The Nature and Needs of Early Adolescents
Extracurriculars might teach students life skills
After-school opportunities give teens, who more often mimic their peers than risk being different, a chance to experiment within a safe environment. "Kids need the opportunity to take risks and learn from them," said Abigail Baird, a Vassar College director of adolescent studies. "After-school programs can provide the perfect opportunity to experiment."
The Providence Journal (R.I.) (free registration) (4/8)
Motivating Students in the Middle Years
http://snipurl.com/edwk_motivatingms
This in-depth feature story in Education Week (March 18) reports on the progress of middle school improvement in the decade since the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform organized to "infuse higher academic standards into what critics deemed the touchy-feely world of middle schools." Ten years later, Kathleen Kennedy Manzo writes, "many teachers are still grappling with ways to motivate students to excel intellectually while helping them adapt to the dramatic physical and emotional changes that come with puberty."
Manzo visits high poverty Rogers-Herr Middle School in Durham NC (chosen by the Forum as a "school to watch") to see how one school is meeting the challenge to provide a "mix of rigor, relevance, and responsiveness." Non-subscribers can read this story after going through a quick no-cost registration process.
Current Middle Level Issues: Robert Spear, NELMS Executive Director, interview on "School Talk" television show.
Look for Show #497.
