest room facilities and changing rooms for physical education. The building should have enough space for students to move comfortably. Classrooms should be large enough that the larger desks can be spaced out and provide room for students to move about without bumping into each other. Typically, middle schools recognize that in addition to having a large gymnasium, there is a need for a track, and a “play” area for students to physically express themselves in a variety of ways and engage in cooperative and adventure activities. Some middle schools have added health and wellness centers for students to work out, monitor their physical development, and build healthy bodies. Some middle schools also have outdoor centers for students to learn and grow from outside walks, runs, and play areas. It is important to remember that middle school students are often just “bigger kids” who need to be able to have access to appropriate playground equipment, sports equipment, etc.

 

With rapid changes in physical development, there are also changes in brain development. Most early adolescents experience a growth in the size of their brains that coincides with their hormonal changes. Assuming that the individual has had a normal development so far, the brain will have already develop lateralization and specialization. With the emergence of puberty, there is a loss of plasticity within the brain. As a result, the brain is less likely to develop new ways to compensate for brain injury, and is less likely to create further areas of specialization. This is why it is more difficult for those who have reached early adolescence to learn another language.

 

During the early adolescent years, there are important changes in cognition. There is an increasing ability to think abstractly, to consider the hypothetical, to consider multiple dimensions of a problem at once, and to engage in more elaborate and sophisticated information processing strategies. Many early adolescents show more argumentiveness, more self-consciousness, more idealism, more criticism, and more planning with decision making. Keating (1990) argued that these changes may occur, but often times early adolescents need much practice before they use these new strategies on their own. With the emergence of these cognitive strategies, early adolescents usually become more self-reflective, more interested in psychological characteristics of others, and more interested in friendships that share reflectiveness. School factors that influence cognitive development include the amount of meaningful material introduced, the training of thinking skills that is embedded in detailed content knowledge, and the ways in which teachers foster critical thinking skills (Eccles & Wigfield, 1992).

 

As early adolescents engage in more sophisticated information processing strategies, they show differences in what they are capable of at school. For many, there are changes in visual and in auditory recognition memory, with one becoming more predominance. There is also an increase in using strategies for remembering. The individual is more likely to be willing to try rehearsal, categorization, elaboration, and various external aids to help remember things that are important. As the individual thinks more, he/she develops a better understanding of how his/her thinking works. There is further development in meta-knowledge, information about how one's own memory, cognition, and comprehension work. There is also more willingness to show others that one has acquired these new skills, and often early adolescents will challenge their parents and others to memory games.

 

Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of cognitive development says that the role of social experience is important for cognitive development. By now, the early adolescent has developed a sense of how his/her learning works, and is likely to express if he/she learns best alone, with the help of a teacher, with the help of a peer, by doing, by watching, etc. Vygotsky proposed that learning new skills occurs for each individual when they are ready to learn that skill, that is, he/she enters into a zone of proximal development (ZPD). The early adolescent becomes more aware of his/her own ZPD for different skills, and takes a more active role in approaching the appropriate people to help him/her through the ZPD. Of course, the use of language can aid cognitive development, and movement through the ZPD. Thus, most early adolescents show an emergence of many new skills as they develop new thinking, and new language.

 

Most early adolescents have already established a sense of right and wrong, and justice. However, in early adolescence, with increasing experiences and changes in thinking, there is a change in considerations of what is just and fair. The cultural context that the individual has been raised in, the role that morality has played, and what is valued as just within the society is typically called into question by the early adolescent. Emotions, cognitive skills, social experiences, and gender are going to influence the individual's perceptions of justice during this time. It is likely that the individual will challenge the thinking and decisions of adults and others during this time. Many schools have established character development programs to try to help the early adolescent work through making choices and decisions.

