Teaching Well with Adolescent Learners: Responding to Developmental Changes in Middle School and High School

This concise and accessible book, co-published with the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE), offers pre-service and in-service middle school and high school educators a way to integrate an understanding of adolescent development with strong pedagogical applications for their students.

Blending contemporary research on adolescent development with authentic teachers’ voices, the authors demonstrate methods for how to successfully observe, understand, engage, and teach adolescent students, particularly around the developmental changes that occur from ages 11 to 15 (grades six through ten). The book features real-world classroom narratives that illustrate the successes―and struggles―of everyday teachers, and details specific teaching practices, classroom activities, and lesson ideas that help teachers tap into the energy and talents that adolescent students bring to the classroom.

Featuring narrative case studies from teachers in the field, this practical book will be of value to middle and high school educators looking at how the physical and emotional changes experienced by students during adolescence impact their learning. It will also support scholars, practitioners, and students more broadly involved with adolescent development, classroom practice, secondary learning, and equity and inclusion in the classroom.

David Strahan is Distinguished Professor of Middle Grades Education, Emeritus, at Western Carolina University, USA.

Jeanneine Jones is Distinguished Professor of Middle Grades and Secondary Education, Emeritus, at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA.

Madison White is a secondary English teacher in the Rowan Salisbury School system in North Carolina, USA.