Young Adolescent Development

The Most Important Instructional Conversation of Our Time

An Interview with the Authors of Successful Middle School Instructional Technology In their newly released book, Successful Middle School Instructional Technology, authors Ryan Ruggles and Tim Schigur advocate for schools to develop a common language and approach to instructional technology within the middle grades setting. I sat down with the authors to talk about why

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How We Used the Changing By the Minute Documentary for Powerful Professional Development

These are challenging times in education, and middle school educators are looking for encouragement and inspiration about how to best engage this unique age group. Enter the amazing, uplifting, and sometimes provocative documentary Changing by the Minute which captures one school’s remarkable and memorable efforts to help young adolescents thrive. The Center School (the public

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Research to Practice: Addressing Student Motivation in the Middle Grades

About a month into her student teaching semester, Melissa voiced frustration about one student who just would not engage in social studies class. Gregory seemed disinterested and apathetic, and he seldom completed his assignments. Melissa was determined to make a breakthrough, but how? How could she get Gregory engaged in social studies? How could she

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Let’s Talk about Sex…Education in the Middle Grades

Sexual education is a rite of passage for middle schoolers, but how it’s delivered varies widely from state to state and school to school. In the February, 2023 edition of Middle School Journal, Yvonne Allsop and colleagues describe how a collaborative, cross-discipline team worked together to create a virtual sexual health education curriculum for the

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All Middle Schoolers are Superheroes in the Making: How to help kids build psychological resiliency in an increasingly complicated world

I say often, “Kids are kids, no matter where they learn.” I still believe that’s true, but today’s middle schoolers have endured so much and I have seen wide variance in their ability to thrive through the challenges of the past few years. It’s no wonder parents and educators continue to struggle to support them

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Teens interacting at school

Ethics and SEL in the Post-COVID Classroom

Introduction While the world seems to have largely moved beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, its impact remains. The pandemic was a harrowing time for all of us, but it had perhaps the most profound effect on education. While this experience revealed the bravery and perseverance of both students and teachers, it nevertheless came with challenges—and we’re

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