While incorporating digital technologies into the classroom has offered new ways of teaching and learning into educational processes, it is essential to take a look at how the digital shift impacts teachers, school administration, and curriculum development. "Academic Knowledge Construction and Multimodal Curriculum Development" presents…

The effect of the middle school experience upon the pre-adolescent's self-concept development is the focus of this report. Self-concept is defined as an understanding of the self based upon an internal frame of reference. The development of a positive self-concept has been frequently listed as a goal of the middle schools. Five research projects…

Parents who understand the dynamics of adolescent growth and can adopt some sound management strategies stand a better chance of establishing real communication with their youngsters. Schools can help this process by establishing parents' institutes and parents' resource centers on early adolescence. These offer a much-needed alternative to…

Parent education programs can play a vital role in teaching parents about early adolescent development and behavior and the transition to the middle level. Middle-level educators can conduct a needs assessment, plan and implement sessions and topics, and serve as resource specialists. The result will be increased parent support for young…

For a middle school, family involvement in school life begins with the orientation program for incoming students. An effective transition program can help parents and prospective students anticipate a new school's academic and social expectations. This article describes a Vermont middle school's transition program, highlighting planning and…

Today's students face more stressors than ever before with fewer resources to handle them. Curriculum designers and teachers can help counselors and parents alleviate psychological stressors for middle schoolers by offering creative coursework alternatives for exemplary behavior, special units on assorted topics, experiential communication…

Summarizes findings of several major middle schools reports, highlighting the National Middle School Association's publication "This We Believe" (1982), NASSP's "An Agenda for Excellence at the Middle Level" (1985), the California State Department of Education's "Caught in the Middle" (1987), and the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development's…

Describes Donald H. Eichorn's leadership, commitment, and scholarship, highlighting his role in establishing the nation's first (nongraded) middle school, in the early 1960s. He founded middle school practices and programs on learner characteristics, developmentally appropriate tasks, and advisory groups at a time when little information about…

A ten-year study of television viewing and content found that middle level students watch more television than any other age group. They are exposed to violence, sex, use of drugs, and sex role socialization in many programs. Schools can help students become discriminating consumers of television. (MLF)

Middle school educators believing in the importance of parent involvement soon discover the need to educate parents as well as students. One Pennsylvania middle school offers a series of workshops focusing on the physical, social-emotional, and intellectual characteristics of students aged 11-13, transmitting information through discussion,…

Asserts that children in junior high and middle school may be reluctant to participate in the process of counseling. Recommends that school counselors use therapeutic techniques that actively involve children and excite their imagination. Examines three such techniques that work with middle school students: game play, stories and metaphors, and…

Former middle-school principal's graduation speech to fifth graders and their parents focuses on three areas: students and psychological and physiological changes they will experience; what to expect in middle school (teamwork and advisee-group activities); and secrets for success and happiness. Students and parents are advised to concentrate on…

This 6-week course for students at Ruffing Montessori Middle School provides instruction in communication skills, information on human development, and instruction on skills useful in working as a volunteer or tutor. It culminates with service given to first graders in the primary environment and lays the foundation for the extended community work…

Memory and study skill instruction can powerfully affect middle school students' classroom performance. Students should be taught to improve their study skills by increasing their knowledge about memory, their awareness of their own memory processes, and their use of effective memory strategies. At the middle level, concrete demonstrations,…

This first chapter in "The Challenge of Counseling in Middle Schools" contains four articles that describe strategies for counselors to use in helping middle school students move toward self-understanding. "A Dialogue with Self: The Journal as an Educational Tool," by Dalva Hedlund, Tanis Furst, and Kathryn Foley, describes journal writing as a…