 

Social learning theory (Bandura) states that we learn by observing others, who serve as models for thinking and behaving. During early adolescence, models have increasing importance, and may impact moral thinking. Some researchers argue that the impact that media has on early adolescence, in their acceptance of new vocabulary, advertisements, and fads presented by the media, serves to support the idea that morality presented on the media will be quickly embraced by the early adolescent. Portrayals of violence, sex, and harm to others in the media needs to be discussed with early adolescents so that they can understand the impact that media may have on their thinking and moral development.

 

Middle schools that are built well have classrooms that allow teams of teachers to work together, and space for students to engage in collaborative learning. There is a belief across the school that a middle school mission must focus on meeting the needs of the students. As this mission gets stated and put into practice, middle school teachers get to plan and implement curriculum that is multidisciplinary, thematic, and built to allow the students to be actively engaged in the learning process.

 

Most developmentalists believe that cognition precedes the development of expressive language. However, as language develops, it influences cognition and facilitates memory and problem-solving. As cognition changes in early adolescents, individuals are likely to experience some changes in their language. For some, it is an increase in vocabulary, and a new awareness of the use of grammar. Some will develop new words that are used within social groups, or accept fad vocabulary as part of the language, using it in different ways. Most early adolescents start to become more metalinguistically aware, and realize that language serves as a foundation for their thinking.

 

All early adolescents need opportunities to engage in verbal exchanges with adults, and to try out new vocabulary without being rebuffed by adults. For students coming from a bilingual background with at least five years of exposure to non-native language, the emergence of new thinking leads to a greater awareness of the differences in language use from the different cultures. For many bilingual early adolescents, there is finally an emergence of how to use non-native language effectively, and thinking becomes consistent in non-native language. That is, the learner no longer translates what was said in the second language to native language to think about it, and thinking no longer occurs primarily in native language.

 

Ideally, middle schools will recognize that language learning, like other learning is often a frustrating event for the student. Schools will have labs with headphones and private learning areas for students to learn and practice language and other skills that they need. These labs will be open before and after school so that students can access them at additional times beyond those allocated within the curriculum.

 

As discussed earlier, the physical changes in early adolescence often lead to emotional changes, with most early adolescents experiencing wide mood swings and changes in temperament and anger management. This is a time when early adolescents become very self-conscious. They are aware of their body changes, and they tend to look to peers for support. Self-concept moves away from a focus of being what parents have defined you as, to defining self. This is often done through self-critical eyes, and through input from peer groups. At this age, peer groups often consist of those who have similar types of parents and experiences. This serves as a stable support for the emerging teen. However, few teens are able to speak totally openly and honestly with each other. They typically do not engage in sharing anger with each other, or in being too critical of others in the peer group, for fear of losing the peer group's support. As a result, the individual often takes out anger, and frustrations on the family members, particularly the parents.

 

The parenting style is also important in that it serves as a model for the types of behaviors that early adolescents are expected to adhere to. These behaviors serve as a foundation for decision-making. The extent to which the parents have built strong family ties, supported a strong connection to their society and culture, and maintained normalcy, is important for the early adolescent. If raised in a consistent, strong family, the early adolescent is likely to try out new emotions and behaviors, but is not likely to experience adolescence as a "crisis."

 

Most adolescents face the emotional developmental "crisis" of determining who they are, defining themselves for themselves. Early adolescents have hopefully moved into a stage that Erikson calls "industry," in that they have learned to be productive. Next, they face the issue of determining if they will achieve identity. For many, early adolescence is a productive time, but also a time that different "personalities" are "tried out" as individuals try to determine who they are.

 

While personality traits tend to be relatively stable across the lifespan, there are some changes, and maturing of various traits as the early adolescent develops. According to the "Big 5" Personality theory, everyone has traits of neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The neuroticism/anxiety that an early adolescent exhibits will vary with the stress that is placed on the individual. For those individuals who face stress to perform in school, make choices between peers and parents, take on increasing responsibilities at home, etc., some will exhibit more stress and anxiety than others. Extraversion may also vary, as the individual may become more self-conscious and less willing to engage in interactions with others. On the other hand, many early adolescents show an increase in their willingness to be open to experience. They are capable of thinking through more abstract situations, and they tend to be more willing to try new things, especially things that their

peers are trying. Agreeableness will vary considerably by the circumstance, and the moodiness of the individual. However, those early adolescents who are generally agreeable will tend to continue this into adolescence and adulthood. Conscientiousness tends to remain fairly stable in early adolescents. Those who are conscientious will usually continue to be so, however, there may be some variation in this as moods swing.

