Young Adolescent Development

Social and Emotional Learning through YA Literature

Classroom strategies for using literature to help students with daily struggles It didn’t take long to realize Marissa was not going to be focused on the day’s lesson. Shortly after arriving in class, she took her seat, placed her head in her hands, and started crying. She shared that her best friend had betrayed her.

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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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