“Teenagers are so easy!”
-said no one ever.
 
Teaching teens middle school and high school can feel joyful and rewarding most days, but can also frustrate you with one challenge after another.  They go through so many changes and so many ups and downs at this stage of life.
 
 Young adult brains are still growing.  Contrary to popular belief, students’ brains do not stop developing after childhood (or even until partway through their 20’s!) and brains are also greatly influenced by their environment.
 
Teen brains are physiologically different from adult brains, and these differences need to be taken into consideration. To catch up on the neuroscience, read What Teachers Need to Know About Teen Brains. 
 
Here are some podcasts to help you in your journey of teaching teenagers.  Whether you’re trying to understand adolescents’ thoughts and actions, or looking for classroom tips these podcasts are for you!
 
1.  Inside the Mind of Teens and Tweens

This podcast, for teachers, parents, counselors, or anyone who deals with teens goes into the science behind why teens think and act differently.  Dr. Regina Lamourelle brings on guests, and together they provide insights and neuroscience behind the minds of adolescents.

2.  The Unstoppable Teen Podcast

This podcast delves into details that can help parents, teachers, caregivers, and teens themselves to elevate daily life.  It covers so many topics, ranging from essential elements of teen health to how teens can learn more effectively.

3.  She’s Mindful Podcast

The hostess, Tina Mavadia, teaches moms and teen girls with Mindful Living to live better, stress-free lives.   She discusses the highs and lows along with the challenges and rewards of parenting or teaching a daughter in their teen years. Each episode is easy listening, so grab a cup of coffee, go about your day and hit play if you have teen girls close to your heart.

4.  The Google Teacher Tribe Podcast

This weekly podcast for K-12 teachers shares useful tips and tricks for using G suite and other google tools in your classroom.  Their goal is to empower teachers to transform student learning with Google Tools.

5.  The Creative Classroom

The host, John Spencer, hopes to help teachers transform their classrooms into spaces of imagination and wonder.  These high-quality podcast episodes discuss things like how humor in the classroom boosts creativity and problem-solving, and making rest a priority in the summer.

6.  Talking to Teens
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This parenting podcast is directed for… you guessed it- parents of teens.  However, I think this podcast is so relevant for teachers of teens, too.  Afterall, you spend a lot of time with them, and can have a significant impact on their lives.  This podcast centers on conversations with experts on the art and science of having conversations with adolescents. 
 
 
Teaching teens requires some creativity and resourcefulness.  I've set up an email series to send you some ideas, inspiration, info, and materials that will help! Click the link and enter your email to subscribe.  Do you teach teens? Share your best tips or favorite resources below!

Great news!  The Pre-Algebra full course of doodle notes is now available in printed hard copy paperbacks!  Yep, I've gotten it officially published and you can now order copies to get shipped right to you.  Your school can order these for your classroom through Barnes & Noble here.  This is a great way to purchase a class set, and receive one book per student.

This option is also wonderful for homeschool, since you can pay per student rather than purchase the teacher license for the digital file.  Those digital licenses that have already been available on TpT are per teacher and entitle you to print for all your own students each year.  This is still an option, and is very cost effective for teachers with entire classes of students who are willing to print and copy pages themselves.  But this new paperback, on the other hand, must be purchased for each student.  Copying is prohibited.  It's a high quality book with sturdy paper all bound in one place for students to keep as a workbook of doodle notes for all 10 chapters of middle school Pre-Algebra content.  If you have any questions about the two options, just let me know. 

When students start out with any confusion at all with converting between congruence statements and equations, they struggle through each next step all the way through proofs.  Take time to tackle this key skill before moving on.

As a geometry teacher, this pet peeve that would pop up over and over again: I'd be grading and see students mixing up their usage of congruent and equal in lines of a proof.  Since I make kids write out separate lines for each step, including converting from a statement of congruence over to an equation with the measures, missing this was really messing up their scores, along with driving me crazy.  Every class, with no exception, would continually mix these up for weeks on end.
 
Eventually, I discovered that it was worth taking time to explicitly teach this skill.  We took a while to practice converting between the two types of statements.  I explained how when you describe figures you use the term congruent, and when you are describing numbers you use the term equal. 
 
We had to bother to take time showing how to switch back and forth between a statement like "length AB = length BC" while saying aloud "The DISTANCE between A and B is a NUMBER!" and a statement showing "SEGMENT AB being CONGRUENT to SEGMENT BC."  Talk these through out loud before assuming that students can see the distinction.  Practice converting back and forth before you allow them to actually use these statements in a Geometry proof. 

​Trust me, it is worth the time.
 
Otherwise, you’ll see hybrids such as <2 = <5 over and over again, which leads students to stumble between steps in their proofs.
 
It helps to display a Reminders poster, like the one below in the room. 

​Then, after practicing a few examples, we work on determining if a statement uses congruent or equal correctly with statements like the ones below.  
 
Lastly, I’d pull up the answer key, and we would discuss why each statement was either correct or incorrect.

Here is a PDF dowload version for you if you'd like to use them too.

This really comes into play in examples like the following proof:

Students MUST convert from the congruent notation in the first line into an equation in order to use substitution later on in the proof.  Segment addition postulate does not blend with congruent statements.  It only works with statements of equality, since addition is required.  To work in an equation format, which is necessary in many proofs, students need to be able to smoothly switch from congruence statements into equations and vice versa.

Hopefully these short little downloads and this tip will help you prioritize this skill and take 15 minutes now to save yourself many future headaches and give your students a boost to help them through proofs.  What's your own pet peeve when grading proofs?