Module 1 The Middle Years Learner

Chapter 1 Defining the Middle Years

Middle years learners grow more rapidly than at any other stage (apart from during infancy), in erratic spurts and unevenly through all areas of development, with a wide range of diversity between individuals maturity. Generally, there is a transition from concrete thinking to abstract thinking.

5 key areas of adolescent development are:

Intellectual: curious, motivated to achieve when challenged, capable of critical and complex thinking.

Social: intense need to belong and be accepted by peers, while finding their own place in the world. Engaged in forming and questioning their identities on many different levels.

Physical: mature at varying rates and go through rapid and irregular physical growth, with bodily changes that can cause awkward and uncoordinated movements.

Emotional and Psychological: vulnerable and self-conscious, often experience unpredictable mood swings.

Moral: idealistic, want to have an impact on making the world a better place.

(Turning Points, n.d.).

Chapter 2 The Teenage Brain

Three ways in which I will use the information I gained from the ‘Born to Learn’ and ‘The Teenage Brain’ videos in my teaching of adolescent students are:

• I will try to develop an environment where students can be curious by posing questions, problems and scenarios—rather than simply presenting established facts or portraying a smooth path to knowledge (inquiry based learning).
• Teach students facts about the different risks they take and the effects on adolescents, as well as their increased capacity for learning during these years more than at any other time in their lives, so they can make decisions based on the facts.
• I will try to be understanding of their behaviours that evidence shows is part of adolescent development and is not something within their/my/parents/others control.

(Born to Learn, 2011, March 11; Jensen, 2008).

Chapter 3 Stages of Learning Development

Observations I have made about middle years students and their learning development from:

‘Essential Learning Skills Accumulated Through the Stages of Development’ table

·        Knowing these essential skills gives me knowledge and confidence for developing a learning plan, lessons and activities for my placement.

·        Activities should at times incorporate some form public speaking, collaborative work with peers, applicable and relative to the students

·        Work should build character strengths such as; cooperation skills, conflict resolution, emotional regulation, assertiveness, problem solving, team building and leadership qualities. I learnt techniques for teaching all of these in Outdoor Education and did not realise that it would be just as prevalent in the class room, but is great that it is as they are important in student learning- and I know something! Yay!

·        The essential thinking skills shows that learning content needs to be something that they have to work for and that I will need to use a lot of strategies to address their needs, which is great because it means that I won’t get bored, and hopefully neither will they.

(Bellhouse, Johnstone, Fuller, & Deed, 2004). 

‘Research-Based Human Developmental Continuum’ table

·        It reiterates things that I am learning such as their social emotional learning stage, their lack of frontal lobe maturity being responsible for a lot of their behaviours, and the importance of collaborative work and active learning for this age group.

·        I wasn’t aware that self-assessment and teaching metacognitive strategies was important in middle years learners, so that is good to know.

(Armstrong, 2006).

‘The Best Schools’ video

·        The focus of standardise testing in schools is stressing out students more that it is helping them to develop, achieve and progress. We should be looking more at what helps children to achieve, rather than testing and ranking them, and putting heaps of pressure on them in the process.

·        Test scores focus on one area of intelligence, thus is not a holistic way of developing a whole person.

(Armstrong, 2011).

Chapter 4 Teaching and Learning Strategies

Four strategies to create a culture of success in middle school are: embrace their social nature; develop growth mindsets; provide structure; take time to breathe (Vierstra, 2015). Do these strategies cater adequately for the learning needs of adolescents?

