Young Adolescents and the Middle Schools They Need

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.

Dave F. Brown (He/him/his) is an educational researcher, former middle grades teacher and Professor Emeritus in the College of Education and Social Work at West Chester University, USA. He is the Executive Director of the Vermont Association for Middle Level Education (VAMLE), on the Board of Directors for the New England League of Middle Schools (NELMS), and a member of the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) Equity in the Middle Grades Committee.

1. Do You Have What It Takes? 2. Ensuring Equity 3. Young Adolescents' Identity Development 4. Young Adolescents' Physical Development 5. Powerful Learning Machines: Young Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Growth 6. Self-Discovery: Emotional, Social, and Moral Development 7. Why Should I Return to Your Class? Creating Communities of Care 8. Essential Interventions for Young Adolescents 9. What Happens in Real Middle Level Schools 10. Curricula That Students Want and Need 11. Designing Learning That Fuels Student Motivation 12. Stop Evaluating Students: Engage Them in Assessment 13. Be the Change for Young Adolescents