Young Adolescents and the Middle Schools They Need: Strategies for Educators to Support Student Growth

This textbook offers comprehensive information for middle level educators on understanding and addressing the unique challenges and opportunities in teaching students in grades 5–9. It illuminates the unique developmental processes of this population—physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and identity searches—and presents strategies for fostering their healthy overall growth. Drawing from neuroscience and psychological research, early chapters provide descriptions of middle schoolers’ developmental characteristics, while the remaining chapters delve into instructional, curricular, and assessment processes that match young adolescents’ needs. Together they create an extensive and distinct roadmap for designing effective schools for young adolescents. The personal thoughts of students including those of the Global Majority, those who are LGBTQIA+, and students who are immigrants are provided, with suggestions for how teachers should respond to their experiences and needs. An emphasis on equity and the importance of promoting racial, social, and gender justice in schools is also a focus throughout, as well as the encompassing effect of modern technology and the internet on adolescents’ learning and psyches. Ideal for courses in middle level education and young adolescent development, this book supports preservice teachers to be well prepared to meet their middle level students’ learning needs, both from a developmental and equitable lens. Inservice teachers working in the middle level will also gain an up-to-date perspective on young adolescent developmental trends and teaching strategies that best support their students.