PMI Chart

Plus	Minus	Interesting
Embrace their social nature -Students thrive on relationships with each other and the teachers/differentiating teaching to individual needs/partner and group work/peer teaching and assessment/formative assessment/teaching leadership skills/doubling up to cement things in their minds. (This is in accordance with the other reading materials from this module.) -Teach students not to be afraid of failure or getting something wrong, areas of weakness are where we still need to grow (realising this helps teacher and student to maintain their sanity).	Embrace their social nature -The students in the video ‘Relationships, Routines, and Rethinking the Lesson’ (RRRL) (Teaching Channel, 2016) seem very well behaved, what if the students I teach are not? Will I still be able to achieve a good outcome? -If you start out with a good relationship with the students you can trust them- which is great- but what if I don’t start out with a good relationship with them?!?	Embrace their social nature -How interactive the Math class is in the (RRRL) video- this was definitely not the case when I was in High School! -How the teacher creates an atmosphere where students can make mistakes and not understand things. -‘Qualifying’ students who have proved they can master a skill, to teach their peers- this makes the class more interactive, collaborative, and gives the teacher time to assess others. -How do you coach peer tutors to teach a skill and not tell the answer? -Ensure long-term mastery of a skill, not just regurgitation of what the teacher has told them. Maybe use it (for Math) to calculate real life things. -1 Glow and 1 Grow- what you felt that you learned and are confident with, and what you think you need to work on. -A mirror as you leave the class with ‘YOU’ written at the top, and ‘mathematician’ written at the bottom. -Harness the energy that students want to use to have an off-topic conversation and apply it to a conversation on the topic. -Pair students with their friends. -Get students to explain to their partner how they knew- what they had to do to get the answer. -The teacher in the video looks like he’s doing a really good job, but he said that last year it was a hot mess with kids all over the place- meaning that even if it doesn’t start great there’s every likelihood that it’ll get better.
Develop Growth Mindsets -Praise the process rather than the product. -Create clear goals. -Model what you want to see from the students. - Encourage students to persist through challenges. -Teach students that they can grow their brains. -Teach them to be problem-solvers. -Encourage struggle with wait time. -Frame struggle as part of the learning and growing.	Develop Growth Mindsets -Encourage students to ask for help when they’re stuck (Teaching Channel, 2016). This is ok with younger students in the video, as well as older students, though sometimes they need to be encouraged to try to work out answers themselves.	Develop Growth Mindsets -Referring to students as scientists or engineers. Tell students how important iteration/repetition/practice is. Tell students how they can be more powerful and knowledgeable and learn more through collaboration. Use empowering language. -Normalise that people are going to get stuck at different parts and find bits challenging (talk about the struggle), so they can feel excited about thinking about strategies for tackling the problem. -Ask students to justify their answers with reasoning and evidence, this illuminates their understanding or misunderstanding. The teacher can also see if there is any gaps or holes in their understanding.
Provide structure -Classroom routines can help the feel safe and comfortable. -Graphic organisers. -Work on student confidence in speaking. -Active and kinaesthetic learning with real life examples of things they interact with every day (students can see and feel the way things work while they learn how they work). -Build responsibility in   students for their learning and their actions in life.	Provide structure -Too many routines and structures can also stifle the independent spirit of a middle schooler.	Provide structure -Balance routine and variety in the classroom (I thought variety was the most important-but turns out no). -You can use routine and variety at the same time! In the video Rising to the Challenge with Literature Circles, the 5th grade teacher uses roles and protocols to keep his literature circles on track, but builds in options and rotations to keep his middle schoolers on their toes (Teaching Channel, 2016). -Don’t tell students what is expected of them, get them to tell you reasonable behaviour for learning. E.g. in the video, teacher asks students what to do when they are speaking in the ‘Literature Circle’ and what they need to do if they are listening. -STEAL is an acronym students can use to analyse a character: Says; Thinks; Effects on others; Looks. -Capture their thinking: Step 1. Show your evidence; Step 2. Come to some conclusion; Step 3. Apply that conclusion to draw another conclusion about that character. -In the ‘Exploring Real World Energy Transformations’ (Teaching Channel, 2016), students know that they are all responsible for each other and everyone’s success. -Observation Table for learning about real world energy transformations. -Working in smaller groups (6-7) means that they can get into deeper conversations that some might not have the confidence to do with the whole group (I’m that kid). They can work through things together and if they need help they just put their hand up to ask a question. -Exit tickets are silent tasks where they fill in the blanks on a sheet of paper and then the teacher can know which students understood (formative assessment).
Take time to breathe -Be welcoming and greet students in a positive way. -Investing in social emotional health is working on them doing well long term. -Using reflection activities to promote mindfulness in the students.	Take time to breathe -There may not be enough time to focus on this as well as the many other things that a teacher needs to ensure they are teaching their students. -There has to be a provable academic link to teaching things other than the subject content, even if it is something that is taught to improve the emotional health in students. It’s great when it turns out that way, but sometimes well-being needs to be promoted for well-being’s sake.	Take time to breathe -Mindfulness practices such as deep breathing and guided relaxation help students be present in the classroom. -They may need this more during more stressful times such as when tests are coming up or depending on the time of year -We never know what baggage students are coming to school with. -The skills that make up social emotional health are things that employers look for and friends look for in a person. -Mindfulness helps teachers to deal with student issues from many areas of their lives where they may be struggling. -The teacher can prepare them with strategies to work through those struggles. -It can be used as a strategy to calm children down in your class when they have many things on their minds instead of things like saying ‘I love the way Bob is sitting nice and calmly’ and hoping the others will follow suit. -The teacher in the ‘Mindfulness in the Classroom’ video (Teaching Channel, 2016) said they can be integrated into other classes such as Science- how?

Top 10 strategies from ‘The Adolescent Learner Key Questions About Adolescents and Win-Win Teacher Responses’ chapter that I can use when teaching middle years students (Bongolan, Moir & Baron, 2010, pp. 5-16). 

