not much just chillin

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not much just chillinthe hidden lives of
middle schoolersbyLinda Perlstein
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Linda Perlstein

• She is an education reporter for the Washington
  Post. To write this book she spent a year in the
  center of Wilde Lake Middle School, a suburban
  middle school in Maryland.
• Wilde Lake is a diverse, 600 student school.

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How the book is set up

• Divided into four sections (Fall, Winter, Spring,
  and Summer)
• Perlstein follows a select group of students
  around and details all of their experiences for
  an entire year
• She spends a lot of time observing and
  interviewing
• These interviews are not limited to students
  they include teachers and parents

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The Kids

• Perlstein followed a diverse group of students
  around to get her informationa few of these
  students are

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Eric Ellis

• Eric ended the 7th grade on a high note, but he
  enters the 8th grade feeling that school is
  boring and he has no time to worry about it.
• His time is taken up with skateboarding, video
  games, and dealing with his family.

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Jackie Taylor

• A 7th grader who obsesses over her and her
  friends new crushes, as they now realize that
  you actually have to talk to a boy before you can
  be his boyfriend.

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Jimmy Schissel

• Jimmy is a 6th grader who is a bit chubby. Jimmy
  knows that his body is changing and is
  uncomfortable with the way he and others see him.

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Lily Mason

• Lily is a 6th grader. In her first year of
  middle school she finds herself in a constant
  effort to fit in with her friends.

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September 11 how to deal with a major tragedy
Days after Perlstein started her observations,
this tragedy happened and she was able to observe
how the middle schoolers reacted.

• 6th graders are not quite mature enough to grasp
  the severity of what has happened
• 8th graders know that time relating to things
  that occur outside of their own something bad has
  happened but they have a hard little world.
• However, thoughts of death - their own and loved
  ones- weigh heavily on teens as they enter
  puberty.

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Helpful Topics

• This book covers quite a few topics. A few of
  these that could be helpful to a teacher are

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Changing relationships with parents.

• Adolescents are still needy children
• think of a preteens changing relationship with
  their parents as a reorganization, not a
  rejection. Wanting to be independent is not the
  same as wanting to be left alone. p. 100

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Why you are a role model!!

• Preteens are finally able to deal in abstract
  thought and see their parents as real, flawed
  people.
• They need to connect with other adults who will
  treat them more like an equal, that dont know
  their baggage, and will give it to them straight.

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Teasing and rejection.

• A little rejection isnt the worst thingkids
  who are isolated in childhood tend to emerge as
  more self-sufficient adults, which might be why
  the coolest grown-ups were miserable in middle
  school. p. 107

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How do they pick their friends?

• Research has always shown that race is one
  source of attraction to friendsin middle school
  race and income and all sorts of differences come
  into sharp focus and children seek out peers
  they can identify with on at least these basic
  levels. p. 129

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There are many many more topics covered in this
book, and many of these topics are covered
several times in different ways with different
students.I believe that this book would be a
useful resource for teachers and for parents of
middle schoolers.
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Resources

• not much just chillin the hidden lives of
  middle schoolers. Linda Perlstein. New York
  Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. p. 249.
• www.notmuchjustchillin.com