Responding to the socially motivated behaviors of early adolescents: recommendations for classroom management

Much of the literature on middle school teaching focuses upon the developmental stresses early adolescents typically experience. Yet the literature rarely offers teachers specific ways to respond to student behaviors which result from these developmental changes. This paper delineates the physical, cognitive, and social-emotional motivations behind typical early adolescent behaviors, and then offers middle school educators classroom-management approaches for responding to these student behaviors.