About the Program

The Adolescent Issues program is an important part of the LREI middle school educational experience. In general, The Adolescent Issues program has three goals. They are:

1. to help students develop good discussion skills. This includes the ability to explain themselves clearly and the more difficult skill of active and effective listening.
2. to provide student with factual information about, and opportunities for discussion on, a wide variety of topics important to pre-adolescents and adolescents.
3. to provide the skills for, and opportunities to practice, reflective and informed decision making connected to students’ values and beliefs.

We achieve these goals through our weekly Adolescent Issues meetings. These meetings are led by the homeroom advisors, me (fifth and sixth grades) and Phil (seventh and eighth grades). During the first half of the school year, the faculty and the students choose the discussion topics. Throughout the year the fifth grade will continue to have their weekly meeting with a wide range of topics. Starting in January, the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades began the personal safety, sexuality, substance abuse, and portion of the Adolescent Issues program. Below you will find a list of the general areas of discussion for these meetings.

• Values and their role in decision making
• Sexuality and sexual/gender stereotypes
• Puberty, reproductive anatomy, and physiology
• Responsibilities of sexual activity
• Relationships
• Peer Pressure and refusal strategies
• Substance abuse
• Personal safety

Though the general topics are the same throughout the grades, the actual content and activities differ with the age of the students. However, all of the discussions are based in the belief that as we cannot make all of children’s decisions for them, we must help them to become informed and responsible decision makers. Current discussion and activities include:

Fifth Grade — The fifth grade spent much of the first two quarters discussing issues related to the transition to middle school. We framed these discussions by making a philosophical inquiry into the meaning of terms like friendship, responsibility, happiness and justice. Our discussions focused on the responsibilities that come with the independence that is part of the middle school experience. We have also spent a fair amount of time talking about friendships and the many pressures that can exert a push or pull on these relationships. We are concluding a unit on bullying and teasing and will end the year exploring a range of diversity-related themes.

Sixth Grade — The sixth grade started the year with discussions based on our reading of Jarvis Clutch – Social Spy, which took a humorous and thoughtful look at some of the challenges associated with “fitting in and feeling good about it.” Through this investigation, we examined some of the pressures associated with social challenges like “seeming right,” “talking right” and “acting right.” We also examined how these issues relate to strategies that can be used to deal with peer pressure and to resolve conflicts effectively. We then explored a range of safety issues (e.g., walking home alone, subway safety and home safety). We are currently in the midst of a unit on Internet safety and clarifying norms for on-line interactions with peers. We will end the year with units on smoking and puberty and sexuality.

Seventh Grade–At this point in the seventh grade, the focus of Adolescent Issues is on supporting the students as they learn to make decisions that are based on their values and to practice making a variety of decisions with increasing independence. We spent some time early in the new year identifying individual student’s values and discussing how to navigate situations in which a student’s values might be in conflict with those of a friend.  We also spent some time discussing rights and responsibilities of members of the class–a Bill of Rights for Seventh Graders.  As part of this discussion, we explored how peers can help and support a friend who may be having a difficult time. In the weeks to come, we will discuss issues of substance abuse and begin discussions of puberty and sexuality.

Eighth Grade–The Eighth Grade has had a variety of discussions this year in Adolescent Issues including conversations about being safe on-line. We all learned about the opportunities and pitfalls of social networks and considered how our values can guide us through complexities posed by on-line communication. Like the seventh graders, we also explored how peers can help and support a friend who may be having a difficult time. In the coming weeks we will begin discussions of puberty and adolescence.

We feel that an important part of this program is the on-going discussion and learning that will hopefully take place at home. We encourage students to discuss the class topics with you. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the Adolescent Issues program.