Characteristics of Middle School Students

• are young teens entering or about to enter puberty
• experience physical growth that can vary greatly from child to child
• have more developed abstract reasoning
• are developing a capacity for critical reflection
• have an increased attention span
• have great diversity of ability as new skills develop
• experience a stronger sense of peer influence
• still retain respect for parents and other adults
• find it very important that they are accepted for the unique persons they are
• have an increased conscience formation
• seek freedom, but still need structure
• challenge and question beliefs and norms of the community
• are able to be more reflective of themselves and their experiences
• place importance on faith tradition as an anchor and support when everything else is in flux
• need their questions welcomed, and need to be encouraged in their self-expression