Current Best Practices for Adolescent Learners
This is a collaborative effort of professionals working in the field of middle level education who bring expertise directly from the middle school classroom as well as preservice preparation programs to encompass a comprehensive set of topics related to middle level education that could be used as a core text in middle grades pedagogy classes and as a support for novice teachers.
Middle School Today is clustered into major themes: adolescent development and identity, the adolescent learner, curriculum and instruction, and the contemporary middle school. The book describes the components related to adolescent development starting with simple principles from psychology regarding the physical, cognitive, and social development of adolescents. The book then explores current trends in research regarding contemporary topics such as trauma informed practices, social emotional learning, and social justice. A large section of the book is devoted to curriculum and instruction. This section will reach both broadly and deeply to the ins and outs of designing instruction, implementing instruction, and assessment across all content areas. Readers will have access to resources for teacher candidates and teacher educators to utilize in practice. Finally, the book explores the historical grounding of middle level education, relying on foundational principles from the Association of Middle Level Education (AMLE) and address how teachers can connect best practices to school settings where implementing best practice may be absent.