Additional information
by Michelle Icard (Author)
Middle School Makeover is a guide for parents and educators to help the tweens in their lives navigate the socially fraught hallways, gyms, and cafeterias of middle school. The book helps parents, teachers, and other adults in middle school settings to understand the social dilemmas and other issues that kids today face. Author Michelle Icard covers a large range of topics, beginning with helping us understand what is happening in the brains of tweens and how these neurological development affects decision-making and questions around identity. She also addresses social media, dating, and peer exclusion. Using both recent research and her personal, extensive experience working with middle-school-aged kids and their parents, Icard offers readers concrete and practical advice for guiding children through this chaotic developmental stage while also building their confidence.
Author Biography
In 2004, Michelle Icard launched Athena's Path, a curriculum that helps girls navigate the tricky middle school social scene. Shortly after, she added Hero's Pursuit for boys, and in 2011 launched her website about how to parent middle school children: MichelleintheMiddle.com.
Athena's Path and Hero's Pursuit have been implemented in thirty schools, in five states, and have impacted over 10,000 students. More than 250 teachers have been trained to implement the programs in schools. Michelle is often a guest speaker at schools and parenting events, and she hosts Right in the Middle, a conference for girls headed to middle school and their moms. Michelle also runs Moms Meet Up, a parent conversation and support group for parents of middle schoolers. She provides private coaching for parents and teens.
Michelle has written curriculum for other national programs for adolescents, including Girlology and Girls Rock the House. In addition to her own blog, Michelle writes for "Your Teen Magazine," The Karina Chronicles blog, and Charlotte Smarty Pants.
She is the mother of a 13-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son.
