Blog Post #6

Square:

• I related to the text when focusing on how adolescents are in a state of confusion when thinking about the independence they have, or don't have. It was something I struggled a lot with my own parents trying to navigate while going through adolescence.

• Another major part of my middle school experience was having great teachers that helped us navigate interpersonal relationships, or as mentioned in the text "how to get along" which in my experience with pre teen girls was very helpful as a resource to turn to.

• Emotional unrest brought up in the start of chapter five was another experience of mine that started in middle school, but the mood swings prolonged. It was the first time I had learned what my anxiety and depression was, and brought forth a lot of self reflection in that time.

• One major struggle I had was my identity throughout middle school. That struggle was highlighted in the text when it states "adolescents are a paradox" which was exactly how my parents, and I felt during my teen phase. I struggled a lot with my sexuality and accepting that part of my personal identity at the time.

Triangle:

• One new way of thinking I gathered from the chapters was about egocentrism in adolescents because I had previously conceived this formation to be more of a high school age notion. I neglected to consider the full perspective on how introspective this time can be.

• "Zittleman (2007) found that a percentage of adolescent females continued to doubt themselves, reporting that approximately 18 percent of 223 middle school females surveyed from five separate middle schools in several states revealed that "the best thing about being a girl" was "nothing"(53). This fact struck a huge chord with middle school me, and was extremely surprising to see the actual statistic for what it feels like

• One more concept that I took away from WEMSTSK is that school is the place to make mistakes for learning to happen, not that I didn't already know but the reminder to have when approaching a classroom is a good one to remember.

Circle:

• One point in the chapter that is still circling in my head was the "87 percent of US teachers are White European American" (49). This stuck with me the most because how can we create a classroom where ethnic identity can be properly addressed without the perspective to do so. I just keep thinking that we could do more, and the openness to talk about race in the classroom is a start, but I think we can go further with middle schoolers.