 

Early adolescents are at increasing risk to become depressed. They start to better understand some of the realities of the world that they live in, and to question authority. With this new thinking, comes new concerns about self and others. Many times, this leads to a depression. For most, the depression is short-term. However, for some, the depression becomes long-term. Any time that depression occurs for no reason, or lasts more than six months, the individual should seek psychological help. However, few adolescents are aware of the potential serious nature of depression, and even fewer are likely to seek help for it. Some individuals seek to end their depression, stress, and mixed emotions by committing suicide. In the U.S., the suicide rate among adolescents is relatively high.

 

For some, early adolescence is a time for rebellion. In trying to figure out who they are, and deal with all of the changes they face, some turn to delinquency. They are particularly likely to do this if their peers are receiving recognition for their delinquency. Peers will play a vital role in determining whether or not someone becomes delinquent. However, just as important is the parenting type. Parents who have been too severe, or too lax,are likely to have children who are more likely to commit acts of delinquency.

 

Most middle school administrators recognize the need to hire competent counselors, social workers, and psychologists to support their students, and the students’ care-givers. The schools will have “drop in” centers and special areas that students can report to, privately, to get support and share concerns. Teachers will typically work with counseling staff to develop advisory activities to help students process emotions and deal with emotional issues in the classroom. Additionally, the school will have a parent resource center and plenty of opportunities for parents to be involved in school activities, and learning events that help build bridges between parents, students, and the school.

 

While school is important to most early adolescents, peer relationships may take precedence. In fact, confidence in social acceptance and physical appearance is often a more important predictor of self-esteem than confidence in cognitive/academic competence (Harter, 1990). Peers seek out similar peers and peer relationships form into relatively rigid cliques that differ in social status within the school (Brown, 1990).

 

The emerge of puberty, and accompanying physical changes, often leads early adolescents to seek more independence and autonomy. While early adolescents still tend to look to their parents for moral, guidance, and values, the thinking and behaviors associated with these may be challenged by the early adolescent. Additionally, early adolescents will challenge their parents on issues that are important to the adolescent, such as clothes, dating, appearance. During these years, peers become more and more important, especially for these latter issues.

 

The family situation that the early adolescent has been raised in, and the values that have been established as important serve as a background for the socialization that the early adolescent engages in, and the ways that the early adolescent strives to achieve independence. Most early adolescents start some rebellion as they try to emulate adult life, and reject family. Many believe that their parents are not very knowledgeable, and don't know what is in the best interest of the individual early adolescent. As peers become more important, the they focus on making new best friends, and dating, the expectations that are placed upon them for behavior become important. If a standard is held, and has been held throughout earlier development, the early adolescent is likely to respect that. However, if there have been inconsistent or no standards, the early adolescent is likely to go further in rejection of adults, and not look to them to play any significant role in the individual's life.

 

Selman's model of social cognition proposes that early adolescents are typically in a stage called mutual role taking. In this stage, they can take a holistic perspective of a social situation, a perspective that would be taken by a third party. Thus, they can understand the mutual nature of social relationships. However, just because they can understand them, does not mean that they consistently apply them, or use them for enhancing their own social development.

 

Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory emphasizes the importance that social friendships, social interactions, and society at large plays in developing the individual. During early adolescence, as new thinking emerges, the individual's social networks, and ways of socializing changes. As early adolescents move to thinking that they are invincible, become more preoccupied with self, and disregard the inconveniencing of others, those who wish to continue to socialize with the individual, and how others act toward the individual may change. As a result, when early adolescents need the most help in socializing appropriately, they may receive no help, as parents give up trying, siblings take rejection personally, and earlier close friends may choose new friendships. One of the most important mechanisms for continuing the social development of the individual is to maintain consistency in expectations for public behavior, and maintaining a regular schedule of socialization with parents and others.

