“I don’t want to be a teenager, but I am a teenager. It’s confusing: the kids in my class are like acting like they’re adults already. Having all this Victoria’s Secret stuff, the lotions and perfume, and doing what girls do in music videos. I think that we should talk about things, learn more about ourselves. A lot of people are confused about their identities. Carmela.” (Cushman, K., & Rogers, L, 2008, 15)

This quote from Carmela about her experience resonates with me about my own middle school experience. From 5th grade in elementary school to 6th grade in middle school, there was a huge change in me.  I lived a very much sheltered life and when I started middle school I was very much still “baby-ish”. I was in Girl Scouts, shopped at the Children’s Place, had a closet full of Barbie dolls and still have stuffed animals on my bed. But then, I went to my neighbor’s house one day after school, she was in 8th grade, I saw a very different picture than my own room. She had an iPod, Hollister and Abercrombie clothes, posters of guys, and most notably, I remember the Victoria Secret stuff, like Carmela mentioned. I remember thinking that was weird since it was a grown-up store. It didn’t help later that my 13-year-old neighbor thought it would be fun to show off her bras and thongs to me, things that horrified my 11-year-old self. So that day I went home, put the stuffed animals under my bed, and trashed my Barbies. Like Carmela, I didn’t want to be a teenager yet.  But now that I saw what a teenager’s room looked like, I would be embarassed if anyone saw my room in it’s current state. Becoming a teenager for me was more of a requirement to fit in. I still had no idea about my identity and what I wanted during middle school. I didn’t figure all that out until high school. As teachers, we must remember that teaching our subjects is just as important as supporting our students through this period of intense change in their lives.