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Showing posts from October, 2024

Part 1: Teaching 11-14-year-olds Academic Writing

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By Don Allen, (Journal of A Black Teacher)  Teaching 11-14-year-olds academic writing presents unique challenges, as these students generally have no prior experience in academic writing and little reference for understanding the components involved. Research writing, poetry, narrative writing, biography writing, feedback writing, block letter formats, email etiquette, or even crafting action and adventure stories are unfamiliar territories for most of them. Unlike older students, they have few or no past examples to lean on, so everything from learning structure to finding their own voice has to start from scratch. There are many ways to teach middle school students academic writing, and middle school teachers hope that the previous grade teachers will have laid an introductory foundation that segways into middle school-level writing. In cultures of underserved communities and their school-aged children, a unique dynamic can be seen that provides data that children are not taught writ

Reclaiming our Legacy in Literacy for Our Black Children

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By Don Allen -  Journal of A Black Teacher (2024) Random thoughts and reflections.  In the era of United States slavery, Black men and women ingeniously pursued the ability to read and write in defiance of prohibitive laws and life-threatening circumstances. More than the skill itself, literacy was an act of rebellion against the oppressive system that wished to maintain Black Americans in the United States in perpetual ignorance. Through ingenuity, bonds people used the most unlikely items for writing and reading classmates: sticks, rocks, string, flour-in particular, from kitchen workers' wood. In most instances, dirt was the "paper" on which to practice writing and spelling. These lowly resources became ways in which literacy would be interpreted as freedom, power, and a promise of a life worth living. Over the generations, Black families nurtured this tradition of knowledge and education, teaching their children to read and write and instilling values of intellectual