The Middle School Mind

Growing Pains in Early Adolescent Brains

By (author) Richard M. Marshall, Sharon Neuman

Publication date:

21 December 2011

Length of book:

134 pages

Publisher

R&L Education

Dimensions:

241x162mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781610485845

This book is a must read for anyone in close proximity to middle schoolers. Using actual events from the lives of real teenagers, the authors (a middle school principal and a child neuropsychologist) combine perspectives to provide an engaging, light-hearted journey into the adventures and misadventures of newly-minted teens. First, the authors put to rest some long-standing misconceptions about teenage behavior. However bizarre they appear to adults, teenagers’ emotional reactions and their behaviors can no longer be explained solely by raging hormones. Using the stories as a backdrop, the authors provide emerging findings from developmental psychology and the neurosciences to explain why young teens do the things they do. The developing brain of a young teenager produces thoughts and feelings that are vastly different from an adult. Knowing this helps us to appreciate and accept the unique challenges they face.

Acknowledgments vi
Foreword vii
Chapter 1 – Middle School for Middler Schoolers 1
Chapter 2 – Middle Schoolers - Ages 12 – 14 5
Chapter 3 – Adolescent Brains 16
Chapter 4 – Identity Formation 25
Chapter 5 – Unusual Choices They Make 38
Chapter 6 – Predicaments They Get Themselves Into 47
Chapter 7 – As a Group They Want to be Heard 56
Chapter 8 – Relating to Peers and Others 66
Chapter 9 – The Gifted Teen’s Adventurous Nature 82
Chapter 10 – Academic Challenges 89
Chapter 11 – Socially They Struggle at Times 98
Chapter 12 – Emotional Episodes and Psychological Concerns 109
Chapter 13 – Powerful Points from Middle Schoolers 122
Chapter 14 – Reflections 142
Appendix 152
Reference List 157
About the Authors

Who would eat the heart of a frog pickled in formaldehyde? A middle school boy, of course, after pilfering the amphibian organ from a dissection tray in his life science class.
That story, one of many anecdotes Sharon Neuman has collected during 17 years as principal at Lakeland's Lawton Chiles Middle Academy, illustrates the sometimes inexplicable behavior of middle-school students.
Neuman and co-author Richard Marshall strive to help parents and educators understand why middle-schoolers do what they do in their just-published book, The Middle School Mind: Growing Pains in Early Adolescent Brains....

Neuman and Marshall, an associate professor of education at the University of South Florida Polytechnic, hope to promote empathy and understanding of oft-maligned early adolescents with the 130-page book. They state their premise with one declarative sentence in chapter 2: "Middle school students have gotten a bad rap."