1. “Introduce academic concepts by making meaningful connections to students’ lives” (p. 7). They want to know that what they are learning has meaning and purpose (p. 8). So if they question me about the value of what they are learning, it will be good if I have a response that shows the content has meaning, usefulness, or adds potential value to their lives. 
2. “Take time to identify and then articulate to students the “whys””. “It is your responsibility to help students understand how smaller bits of information connect to larger, enduring subject matter concepts, essential questions and applications, and (better yet) how this information is connected to students’ lives!” (p. 8). I think that letting the students know the learning goals for the lesson is closely connected to this.
3. “Use movement and peer interactions”. Use a variety of interactions, and take time to observe trends in student engagement preferred learning styles. Use a variety of learning strategies such as visual, kinaesthetic, hands-on and tactile. Incorporate some sociocultural styles of engagement and communication, like storytelling, cooperative group activities, rhythmic call-and response dialogues, debates, or presentations (p. 7).
4. “Flex and reflect”. Let the students know I am trying to support and advance their skills (p. 8). I think I do this anyway…
5. “Model expert reading skills and help students make connections to concepts they’ll encounter in text”. “Despite the importance of demonstrations, visuals, and projects that engage students in learning new content, there is no way around the fact that skilful, independent reading is still the most efficient means by which one can acquire considerable amounts of advanced-level information” (pp. 8-9). Use strategies to teach students reading to understand dense, detailed text that describes advanced subject-specific concepts. “Support students to make these connections by demonstrating the skills you use to think and read like an…” outdoor professional or… geographer-someone who has something to do with geography…? (p. 9).
6. “Offer strong anticipatory (i.e., introductory) activities that clearly connect new ideas to examples, resources, references, or contexts that are socioculturally relevant or familiar to your students” (p. 9). This is more likely to more likely to foster initial student interest quickly, build background knowledge, and sustain engagement” (p. 9).
7. “Show respect for students. Affirm students’ progress in learning academic concepts, successes in reaching certain goals, and improvement in behaviours that benefit them as learners. At all cost, avoid put-downs and sarcasm in your feedback to students (even if this type of back-and forth is prevalent among some students) and use neutral, direct language to coach them toward ways to improve” (p. 9).
8. “Respond and/or give corrective feedback” (p. 10). For work, behaviour and productive participation.  Feedback should happen as soon as possible and often. Engage students in self-assessment.
9.  “Invest time in knowing who your students are and what they bring”. Each student brings multidimensional strengths and has individual instructional needs (p. 10). “As an individual teacher, you can do something as simple as routinely ask students about their experiences linked to a concept you are about to teach. This signals that you value their perspectives and potential contributions. Your instruction can create another kind of draw for students when aspects about their lives are respectfully and appropriately woven into a few strategic lessons” (p. 11).
10. “View your classroom as a place to establish a different community of peers. Your enthusiasm, team-building efforts, meaningful questions, and even what you display on your classroom walls can help foster students’ interaction with subject matter content and one another, as well as with you” (p. 11).

How academic behaviours, academic perseverance, academic mindsets, learning strategies and social skills can impact the learning of adolescents, from Chapter 2 of Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners: The Role of Noncognitive Factors in Shaping School Performance (Farrington, Roderick, Allensworth, Nagaoka, Keyes, Johnson, & Beechum, 2012, pp. 8-14).

Ch. 2: Five categories of noncognitive factors

Academic Behaviour (p. 8).

• Going to class, doing homework, organizing materials, and participating.
• Usually the actions associated with being a good student, and important for achievement- all other noncognitive factors work through academic behaviours to affect performance.
• Many academic behaviours are noncognitive, but are directly related to how well one does in a class and their performance in school.
• Visible signs student is engaged and putting in effort, often an outcome of student interest.

Academic Perseverance (p. 9).

• Grit, tenacity, delayed gratification, self-discipline, and self-control.
• Influences academic behaviours and performance.
• “Students stay focused on a goal despite obstacles (grit or persistence) and forego distractions or temptations to prioritize higher pursuits over lower pleasures (delayed gratification, self-discipline, self-control)”.
• Students put hard work into task to achieve to the best of their ability, rather than the bare minimum just to pass.
• It’s “a critical factor for students’ long-term educational attainment and is often the explicit goal of the growing focus on noncognitive factors”.

Academic Mindsets (pp. 9-10).

• It’s the psycho-social attitudes or beliefs one has about oneself in relation to academic work: “I belong in this academic community. My ability and competence grow with my eort. I can succeed at this. This work has value for me.”
• Positive academic mindsets motivate students to persist at schoolwork (perseverance manifested through better academic behaviour). There is a reciprocal relationship among the three: “Strong academic performance “validates” positive mindsets, increases perseverance, and reinforces strong academic behaviours”. Note- it can also work in a negative loop.

