Pick a specific age level (e.g., 12-year-olds) and describe what you know about children/adolescents of this age. What are they like? Where are they on their developmental pathways? What is important to them? How do they interact with peers and adults?

Each age of all students has different goals, paths and what is most important to their age level. When you focus on older ages such as a 14 year old which is a very crucial part of a child’s life because this is when social factors start playing a much more important role in their lives. When you place a 14-year-old within their developmental pathway, this is the moment where puberty is happening and also the transition into high school which are very rapid changes for a child. During this time they start to gain more self-independence and they start growing into their person. Their unique qualities are more emphasized as their independence and self-focus grow.

Things that they consider important also change compared to when they were younger. One of the most important things to middle and high schoolers is social status and when you move into high school, people try their hardest to obtain social status. Social status in high school is vastly different compared to elementary school because it becomes more complex with everyone starting to develop more unique personalities. They want to feel accepted within their new environment and to be accepted attributes to their social status.

What they consider important and where they are on their developmental pathway also affects the way they talk to their peers and adults. Typically a child that age, tend to talk back to their parents and not treat adults with as much respect as they did when they were younger. This is because of their growing independence and they are also trying to relate to other people their age. This age is highly emotional and it is when we start to learn about ourselves and that relates to our independence development.

I can talk about the development of a 14-year-old from my personal experience because I can look back and recognize what I held important to myself but also to other students. I saw how many people wanted to be recognized as a ‘popular’ kid or be a part of a clique. High school emphasizes or heightens many of the things that are important to a child because being in a brand-new environment requires many students to change. Change is the most prevalent aspect of a 14 year old and it is what makes the experience of this age so unique.