All in for Middle Level Education Month!
You can’t write an ABCs blog about middle level education with the letter A and not write about Adolescents. Not only are they the reason why we celebrate Middle Level Education Month in March, but they are the main magnificent reason why we do what we do. They are also the reason we don’t what we don’t. What does that mean? In order to answer that curious question, it’s important to remind ourselves about their unique characteristics because they are unlike anybody else on this planet.
In This We Believe (pp. 53-62), we are reminded about the true nature of adolescent achievement. Typically, when we talk about achievement, we discuss grades, added-value, measured progress, and assessment results, but these pages always help me remember that adolescents are trying to achieve in many different areas. Specifically, they are trying to find success in 5 key areas we can’t ignore:
- Physical: Adolescents are going through the most rapid physical change of their lives, and they are doing so at irregular rates. That’s why we have students in the same school who are already gifted athletes sprinting, throwing, and dancing like professionals as well as students who are earnestly working through the essentials of coordination, balance, and movement.
- Cognitive-Intellectual: Like their bodies, adolescents’ brains are also growing and changing at a rapid rate, and that change can be similarly uneven. That’s why they tend to act impulsively and make risky decisions without thinking them all the way through. There are changes going on in the frontal lobe; in the myelin sheath; in the synapses; and in the mental processing that affect foresight, organization, time-management and more. In addition, the increase in hormones affects how the brain responds to stress, fatigue, and crisis. That’s why we have students who are making tremendous leaps in abstract, divergent thinking as well as students who are working through concrete, sequential thinking. In fact, the only other time that we develop this quickly is birth to three years old.
- Moral-ethical: Adolescents are beginning to see their immediate world and the larger world as the morally complicated landscapes they are. As a result, our students are often at conflict with the world as it is and the world as they think/hope/dream it should be. Their “moral thermometers” are still taking shape as they gauge the ethical temperature of a situation; therefore, in their search for justice, they sometimes are quick to measure others’ flaws while they are slow to see those same flaws in themselves. That’s why we have students who are able to grasp society’s missteps (and its magnificence) and help peers solve conflicts as well as students who are raging because they feel like no one gets them, the world is totally messed up, and they are all alone.
- Psychological: Adolescents are wrestling with issues of identity at all times: figuring out who they are, who they used to be, who they want to be, how they fit in, how they stand out, why they matter, what/who matters to them, and more. As the rest of the world speeds by them with all the answers, it’s like they’re riding bikes in deep, soft sand: unbalanced, unsteady, difficult. At the same time, many young adolescents cry out for trust to express their identity and independence, yet many times, they aren’t quite sure what to do when they are given a wide berth of freedom. They are, in short, both psychologically vulnerable and resilient. That’s why we have students who are already developing strong, confident identities, passions and interests as well as students who are working through the gossamer of their selves every minute of every day.
- Social-emotional: Adolescents are examining external social situations that are increasingly complex, and they are trying to navigate those often turbulent waters using internal compasses and other tools that are still developing. That’s why they sometimes misread and overreact to verbal and nonverbal language while wearing their hearts like vibrant neon lights on their sleeves. That’s why we have students who are able to work cooperatively and be friends with anyone as well as students whose friends turn into frenemies and enemies and back again from homeroom to lunch.
So what does all of this mean to educators and other folks who work with young adolescents? First, awareness is a great first step that leads to service. When we are aware (and we make others aware), we are better able to meet young adolescents’ unique needs. Second, positive change for young adolescents begins with that pronoun: we. It’s not enough for one person on the grade level, team, or school to talk about meeting the needs of the whole child. It’s about we. And us. It has to be a common acknowledgement of and commitment to the fact that young adolescents need learning environments that are “Developmentally Responsive, Challenging, Empowering, and Equitable” (This We Believe, p. 14). Because our students are filled with so much potential and possibility. They can be boisterous. They can be brilliant. They can be challenging. They can be change-agents. They can be demonstrative. They can be dreamers. They can be lazy. They can be leaders. They can be selfish. They can be selfless. They can be wild. They can be wonderful. We embrace the fact that a young adolescent has the potential to make us tear up from laughing or tear our hair out from frustration. We realize that a young adolescent has the potential to make us overjoyed from a sudden epiphany they’ve had or overwhelmed from their lack of foresight and decision-making. We know that a young adolescent has the potential to make us feel like a distinguished educator who can do no wrong or like an extinguished educator who can do no right. And those of us who work with young adolescents are thankful because all of that swirling potential is what fills our days with such energy and limitless possibility.
So how will you and your school celebrate young adolescents (and those who serve them) every day—and especially during the days in March for Middle Level Education Month?