| Think
back, for a moment, to the time when you were a young adolescent.
For many of us, it was a time of unbridled enthusiasm,
explosive physical growth, emotional turmoil, sexual
stirrings, unlimited curiosity, and extreme confusion.
It was a time for experimentation, for risk-taking, for wing-spreading, and for wanting desperately to be treated as an adult while acting, well, like an obnoxious know-it-all. With all the changes in our lives, it's not surprising that many of us ranged from mediocre-minus to mediocre-plus. We'd show occasional signs of brilliance, then bumble for long stretches into some bone-headed endeavor. Ahhhh. The middle years. The wonder years. The range of the strange. Walking hormones. Harleys in heat. It's a time that parents hope passes quickly and safely. We forget what it was like to be that age, or remember it all too well. We sometimes fear that aliens have inhabited the bodies of our sons and daughters. | It really is hard to understand the changes and
complexities of the middle years once we've passed through them.
"Young people undergo more rapid and profound personal changes during the years between 10 and 15 than at any other period of their lives," write the authors of This We Believe, the National Middle School Association's manifesto on middle school education. "Although growth in infancy is also very extensive, infants are not the conscious witnesses of their development as are young adolescents. These developmental processes, while natural and necessary, often constitute challenges for youngsters as well as for their teachers, parents, and others entrusted with responsibility for their healthy development and education." In this issue of Northwest Education, we look at the advances and issues involved in educating the children in the middle. We visit a blue ribbon middle school in Montana and a suburban middle school in Idaho. | We talk with teachers and
students at an inner-city middle school in Portland, and we tag
along with middle school kids who are involved in a habitat
restoration project in Washington. We look into health and
safety, interdisciplinary teams, integrated
curriculum, and other issues relevant to the
middle years. We also tap into the Internet to see what middle
school educators are saying about block scheduling, an issue
that is sparking controversy in middle schools across the
country.
Throughout, we sprinkle the thoughts, opinions, and feelings of middle school students. Their voices and views provide compelling evidence that kids in the middle need all the support, encouragement, and mentoring that we can provide. We hope you find this issue of Northwest Education informative, useful, and enlightening. As always, we welcome your feedback and urge you to write us at Northwest Education, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 101 S.W. Main Street, Suite 500, Portland, Oregon 97204. You can also e-mail your letters to nwedufeedback@nwrel.org. We look forward to hearing from you. |
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Date of Last Update: 9/28/01 
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