“I think every middle school teacher should know, or try to understand, the social whirlwind of statuses that forms and so quickly hardens with every student in their place. What may seem, to a teacher, a classroom full of students peacefully working, may be exactly the opposite to a student. It becomes a room full of pitfalls, danger signs, and safe havens situated carefully in familiar territory. Every student, throughout the day, moves cautiously on “safe” paths from room to room. They will not read in another level’s territory. They will not mix; everyone knows their place. Only a teacher or a student from a higher level will cause them to mix.” (From Brown & Knowles, 2007)

I believe this passage is an absolutely perfect description of social life in early adolescence. One of the major reasons for this is that, within the reading, this is a quote from an eighth grade girl; a young person who is currently going through these things and seems to be quite perceptive and mature. This passage is especially informative as it does acknowledge the wide range of social experiences middle school students have.
No matter how well adjusted or popular a child is, these years between childhood and the teenaged years are incredibly hard. In middle school, I was a weird, awkward little girl with angsty “emo kid” friends just as uncertain as I was and nothing to keep me busy but looking forward to high school. My sister was the stereotypical “popular cheerleader.” But both of us really did not like middle school, for surprisingly similar reasons. This is so important for teachers, especially middle school teachers, to understand; naturally students are much less likely to be outwardly unkind to each other in front of an authority figure. It may not always be easy to see what pressure is placed on students socially, and ever harder to understand why and how. But understanding this is perhaps the best step towards connecting with and helping young adolescents socially. Middle school was a long time ago for us, but as a teacher I will try to remember that this period in my life was, as it is for many students, not only very difficult but the first time I began to form my adult identity. And I had to do this (as we all do) in the extremely stressful social atmosphere of middle school. To put it bluntly, we need to be very careful not to be fooled by how social life appears to be for young adolescents, because kids this age are ridiculously complex.