Standard 1: Young Adolescent Development
Middle level teacher candidates understand and apply the major concepts, principles, theories, and
research related to young adolescent development that support student development and learning.
Example 1:
Artifact: Young Adolescent Cultural Inquiry Project
Title: West Wilkes Middle School Cultural Inquiry
Medium: PowerPoint Presentation
Technology Used: Google Drive survey, Microsoft PowerPoint, Teacher Wiki Pages, Internet
research
Overview: In the Young Adolescent Culture Inquiry Project, our group focused on the middle
school at which we interned every week, West Wilkes Middle School. This middle school is in
Wilkes County, and we looked into the statistics for this particular county to get a better
understanding of the area. We also surveyed the students in our respective classes to get a grasp
on the culture of the middle grades age group.
Rationale:
The Young Adolescent Cultural Inquiry Project provided an opportunity for me to further
develop my understanding of the middle schoolers I have been interning with this semester. The
project aimed to gather a large amount of information from across the grade levels to learn about
the cultural difference among the students. Apart from obtaining information on the student’s
culture I also tried to assemble a extensive list of the students’ likes and dislikes so I could try to
strengthen my teaching around their interests.
The development of young adolescents may be the most difficult thing to grasp as a
middle school teacher. Every student goes through different changes at different times and at
different rates. Going into this project however, I was surprised to find how many differences
there actually were among the students at West Wilkes Middle School. Wilkes County is a very
rural place with a large majority of students who are white and go through similar experiences
due to the boundaries the county possess. The individuals at West Wilkes, in actuality, exhibited
a wide range of physical, cognitive, moral, psychological, and social development. No two
students were the same and they each portrayed their culture in a different light. Completing this
survey was not only beneficial to me as a prospective teacher but also helped the students better
understand each other. One of my goals I had for this survey was to establish a mutually
respectful relationship among the young adolescents. Learning about culture differences is
important but understanding another’s culture is even more significant in a student’s education.
My hope is to share this information with teachers too in hope to create productive learning
environments in the school where the individual differences are respected and supported rather
than swept under the rug and ignored.
Example 2:
Artifact: Young Adolescent Advocacy Project
Title: Positive and Negative Affects of Middle School Sports
Medium: PowerPoint Presentation
Technology Used: Microsoft PowerPoint, Internet research
Overview: An integral part of middle grades education is advocating for the students
cognitively, emotionally, and psychologically. The purpose of the Young Adolescent Advocacy
Project was to promote advocacy for a particular group of young adolescents. For my YAA
project, I chose to advocate for middle school athletes.
Rationale:
The Young Adolescent Advocacy Project provided me the opportunity to choose any
topic that I felt had a potential for advocacy and one that I felt needed to be addressed with my
fellow future teachers. The project aimed to gather multiple sources of research to ascertain the
history, statistics, and different perspectives of middle school sports. Apart from finding peerreviewed articles online, I also interviewed a former avid athlete as well as my supervising
teacher from West Wilkes Middle School.
Young adolescents are all different, but they all deserve to participate in a
developmentally responsive sports program that includes multiple interscholastic non-cut teams
as well as intramurals. In these sports programs, the coaches, teachers, and parents must all be
involved in order to make it a positive experience for the students. Coaches must be nurturing
and encouraging. Teachers and parents must be fans but also motivate academic success. Safety
precautions and rule adjustments must be made so students get the most out of being on a team if
they so choose to be. Health and wellness through safe physical fitness and sporting teams must
be a main goal of a good interscholastic/intramural program. Through my research, I have
learned that it is truly the entire school’s responsibility to provide advocacy for all students,
athletes and non-athletes alike.
Athletes not only need to be advocated for on their prospective sports teams but more
importantly in the classroom. The positive relationships teachers and coaches build with their
students is crucial to have a healthy relationship with sports. Coaches and teachers must be
leaders and knowledgeable about the developmental status of young adolescents to ensure a safe,
inviting, and fun atmosphere. This will in turn help raise school pride and a positive school
culture. Families and community members are also a big part of creating a school culture. They
are the fans and the supporters that young adolescents need to see cheering them on in whichever
path they choose, sports or not sports.
Example 3:
Artifact: IEP Meeting Notes
Title: IEP Meeting
Medium: Microsoft Word
Overview: This meeting was held as a yearly follow-up update meeting for a student with
Autism. During a school day, this student is in two classes that are labeled inclusion and two
classes in a separate setting with the EC teacher. We discussed how this student always wishes to
succeed in class and how far this student has come this year. We also raised the question of
retesting this student: is it necessary to retest this student.
Rationale:
Standard one of ASU’s Middle Grades Standards states that a successful middle grades teaching
candidate “develops plans to collaborate with colleagues, families, and community partners for
the benefit of young adolescents.” Sitting in on this IEP meeting provided me the opportunity to
witness how conscientious and tactful the EC teacher and the other teachers were in their
feedback to the parents. Throughout the whole meeting, they were very kind, patient, and you
could tell they really cared about the student’s well being. The EC teacher in particular
advocated for both the student and the parents by telling the parents that testing wasn’t necessary
this year because the autistic diagnosis surely wouldn’t change; however, it was up to them. She
proceeded to ask the student his opinion on retesting. The mother in particular seemed very
responsive yet a little apprehensive to the feedback given by the EC teacher and other teachers
present. The mother decided to get her child retested.