 

In our society, boys are generally considered to be more aggressive than girls. In early adolescents, boys typically are more physically aggressive, however, girls become more verbally aggressive. They try out new thinking, new vocabulary, and new ways of rejecting others. Many early adolescent females find themselves talking without thinking, and thus causing problems with their friendships or socialization networks. On the other hand, the boys’ physical aggression is not usually vented on friends, rather cliques of boys will engage in fighting other boys. School organized physical activities, such as intramural sports serves as an approved outlet for this male aggression. For boys, and girls, that lack friendships and strong parental involvement, gang activity is more likely to become an outlet for aggression.

 

Middle school teachers and administrators usually work together to try to create appropriate social activities for students. There may be a before-school and after-school center for students to study, socialize, and be appropriately supervised. In addition, teachers will make sure that there are opportunities for students to build and use friendships in their classrooms to help facilitate learning, and build student self-esteem.

 

Novice middle school teachers are more likely to not understand the range of normal development in each of the domains, or to know when a student is at-risk because he/she is not achieving to normal developmental expectations. Therefore, it is important for the team, which hopefully has at least one expert teacher on it, to regularly consider all of the students and make sure that they believe that the normal developmental expectations are being met within each domain. If not, then the teachers need to determine in what areas they can assist in development, and when to make referrals for outside help.

 

Most middle school teachers lament that some of their students' parents fail to take responsibility for their children once the students reach middle school age. Many parents report frustration with the early adolescent challenging them, changing in behaviors and moods, choosing peers over parents, etc., and tend to disengage. Others find that the work that schools require is above what they were exposed to, and they can no longer help their children with homework. The teacher needs to make a concerted effort to explain the expectations that the school has for the parents, and for their parenting. Whenever possible, the team should agree on these, and present a united set of expectations to the parents. For some teachers, it is such things as students getting meals, clean clothes, and sleep. For other teachers, there are expectations that the students get help with homework, study time, library trips, computer time, etc. Knowing your community and the limitations that the parents have can be helpful for

the teacher in setting expectations that are appropriate.

 

The middle school teacher needs to consistently present the middle school as a place that is helpful for the early adolescent. Discipline should be non-punitive, whenever possible. The teacher should be interactive, provide learning opportunities, show interest in the individual student, and show confidence in the student to be a learner. The teacher needs to accept each individual as a different, unique person. The teacher also needs to accept that by early adolescence, some aspects of personality, emotionality, etc., are intact, and will not be modified by the individual. Rather, the focus needs to be on acceptable behaviors for the classroom.

 

The classroom needs to be a place that not only accepts the individual, but also allows the individual to express his/her emotions, and build friendships. Some teachers falsely believe that everyone in a class needs to be friends with everyone else. That is unrealistic. Rather, everyone should have the chance to know everyone else, and work with everyone else over the course of the school year. The teacher must recognize that friendships will change, and rejecting an early adolescent's friends may only serve to solidify that friendship.

 

Teachers have an obligation to be aware of the current drugs and types of alcohol that are available to their students, and might be used. They should be aware of the symptoms of use, and know what the school policy is for handling this. Many schools engage in scare tactics, or having ex-users make presentations to students. Research has found that both of these tactics actually may lead to increases in student abuse. Scare tactics tend not to work. Early adolescents take such things as a challenge. Having ex-users/abusers of drugs or alcohol present to students only shows students that there is survival. Students tend to see, but not hear the message, and may engage in more exploration after exposure to such presentations. Therefore, it is important for teachers to engage in appropriate prevention techniques on an ongoing basis. Currently, research is supporting the use of infusion techniques in which drug and alcohol awareness is infused throughout the regular curriculum, and not as a separate issue

within. For the student who is experimenting, or has made the choice to regularly use drugs or alcohol, the teacher has an obligation to try to get help for the student.

