It was an adventure observing Audrey during the A Day in the Life of

a Middle Schooler. As someone that has known Audrey for several years,
her humor and spontaneity were not unfamiliar to me. During every class,
the majority of Audreys classmates (including her) were engaged with the
activities going on. However, I noticed how hard the seats were and sitting
for the ninety minutes blocks they have to is almost unreasonable. During
the adolescent years, it is a known fact that most of these students are
growing and are fidgety. Besides the little bit of movement during Mr.
Pittmans class, students were required to sit still in their desk with little
interactions with their peers. This is something that I feel our teachers
need professional development on; how to still teacher the required
standards, but interactively and with physical activity. Lack of hands-on
activities (predominantly worksheets) and lack of higher-order questioning
were two other problem areas I identified.

Both Ariel and Audrey identified in their interviews that their
appearance is important to them, they enjoying working collectively in
groups versus independently, their curiosity drives them to actively
question, and that they read at a higher level than their peers. The girls
differed in their need for praise from adults, their vocabulary level, and
the variety of other adolescents they associate with. If you notice what the
girls have in common the aspects for the most part are more socially
driven, whereas where they are different is more in their cognitive and
intellectual ability. Differences in physical development, social
development, cognitive development, literacy and intellectual
development, and self-concept is what makes adolescents, specifically
middle schoolers, so unique!