Young Adolescent Development

The Boy in the Middle

The social, intellectual, emotional, and physical needs of middle schoolers The Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) emphasizes that attending to the social, intellectual, emotional, and physical needs and assets of middle school children is central to their intellectual development. As middle level teacher educators, it has become apparent to us that there is great

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Triage, Not Emergency

Watching for even the small details can create a responsive culture that meets the social, emotional, and academic needs of students I bet you didn’t know that you signed up to be a triage nurse now did you? Meeting the social, emotional, and academic needs of middle school students is a lot like working the

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Help Your Students Combat Cruelty by Making Kindness Go Viral

Four ideas to encourage middle schoolers to choose kindness In recent years, there has been a renewed focus on intentionally fostering kindness and practicing peer respect. We don’t want youth to simply not do the wrong thing, but do what is right instead—treat their peers with respect, compassion, and empathy. To be sure, sometimes educators

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How can I help my students keep organized amidst so many distractions at home and at school?

This is part 4 in “Mentor Me” questions about Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). There are five components of SEL: self-awareness, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, social awareness, and self-management. Classrooms where teachers both overtly and organically teach these crucial skills give students the tools they need to be successful. When I get anxious, I write things

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Middle School Gossip

When two seventh graders lead a staff meeting about social drama Seventh-grade teacher Laura Merrill looked around the room and asked her colleagues to close their computers. “If our students are brave enough to present to the entire staff,” she said, “we can give them our full attention.” The presenters, Thomas and Ian, are typical

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