It was both interesting and entertaining to observe in Audreys seventh

grade class at Springfield Middle School. Overall, I thought that Audreys

class was pretty well behaved. During their classes, they were largely
engaged in the lessons and contributed to class discussions. As the mom
of a middle schooler, much of the behavior I saw was what I would
consider typical for middle school students. The demographics were not
what I expected, with over half of the student body being caucasian,
hispanics being the next largest subgroup and blacks being the smallest.
Audreys class was demographically representative of the school
dynamics.

When examining Audrey and Ariels answers to their interview questions, I

was not surprised for appearance to be important to both girls. My
daughter often has what I will refer to as a meltdown when her hair isnt
exactly like she wants it to end in the morning. It was interesting that Ariel
was neutral on hanging with a set group of peers, whereas Audrey
confirmed that she rarely hangs with a set group of peers. They only thing
that I can attribute to this data is that perhaps Audrey relates to the
majority of her classmates whereas Ariel only relates to a portion of hers.
Another interesting set of data was the difference in the girls need for
adult praise. Audrey confirmed that she relies heavily upon adult praise
whereas Ariels answer indicates a lack of dependence on adult praise. I
believe that this confirms the fact that early adolescence is a broad stage
of life. Where students fall on the continuum is largely dependent upon
their individual differences and how they progress through the middle
school years.