 

All teachers have an obligation to report suspected abuse and neglect. However, research is showing that teachers also have a special obligation to make sure that they are helping students process whatever happened to them in a way that will not further traumatize the individual, or lead the individual to make-up false memories. Therefore, if the teacher suspects abuse or neglect, the teacher should be careful to not ask leading questions, or make leading statements to the student. The teacher may ask if there is anything that the student wants to share. If there are visible signs, such as bruises, the teacher may ask how the student got bruised. However, if the teacher asks questions that imply that something wrong happened, that the student did something bad, or the like, the student may deny the problem or make up a memory that is not accurate.

 

How the teacher handles crisis is also very important. Crisis are different for different people. In schools, crisis may be when a student is hurt or killed, when a student is missing or abducted, when there has been a threat made, or when there is a natural disaster. For some teachers, crisis may take on other meanings, and teachers have to be careful to differentiate for students what are true crisis and what are smaller issues that nonetheless impact the learning environment. As teachers are always models for how to think and behave, the teacher needs to act appropriately, and insure that the students not only are aware of what the teacher is thinking and doing, but also have a chance to share their own thinking and behaviors related to the crisis situation.

 

Teachers are constantly communicating. They are sharing information with their students, they are interacting with team members, administration, other teachers, and parents. They also are representing the school to the community. Teachers have a special obligation with middle school students to openly communicate. They should share what they are thinking and why they are doing what they are doing. They should also provide students work that allows communication, and builds across the various developmental domains. These teachers realize that communication is a two-way interaction, and in addition to talking, they should listen carefully to students, and respect the students. Teachers who build communication opportunities are more likely to have less discipline issues in their classrooms, and to have higher achievement scores among their students.

 

4.        Assessment for CPDU/Graduate artifact

                 As a result of reading this module, you should be able to:

·          List at least five needs of the emerging adolescent

·          For each need you listed, describe how a middle school could be designed to help meet that need

 

5.        Activities (adult learner/middle level student)

• Go to a search engine, and search to find a middle school’s web site. Look at the site. Look at your list of needs, and how you think a school might meet them and try to find indicators of these on the site. As you read, you may find yourself expanding your list.
• Now, look at another middle school’s web site. Compare the two sites. Which school seems to be doing a better job of meeting the needs of its middle school students.
• Extended activity: Interview a middle school student and ascertain that student’s needs in the major developmental domains. Analyze how those needs might be met in a middle school.

 

6.        Links and other resources

• National Middle School Association at http://www.nmsa.org

 

7.        Standards (which are utilized within module)

• This module meets standards for pre-service and in-service middle school teachers, as developed by NMSA. The standards are around understanding human development, and around middle school philosophy.

 

8.        Pre-requisites

• This module does not have any pre-requisites

 

9.        Navigation process

• This module links to several different courses. It can also stand alone

 

10.    Strategies

• The primary strategy for learning in this module is reading.
• The secondary strategies are writing and using the internet.

 

11.    Learner characteristics

• The learner who uses this module may be a middle school pre-service or in-service teacher, or a parent.

 

12.    Author information

• This module is written by Sharon McNeely, Ph.D.. It draws on the work of many different authors in the field. Dr. McNeely is a Professor at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, Il

 

13.    *Modifications/Extensions for exceptional students

• This module is not designed for use with students.

 

14.    *Contextualized experiences (interactive)

• If two or more learners work on this together, they can share their lists and descriptions, look at different websites, and engage in discussion comparing their learning.

 

15.    *Technology

• This module requires that the learner use the internet as part of the process of engaging in activities that support the initial knowledge learning.

 

16.    *Reflection

• The learner can engage in reflection after completing this activity by writing up a list of characteristics of the ideal middle school based upon a particular description of an adolescent. Then, reflect on what steps would be needed to turn your school, or a school you know of, into an ideal middle school.