Middle School Brains: Teaching the Distracted

By Alan HaskvitzcloseAuthor: Alan Haskvitz Name: Alan Haskvitz
Site: http://reacheverychild.com
About: Alan Haskvitz is a member of the National Teachers Hall of Fame and has been recognized many times as one of the nation's most successful and innovative teachers. Accounts of his students' accomplishments have been featured in books, periodicals, and on national radio and television. He is a classroom teacher with experience at every grade level and every major subject.See Authors Posts (11)
 

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The middle school years are very interesting in that students are making that difficult transition into adulthood while still being confined and confused by their minds and bodies.

These easily distracted students are all the more difficult to reach because their brains are allegedly going through a brain spurt and they are also dealing with the onslaught of puberty.

Despite the physical and mental challenges the research does provide some insights and recommendations that can help clarify the teacher’s challenge.

There appears evidence that teenager’s who exercise their synapses more keep what they have learned better. Any teacher or parent who has dealt with a middle schooler clearly knows that their brain is not only a work in progress, but one that at times to appear to be regressing.

An interesting study by Dr. Judith Rapoport found that there was a fresh growth in the brain for girls at age 11 and boys a year later. Of note is the possibility that students have a more difficult time learning new languages after this development has taken place, which is prior to high school. In other words, middle school would be a better time for a second language program to be instituted.

As for emotions, middle school age students in a study done at McLean Hospital, reacted strongly to facial emotions instead of using a more mature, reasoned reaction. In other words, these young teens might be quicker to anger when exposed to stimuli that older students would ignore.

Since the prefrontal cortex, the area that deals with moods and control, is the the last region of the brain to mature, usually around age 18, those things that the student does most are the ones that are going to stay with him or her longest. So teachers are going to be competing for brain space with music, sports, and whatever else is rattling around in the teenager’s brain.

Thus it is important to eliminate distractions in the classroom as a way to improve retention of data. Equally important is the need for teachers to retain the middle schooler’s attention by using the senses and emotions and asking thought provoking questions. Encouraging the students to use a variety of ways to solve a problem also helps build memory.

Here are some additional strategies that work with young teenagers. Develop integrated lessons that have a multitude of possible answers. Connect what is being taught to the student’s personal life and making lessons relevant. Understand that stress is treated differentially be males and females. Males seem to enjoy the challenge and females tend to show negative results in similar situations. Games and other competitive strategies should be used, but not overused.

Here are eight steps to creating middle school related lessons based on experience and brain based publications:

First, research from the federal government indicates that students remember material best when it is given in small amounts and repeated at later intervals.

Secondly, listening to music has never proven to improve study skills or memory. Indeed, research has shown that the brain cannot multitask. It can listen to music for a second and switch back to reading, but not at the same time. Although I have heard of some Gregorian chants having a positive effect, the research seems to indicate that using music in the classroom and at home while studying does not appear to have a positive impact on learning.

Third, active learning where the student participates in the process either by presenting or taking part in an activity is highly favored by most teenagers. But be aware the peer pressure is very dominate at this time. Thus having a teen working with those who are not motivated or do not honor work can reflect poorly on a child’s likelihood for success. Peer pressure is of more value to a teenager than a teacher or parent on the whole. That is why it is so important to check on their friends both in person and online.