1. ( Juniors & Earliteens)
Understanding Child
Development
( Juniors & Earliteens)
A Leadership
Certification
Course #8
Juniors and earliteens are special kids. Well, they really don’t want to be called “children” because they feel they are much older. They have arrived at the stage that many psychologists call “storm and stress.” We don’t treat them like children for they are grown up, so to speak. It is beneficial to understand the developmental patterns of juniors and earliteens so that we can reach them and influence them in their decision to follow Jesus.

2. Who Are These Kids? Juniors Juniors -- Ages 10 - 12
Earliteens -- Ages 13-14
The Junior Student
In the Adventist Church, juniors are students in grades 5-6 and are about ages 10, 11. Note some characteristics of a junior child’s growth and development:

3. Physical Juniors Energetic, loud, talkative, and imaginative
Well-developed verbal skills
Different rates of growth rates
Strong and healthy and eager to practice and display their physical skills
Juniors
Physical
• Mature at different rates; some girls may experience the growth spurt that signals adolescence
• Are energetic, loud, talkative, and imaginative
• Have well-developed verbal skills
Strong and healthy and eager to practice and display their physical skills

4. Mental Juniors Begin doing abstract thinking
Very realistic but also imaginative and creative
Capable of thinking and reasoning
Learn to reason from cause to effect
Begin to question authority
Juniors
Mental
• Are on the brink of doing abstract thinking
• Like to figure cause and effect
• Have a rapidly-increasing attention span
• Discover ways to answer their own questions
• Capable of thinking and reasoning
• Begin to question authority
• Are capable of thinking and reasoning

5. Emotional Juniors Lack self-esteem Are subject to mood swings
Crave success and affirmation
Get bored unless they see purpose in what they are doing
Are acquiring values
Search for a close relationship with adults who trust them
Juniors
Emotional
• Lack self-esteem
• Are subject to mood swings
• Get bored unless they see the purpose in what they are doing
• Crave success and affirmation
• Are acquiring values
• Take themselves seriously
Do not call junior or earliteen students “children.” They refer to each other as “kids” and do not mind being referred to as kids, people, team, troops or gang.

6. Social Juniors Care about pleasing their peers Are hero-worshipers
Are action oriented
Social/Relational
• Care about pleasing their peers
• Are hero-worshipers
• Are action-oriented
• Start to develop gender roles
Develop gender roles

7. Want Bible teaching to be practical, related to life
Spiritual
Want Bible teaching to be practical, related to life
Are developing consciences
Are ready to make salvation decisions
Juniors
Spiritual
• Want Bible teaching to be practical, related to their life
• Are ready to make salvation decisions
• Are developing their consciences

8. Feel responsibility for their sins
Spiritual
Feel responsibility for their sins
Are rule-oriented
Are looking for adult models
Juniors
Spiritual
Feel responsibility for their sins
• Are rule-oriented
• Are looking for adult models

9. Developmental Needs Juniors Juniors have the basic needs of childhood
plus the need to:
Be responsible
Achieve competence
Grow in self-esteem
Master social, academic, and physical skills
Earn from parents a greater measure of personal freedom
Juniors
Developmental Needs
Juniors have the basic needs of childhood plus the need to:
• Be responsible
• Achieve competence
• Grow in self-esteem
• Master social, academic, and physical skills
• Earn from parents a greater measure of personal freedom

10. Spiritual Needs Juniors need: Juniors
To know God loves and understands them
A Savior who can give them victory over sin
Confirmation that God answers prayer and encouragement to trust Him
To know how God affects their daily lives
To experience forgiveness and freedom from guilt
Juniors
Spiritual Needs
Juniors need:
• To know God loves and understands them
• A Savior who can give them vict
ory over sin
• Confirmation that God answers prayer and encouragement to trust Him
• To know what God has done for others and what they personally can expect from Him
• To know how God affects their daily lives
• To experience forgiveness and freedom from guilt

11. Ways Juniors Learn An emphasis on group membership Juniors
Better analysis of facts
and intentions
Juniors
Logical thinking
How Do Junior Learn?
* They are logical thinkers and are able to reason
* They love facts and figures and are capable of analyzing facts and intentions
* They have a strong sense of right and wrong
Love for facts
A strong sense of
‘right and wrong’

12. Do This
Provide opportunities for them to study the Bible and look up texts
Juniors
Encourage acceptance of
all God’s children – vary
the seating frequently
Do This For Juniors
When teaching Juniors, provide opportunities for them to study the Bible and look up texts; allow them to get together as a group to help make classroom rules. Encourage them to accept all of God’s children.
Allow juniors to come to a
group about classroom rules

13. Give students choices of activities Juniors Offer concrete and
experiential instruction
Teaching juniors to make good choices is crucial at this stage for setting them on the right track to saying no to drugs, peer pressure, etc. Hence, give students choices of activities to choose from. They function well as groups now and providing juniors with group work is helpful for developing cohesiveness. When teaching juniors, offer concrete experiences that they can get a feel of the experience as they learn to apply lessons learned.
Provide group work
as well as study

14. Don’t Do This Juniors Don’t tell Bible content as
they passively listen
Juniors
Don’t allow students to sit
in cliques or always with
same peers
Don’t Do This to Juniors
The key word for motivating juniors in learning is Active Learning. Never just tell a Bible story. Instead get them up to participate in Bible learning activities and then ask questions that make them think. As group work is important for this age group, have more group projects and activities than independent ones, but caution should be taken that students don’t sit in cliques. They should get the opportunity to mix around.
Don’t have only
independent individual
projects/activities

