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