Middle School Transition

The transition that I think it more difficult for most children is the transition into middle school. Middle school is the time when children are in between being an adult and a child. There are many more changes that occur in middle school than high school that affect a child’s physical, cognitive, social and emotional wellbeing.

One of the major changes that happen to children while transitioning into middle school is puberty (physically). Puberty is the period of time in which a child changes from a sexually immature person to a one who is capable of reproduction. For girls puberty can begin as early as age 9 and as late as age 16, and for boys puberty can begin as early as age 10 and as late as age 19. Puberty causes many physical changes

that happen gradually.

Secondary sex characteristics (physical features that differentiate adult males from adult females but are not directly involved in reproduction) include new distributions of muscle and fat tissue, growth on certain parts of the body, the development of breasts in females, and the lowered pitch of the male voice. Most adolescents also experience noticeable changes in their skin and sweat glands. This causes the skin to become rougher and more oily, which may cause acne. The sweat glands also enlarge and become more active, especially in the genital and underarm areas resulting in new body odors. These physical changes that adolescents have no choice but to go through can affect them emotionally, socially, and cognitively in many ways. The releases of these new hormones that come with puberty not only affect their brain, but these changes also affect how they feel about themselves. They might not like how they look anymore. This will affect how they interact with others and how others interact with them. Bullying increases during adolescent for many reasons. Some adolescents bully others

because they have started puberty before their others, while some adolescents bully others because they haven’t started puberty with the others yet. If a child is being bullied at school, they will not want to come to school and learn. This affects a child cognitively if they aren’t coming to school to get the materials they need to learn.
A second major change that happens to children while transitioning into middle school is the level of difficult at school and the change in daily routine (cognitively).

When they go to middle school, they aren’t with just one teacher all day anymore like in elementary school. In middle school, most adolescents have about six different teachers. The content areas are more concentrated with each period/block covering a different subject (language arts, social studies, math, science, physical education/health, and an elective). Middle schoolers have to learn how to transition between classes for the first time in a new place. The schools tend to be larger with more students than an elementary school. They have more freedom, but also more rules than elementary school, such as not being tardy. These cognitive changes that adolescents have no choice but to go through can affect them emotionally, socially, and physically in many ways. Emotionally most adolescents feel overwhelmed especially their first year in middle school. They have way more homework and projects to do in middle school so this may be more stressful for them (emotional). They start getting less sleep devoting more time to homework and waking up earlier for school (physical). Adolescents also have to adjust to being separated from childhood friends because in middle school they begin to separate students based on test scores

(social).
A third major change that happens to children while transitioning into middle school is their social/emotional wellbeing. During this time, they are trying to figure out who they are. Erik Erikson referred to the struggle that teenagers encounter when trying to establish their personal identities as an identity crisis. When they take on this challenging task, adolescents are caught in the middle of two changing systems. One is their own biological system, with its hormonal changes and resulting transformations in the body. This system is linked to new sexual urges, as well as new ways of thinking and reasoning. The other is the social system in which the adolescent lives. Parents and other adults are making new demands that are not always clear or consistent. Often the teenager is expected to behave maturely, almost like an adult, yet many restrictions continue to be imposed as if he or she were still a child. All these changes and contradictions push adolescents to reassess their notions about themselves and their place in the world. Despite the discomfort that this need for reassessment can create, Erikson maintained the adolescence is the ideal time for experimenting with various possible roles and identities, before adulthood requires serious commitments to a particular occupation or ideology.
There are many ways that parents and teachers can help adolescents have a successful and easier transition into middle school. Parents could explore their children new school’s website with them for information such as their class schedule, campus tour dates, orientation dates, maps of the school, and the handbook of rules. Parents can also buy a lock for their child months in advanced to give them time to practice how to get into their locker faster. While on their new school website, parents should encourage their child to explore what extracurricular activities and summer programs their new school offers so they can start to meet new people in their new school before the year begins. These tips combined can help decrease a child’s anxiety with transitioning into middle school.