15. Avoid pre-setting rules consensus where students have no input
Don’t have the whole
class do the same thing;
Allow for creativity
Juniors
Involve juniors in making classroom rules, helping them to think through the whys of rules and how they can cooperate to enforce them. Allow lots of room for creativity in working with juniors.
Avoid abstract concepts
without concrete examples

16. Physical Earliteens Mature at different rates;
girls experience growth spurt
before the boys
Earliteens
Want action and want it now
The Earliteen Student
In the Adventist Church, earliteens are students in grades 7-8 (ages 12-14). Earliteens are preadolescent; they can behave like adolescents one minute and children, the next. And because kids reach puberty at varying ages, it is difficult to list characteristics that will be true for all. Some earliteen students will look and behave much of the time like juniors; others look and behave more like adolescents. Within this wide range of development, however, certain characteristics hold fairly true.
Physical
• Mature at widely different rates; girls generally experiencing a growth spurts before boys of the same chronological age
• (Most of them) reach puberty during the earliteen years
• Want action and want it now
• Can be quite awkward as they cope with growth spurts
• Often look more grown up than they act
Often look more grown up
than they act
Can be quite awkward as they
cope with growth spurts

17. Mental Earliteens Can reason from concrete to abstract
Capable of discussion and debate
Understand symbolism if explained
Have long attention span if interested
in subject
Mental
• Think in the abstract quite well, but still need examples, synonyms, or word pictures to illustrate new concepts
• Understand symbolism once it has been explained
• Capable of engaging in discussion and debate
• Have long attention span—provided they are interested in the topic
• Test the boundaries of convention and knowledge
• Interested in making money (boys more so than girls)
• Beginning to question everything and looking for authoritative answers
• Reject illogical reasoning or rules
Question everything and look for
authoritative answers

18. Emotional Earliteens Lack self-confidence & self-esteem
Get bored easily
Earliteens
Test the values they grew
up with
Emotional
• Lack self-confidence and self-esteem
• Experience wild mood swings
• Get bored easily
• Be always testing the values they grew up with
• Take themselves seriously
• Appreciate adults who are low-keyed and who joke with them
Experience wild mood
swings
Take themselves seriously

19. Social Earliteens Cave in to peer pressure Quite clumsy in relating to
each other
Earliteens
Avoid doing anything in isolation
from group
Social/Relational
• Cave in to peer pressure; often afraid to take a stand
• Be somewhat clumsy in relating to each other
• Avoid doing anything in isolation from the group
• Extremely interested in the opposite sex
• Fear being singled out as different
• Seek close friendships within a tight group
Extremely interested in the
opposite sex

20. Spiritual Earliteens * Questions spiritual truths
* Challenge religious beliefs while
needing help to clarify them
Earliteens
* Want a practical religion to live by
Spiritual
• Question spiritual truths that they previously had accepted
• Challenge religious beliefs while at the same time needing help to clarify them
• Need to make a recommitment to God
• Need constant reminders of God’s love and grace
• Need to hear adults talk about their personal faith
• Want a practical religion to live by
* Need to hear adults talk about
their personal faith
* Need to recommit to God

21. Developmental Needs Earliteens Collect and sift through information
Make more of their own decisions
Express their individuality in various ways
Crave affirmation
Earliteens
Developmental Needs
Earliteens have the basic needs of childhood, plus the need to
• Collect and sift through information
• Make more of their own decisions
• Express their individuality in various ways (usually with varying degrees of success)
• Crave affirmation

22. Need increased freedoms from parental control and corresponding increases in their responsibilities
Need more time with peers
Need increased emotional distance from parents
Need authoritative standards by which to just right from wrong
Earliteens
Developmental Needs
Need increased freedoms from parental control and corresponding increases in their responsibilities
• Need more time with peers
• Need increased emotional distance from parents
• Need authoritative standards by which to judge right from wrong

23. Spiritual Needs Earliteens > To know there is a God
> A Savior who can give them victory
over sin
Earliteens
> Learn how to forgive and
to accept forgiveness
Spiritual Needs
Earliteens need:
• To know that there is a God
• To be told again and again that there is nothing they can do to make God love them more or anything they can do to make Him love them less
• A Savior who can give them victory over sin
• To learn how to forgive and to accept forgiveness
• To experience forgiveness and freedom from guilt
• To be told what is in it for them if they commit to living God’s way
• What God has done for others and will do for them
• To admit that they need a Savior
> To be told what is in it
for them if they commit
to living God’s way

24. Do This Allow for plenty of groups Earliteens Encourage acceptance
Provide active games and
team activities
Encourage exchange of ideas
and discussion
Do This With Earliteens.
Here are some guidelines for teachers working with earliteens:
Allow for plenty of group work for at this stage peer group is an essential part of their lives
Encourage acceptance of others regardless of looks, intelligence, or family wealth
Provide active games and team activities
Encourage exchange of ideas and discussion
Encourage personal application of lessons learned
Encourage personal application
of lessons learned

25. Don’t Do This Earliteens Don’t allow students to sit in cliques
Don’t do all the talking and
expect the students to listen
Earliteens
Don’t always do the same thing
Don’t give all the answers
Don’t Do This
Don’t allow students to sit in cliques. Help them to diversify their friendships and be friendly to many others.
Don’t do all the talking and expect the earliteens to listen
Don’t always do the same thing, but have a variety of activities that interest many
Don’t give all the answers. Wait for a while for earliteens to respond for they are capable of reasoning and thinking formally
Don’t dictate to students how they should do certain things. Ask for their opinions and suggestions.
Don’t dictate to students

26. Understand Juniors and Earliteens
Lead them to Jesus
The Developmental Task for Earliteens
Earliteens are beginning to struggle with the task of discovering their inner, personal identity and making decisions based on their own identity instead of their group’s identity. They will continue to struggle with their identity through the high school years.