Taking Center Stage – Act II (TCSII)

A Portal for Middle Grades Educators

Adolescent Development

Recommendation 1—Rigor

Middle grades students are going through dramatic developmental changes physically, emotionally, and intellectually. This research-based Adolescent Development essay explain the stages of young adolescent development as they pertain to the California Department of Education’s Recommendation on Rigor.

In a classroom sit middle grades students. These students are going through drastic physical changes—much like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly—only the child does not have the opportunity to hide in a cocoon while undergoing these changes! What is observed is that these students can be moody, stubborn, and intensely emotional when either happy or sad. They are easily offended, easily embarrassed, and sensitive to criticism. Whether shy or not, they are definitely focused on the social interactions in the classroom. The teacher may find them acting out or using a lot of attention-getting behaviors.

Outside class, they are observed hugging, poking, and bumping into others either in friendly or aggressive ways. They are inconsistent in their behavior—happily on top of the world in one moment and in tears a half hour later. This description is familiar to adults working with young adolescents, but adults are unsure as to the reasons for these outward behaviors. How can what is going on inside be harnessed to challenge adolescents and enhance their success outside?

Research performed by Dr. Jay Giedd1 shows us that there is a growth spurt in the brain that peaks around sixth and seventh grades and then gradually tapers off until around age sixteen.2 The brain growth at this stage opens up areas for development, such as problem solving, reasoning, and organization.3 It is the last time in human development that this growth spurt will happen. The brain changes make the task of learning new ideas, knowledge, and skills from experience easier for young adolescents. At this age, they can still become very adept at those skills. It is not that older adolescents or adults cannot learn; it just becomes more and more difficult as a person ages.

The difficulty comes as a result of two processes: myelination and pruning. What children have learned becomes “hardwired” in the brain during adolescence.4 Hardwire means making the “information highways” in the brain (networks of brain cells created when humans learn something) permanent by a process known as myelination. Learning at a later age is also difficult because some brain cells that would give people the ability to learn other things easily have been eliminated because they were not used.5 This process gives rise to the phrase, “Use it or lose it:” what a person experiences determines which brain cells survive and which do not.6 For example, at birth, there are cells in the human brain that would enable a person to learn and speak Chinese. If a child does not hear and learn to speak the language, by around the age of 12, those particular brain cells are being eliminated. Learning Chinese later is not impossible, but it becomes increasingly difficult with age.7

Thus, middle grades is a crucial time to take advantage of this window of opportunity by building rigor and a variety of experiences into the curriculum. Exposure to new skills, activities, and patterns of behavior and thought actually change the structure of the brain.8 Adults who work with young adolescents have an opportunity to provide experiences that will increase their chance to perform well academically and meet their potential.

Teaching tips:

• Middle grades is an exciting time to teach and should not be downplayed simply because young adolescents are so easily distracted by their peers or off on an emotional roller coaster. Raleigh Philp, a former public school teacher, says that this is the time for educators to use all their enthusiasm and excitement about learning. “Now that we know how much the kind of hardwiring can make a difference in how the brain develops, it behooves us to make that much more of an effort to influence positively.” While middle grades students might not seem interested, it is the teacher’s task to package the curriculum so that the students are enticed to learn.9
• Tap into the multiple intelligences of your students: Chart birth rates in the United States or on each continent, listen to and write about bird songs, invent a game or visit a museum.10
• Instead of having students individually read a textbook chapter and then answer questions at the end, have different groups of students take different parts of the chapter and present the information in a song.11
• Challenge students with assignments that promote higher level thinking skills, such as problem-based learning, research projects, experimentation, inquiry, authentic data analysis, persuasive writing presentations, dramas, composing music, and visual analysis.12
• Inspire students to analyze instead of merely reacting to or describing a situation by asking questions that force them to view a scenario in a new light.13
• Engage higher-order thinking skills by give students assignments to write metaphors and analogies.14
• Despite its reputation, the act of summarizing requires students to delete, substitute, and retain knowledge as they analyze information.15
• Identifying similarities and differences is another simple activity that has been shown to increase academic achievement on standardized tests.
• The teen brain is particularly susceptible to novelty. Throw novelty from all sides—vary the pace and tone of your voice, dress in bell bottoms, circulate around the room, use colored board pens, bring flowers into the room, or add the scent of lemon. Incorporate items in the learning adventure that represent or stimulate all the senses.16

Parenting tips:

• Help your child with homework by expressing the message that a challenge is good for the brain.
• Work on solving fun challenges with your child to model a “can-do” attitude.
• See the TCSII section on Homework help and academic expectations in Chapter 12 for more tips on supporting school work.
• Insist that your child get outdoor exercise. Exercise stimulates new cell growth in the brain and can increase mental abilities by 20 to30 percent.17
• Encourage your child to try new and different things, but be flexible. Allow your child to change course if what is new does not suit them after experimentation.18
• All people are drawn to novelty, but when adolescents do something out of the ordinary, dopamine surges and streams throughout the brain, leaving them giddy with desire and wanting more. Allow your child to explore new hobbies and interests even though some will be out of the norm while others will be more traditional and socially acceptable, i.e., learning to cook.19
• Give your child opportunities to solve complex problems, such as “What should our family/community do about creating a green environment?”20
• Encourage your child to enroll in challenging, but not frustrating, classes in school.21
• See the section on Parental, Family, and Adults-Who-Care Involvement in Chapter 12 for more tips on involving parents.

Adolescent Development Index

Recommendation 1—Rigor Contents

Footnotes
1Barbara Strauch, The Primal Teen: What the New Discoveries About the Teenage Brain Tell Us About Our Kids, New York: Anchor Books, 2003, pp. 19-20.
2David Walsh, Why Do They Act That Way? New York: Free Press, 2004, p. 44.
3Anthony W. Jackson, P. Gayle Andrews, Holly Holland, and Priscilla Pardini, Making the Most of Middle School: A Field Guide for Parents and Others. New York: Teachers College Press, 2004, p. 17.
4Raleigh Philp, Engaging ‘Tweens and Teens: A Brain-Compatible Approach to Reaching Middle and High School Students. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2007, p. 51.
5David A. Sousa, How the Brain Learns (Third edition). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2006, p. 24.
6David Walsh, Why Do They Act That Way? New York: Free Press, 2004, p. 35.
7Raleigh Philp, Engaging ‘Tweens and Teens: A Brain-Compatible Approach to Reaching Middle and High School Students. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2007, pp. 48-49.
8Virginia W. Berninger and Todd L. Richards, Brain Literacy for Educators and Psychologists. San Diego: Academic Press, 2002, p. 85.
9Raleigh Philp, Engaging ‘Tweens and Teens: A Brain-Compatible Approach to Reaching Middle and High School Students. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2007, p. 72.
10Sheryl Feinstein, Secrets of the Teenage Brain: Research-Based Strategies for Reaching & Teaching Today’s Adolescents. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2004, p. 27.
11Anthony W. Jackson and P. Gayle Andrews, Making the Most of Middle School: A Field Guide for Parents and Others. New York: Teachers College Press, 2004. p. 19.
12Sheryl Feinstein, Secrets of the Teenage Brain: Research-Based Strategies for Reaching & Teaching Today’s Adolescents. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2004, p. 27.
13Ibid., p. 26.
14Ibid., p. 26.
15Ibid., p. 26.
16Ibid., p. 21.
17Sheryl Feinstein, Parenting the Teenage Brain: Understanding a Work in Progress. Lantham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2007, p.73.
18Ibid., p. 84.
19Ibid., p. 83.
20Ibid., p. 86.
21Ibid., p. 87.

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