Be a Hero: Add a Specialty Endorsement in Middle School to Your Teacher's License
Published: December 08, 2024
Author: Carla Morris
Some say empathy is the first step to heroism. This summer, you can take your empathy to a new level by specializing in teaching middle schoolers. When you pursue your teaching endorsement in the middle grades, you cultivate greater understanding of “tweens” (a.k.a. “kind of the best people on Earth”).
And, tweens, by the way, are on the lookout for heroes . . .
Middle-schoolers want heroes and here's why
They were born to have heroes. Yale psychologist Paul Bloom tell us that newborn babies prefer people who are moral: “Even 3-month-olds respond differently to a character who helps another than to a character who hinders another person.” This means that at their very core, those kids who brutally tell it like it is, who howl over silly jokes, and who die over fashion faux pas need heroes.
They look for heroes. Psychologists say tweens experience increased need for meaningful interactions with adults who aren’t their parents. In fact, they’re hyperaware of adults in their lives and crave adult attention.
They need heroes to help them identify what’s missing. “It is during our youth that we most need good, healthy adult role models who demonstrate exemplary behavior,” says psychology professor and hero expert Scott T. Allison. “Heroes reveal to us the kinds of qualities we need to be in communion with others.”
They need heroes to save them. There’s plenty of torture in middle school-days of not making the cut, days of failing tests, days of getting caught up with harmful influences. As a teacher, you can be a heroic protector just by starting the year with a class code that makes no room for teasing, exclusion, bullying, rumoring, or ganging up.
They welcome all the hope that you can genuinely give. Ultimately, heroes give hope in times of trouble. That means even in those years between ages nine and twelve when profound physical and neurological changes take hold. You survived it; you’ve seen others survive it. Sometimes the calming presence of a survivor is all a middle-schooler needs.
Get SET (Summer Endorsement for Teachers) at Greenville University this summer. Enhance your teaching skills and advance your career. Learn from a leader in teacher education and begin your middle grades endorsement program this summer.
