Can someone explain the basic system of IEW?

[MIC in OH]

I have 2 boys in 9th grade and one is a reluctant writer. I have heard good things about IEW for years but never paid attention. Both boys have expressed the dislike of video teachers, we used them years ago and both were bored quickly. I know there are workbooks and other items but I don't know where to start with IEW. The essays? Literature?

I plan to do Eng. and American Lit with them through high school but do we need a foundation first?

 

BTW, they were in public school for the last 5 years.

[Photo Ninja]

The best thing is for you to watch the Teaching Writing Structure and Style teachers lessons. This teaches you to teach writing. Then you can use the foundation you learned, very specific details, and apply them to whatever type of writing you want your dc to do. The general principles apply to all writing on any topic.

 

There is a short series of lessons you can get along with the TWSS seminar that your dc can watch and complete. It will get them going on the basics, if you don't want to teach it yourself. I highly recommend you watching the entire seminar, though, so you understand what your dc are expected to do. Then you can use the other lessons sold on the site because your dc will have the foundation.

 

There are DVDs of Mr. Pudewa teaching groups of students. The Continuation Series is 10 weeks of lessons and assignments, but at the IEW site you can download - free - lesson plans on using them for an entire school year.

 

While your dc may not generally like video teachers, Mr. Pudewa is very funny, and your dc may forget that they are watching a DVD.

[Brigid in NC]

I think IEW is an excellent resource for reluctant writers and reluctant teachers. :001_smile:

 

I would start with the SWI-B DVD's. That will give you and your guys a bite-size preview of Andrew Pudewa, and the IEW system. If you find the approach workable, then you can move on to SICC-B, which is about a year's course.

 

It will seem cookie-cutter at first. Because it is. It teaches kids to break down writing into component parts and then put them back together. At first the writing is stilted and forced. But if you and your boys hang in there, little by little, their writing will improve. They will make stylistic choices that are more elegant.

 

One (of many) additional benefits of the IEW approach is that it takes the emotion and subjectivity out of assessments, because there are rubrics for us -- and we move out of a sea of red ink and tears to an objective assessment and a conversation rather than confrontation with our kids.

 

IEW doesn't work for lots of people, but it really worked for us. I think it is worth a try. Good luck. I hope you find success with it -- or with whatever writing curriculum you choose.

 

~Brigid

[MIC in OH]

Thank you both for your replies. I am going to get a look at a local friend's materials so I can get a feel for the program. Hopefully between that and the Classical Conversations information on IEW I should be well informed by next week.

[ma23peas]

I have been eating/breathing/sleeping IEW for the last month. Last year, I bought the Student Writing Intensive-B to use with my then 5th, 6th and 8th grader...we really liked the approach, but I will say the learning curve took a bit of time..fast forward 10 months and I'm now going to teach 15 students using IEW B & C (two separate grade groups)...because of the added responsibility I have put a lot of time reviewing the Teaching Writing Structure & Style videos and SWI videos. There is also a wealth of information available to families on the Yahoo group IEW-Families...I could easily lay out a plan for you, (I have run so many different options in my head..I think I know them by heart! :))

 

I don't think you need to buy Teaching Writing Structure in Style AND Student Writing Intensive...I have both...it would be ideal if you knew someone who had TWSS and ask to view the videos (take notes and apply it when you teach/view the SWI-C). With my children we all just watched the videos together...sadly we all agreed that he could have said the same amount of information in 1/2 the time...(we're very busy and I guess just sensitive to slow starts)

 

If I were to do it over with my own children, I would review the videos a few days before I was teaching that lesson and then teach them. I plan on doing that with my co-op students.

 

SWI is set up for 15 lessons, if your children need 'reinforcement' on any of the techniques then extra lessons are provided..we just never needed them. Technically he has taught everything in TWSS over a 3 day 19 hour seminar...so you can easily do these in 15 weekly lessons.

 

For your second semester I would go with the Elegant Essay or one of the theme based packs...you can choose American Literature, Character, Bible Based etc. I am choosing to do Elegant Essay and then 'Teaching the Classics' before we jump into Windows to the World..for my senior (9-11) class...for my junior class (6-8) I'm going with the Medieval pack...

 

In addition to the SWI, I am incorporating three distinct segments to our language arts.

1. Editing through IEW's Fix-It program..each student has 4 sentences a week they must correct (either grammatical or punctuation/style)

2. Spelling..using a vocabulary list found on AP tests..they have 10 words a week.

3. Literature/Poetry...we are reading one novel in class and the kids are responsible for choosing 3 additional reads off the book list...I am also requiring poetry recitation (anyone for some Poe? :))...the more we read, emulate (along classical thoughts) the better writer they become..they will start to find the techniques taught in class in each of these classic authors...

 

HTH!

Like I said, I'm deeply entrenched this week! :)

Tara