Learning Strategies (pp. 10-11)

• Study skills, metacognitive strategies, self-regulated learning and goal-setting.
• “Learning Strategies are processes and tactics one employs to aid in the cognitive work of thinking, remembering, or learning” and also involves the first 3 points to be effective.
• Learning strategies allow students to leverage academic behaviours to maximize learning including: strategies to help one recall facts; strategies for monitoring one’s own comprehension; strategies to self-correct when one detects confusion or errors in one’s thinking; goal-setting; and time management.
• Helping students to learn effectively is an area of research that bridges academic behaviours, subject-specific cognitive domains of learning, metacognition, and self-regulated learning processes.

Social Skills (pp. 11-13)

• Interpersonal skills, empathy, cooperation, assertion, and responsibility.
• Is involved in academic behaviours and performance.
• “Social skills are acceptable behaviours that improve social interactions, such as those between peers or between student and teacher”.
• They are important for future work and life outcomes. Social skills enable students to work with peers and adults to accomplish academic goals and are a critical factor for adolescents in connection with career readiness (people skills/effective communication/problem solving skills/collaborative working skills).
• Particularly important to teach in Primary grades.
• Related to academic performance in classes where the social and cooperative aspects of learning are maximised (not lectures).
• Social skills “effects on academic performance are largely indirect; they are enacted through students’ behaviours in the classroom”.

Two other resources that will help me with my teaching of adolescents:

1. Mind, Brain, & Education (Sousa, 2010). It uses research in neuroscience to tell us what is happening in the brains of adolescents, and what implications this has in the classroom. We were assigned to read a section of this in trimester 1, and I liked it so much that I bought the book.
2. Managing Your Classroom with Heart (Ridnouer, 2006), is a guide to an approach to teaching students to aspire to be their best. I want to do this, and have a good relationship with my students so that teaching is fun and not too scary and hard.

Chapter 5 Transitions

There is a range of transitions that a middle school student is likely to encounter including; primary to high school and associated friendship transitions; puberty and all the emotional changes involved in that; cognitive brain development; bodily growth.

Here’s my prediction of the effects of these transitions on the young person:

I think most children in the middle years are pretty resilient so long as they have some support in their home, school and social lives.

I think most students will have some inhibitions in relation to school and other necessary transitions, though there are some that are less resilient, and preparing and supporting these students, as well as teaching them social emotional skills (namely resilience) is especially important.

The more of these transitions coinciding could elevate the sense of instability for some students.

Transitions may also be a source of excitement; many girls are excited to begin to show the physical changes that come with puberty as long as it does not happen well before or after the rest of their peer group.

References

Armstrong, T. (2006). The best schools: How human development research should inform educational practice. ASCD. Retrieved from https://lms.latrobe.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=1993685&chapterid=124882

Bellhouse, R., Johnstone, G., Fuller, A., & Deed, C. (2004). Social, emotional and cognitive development and its relationship to learning school - prep to year 10, Melbourne: Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. Retrieved from https://lms.latrobe.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=1993685&chapterid=124882

Bongolan, R., Moir, E., & Baron, W (Eds.). (2009). Keys to the secondary classroom: A teacher’s guide to the first months of school. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin A SAGE Company.

Born to Learn. (2011, March 11). Born to learn [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=falHoOEUFz0

Farrington, C. A., Roderick, M., Allensworth, E., Nagaoka, J., Keyes, T. S., Johnson, D. W., & Beechum, N. O. (2012). Teaching adolescents to become learners: The role of noncognitive factors in shaping school performance-A critical literature review. Chicago, IL: Consortium on Chicago School Research.

Ridnouer, K. (2006). Managing Your Classroom with Heart. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Sousa, D. A. (E.d.). (2010). Mind, Brain, & Education. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press

Teaching Channel. (2016). Encouraging students to persist through challenges [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2015/08/14/growth-mindset-made-visible-perts/

Teaching Channel. (2016). Exploring real world energy transformations [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/middle-school-science-lesson

Teaching Channel. (2016). Mindfulness in the classroom [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/social-emotional-lesson-plans 

Teaching Channel. (2016). Rising to the Challenge with Literature Circles [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/literature-circles-in-action

Teaching Channel. (2016). Relationships, Routines, and Rethinking the Lesson [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/finding-slope-lesson 

Turning Points. (n.d.). At the Turning Point: The Young Adolescent Learner. Retrieved from http://www.turningpts.org/pdf/YALGuide2.pdf

Jensen, F. E. (2008, September 11). The Teenage Brain part 1 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpMG7vS9pfw

Jensen, F. E. (2008, September 11). The Teenage Brain part 2 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JRxwVpXFB0

Jensen, F. E. (2008, September 11). The Teenage Brain part 3 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG7VZKl375g

Vierstra, G. (2015, October 16). Four strategies to create a culture of success in middle school [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2015/10/16/success-in-middle-school-edtx/