Book Set 7, Ages 12 to 13

Dawning adolescence is a time when both the inner and outer world of the child are rapidly changing. Childhood friends are not as good a “fit” as they used to be, new interests are sparking new friendships, the desire to belong may mean succumbing to peer pressure to do things one doesn’t believe in, or else to stand up to the crowd with courage and integrity. Then there are those friendships with the opposite sex that suddenly have some new feelings in them. The question of purpose comes up: the old, irresponsible childish ways are no longer enough to cope with the pressures and expectations, yet knowing who and what one will be is a shore dimly seen at this age. Who Will I Be? deals with this challenging time of life through stories of typical situations children this age might be facing. Thought-provoking Questions for Reflection, Exercises, and Reflection Exercises help the students look at the serious questions of who they are and who they are going to be. 

Everything’s Changing!

Jenny ran out of the house and down the street as fast as she could. What’s wrong with me? She thought. Why was it that recently it seemed every conversation with her parents turned into a shouting match? Everything they did irritated her. Their questions, their advice, even seemingly harmless things like “Dinner’s ready!” could set her off.

Write on the board the word “Metamorphosis.” Ask if anyone can tell what it means. Explain that metamorphosis means a change in structure or form so complete that it is hard to recognize something or someone as the same being it was before the metamorphosis.

Pass around pictures of you as a baby, toddler, etc., saying that these photos show some of the metamorphoses you have been through in your lifetime. Ask students to note how very different—yet in many ways the same—you looked throughout the years as you metamorphosed from a baby to a toddler, from a toddler to a young child, from a young child to an adolescent, and finally from an adolescent to an adult. (Accept their comments with humor!) Ask them to go home tonight and look at baby and toddler and young child pictures of themselves and then to go and look in a mirror. Ask them to observe how they have metamorphosed from babyhood up until now.

Explore UPF's comprehensive character education curriculum

  English: Discovering the Real Me
  Spanish: Descubriendo mi verdadero yo