choirfarm Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 I just received my copy of IEW's new product by Mary Pryor. It was 29 dollars and I think it will be well worth it. The introduction talks about the AP exam and kinds of questions and how to prepare. She then talks about common phrases to avoid and has a section of novels and plays for AP English that have been used more than 12 times. She has a list of works for you children to choose from in addition to the ones she does in depth. The first unit is on Great Expectations. She has questions for you to look through as you read it. There are tons of handouts, graphic organizers. She then gives a prompt about a symbol. She picks a symbol from Great Expectations and in a very detailed manner goes through how to answer the question. She then asks them to use the same prompt using a different symbol. She suggests taking several days to do this one. Once they finish they do a ratiocination: It is REALLY good. They use colored pencils to mark specific parts in their essay. I really like this!! Then she gives another essay on Great Expectations and suggests they just take a day to do this one, maybe two. They do the same thing with the ratiocination and rubric and recording their score on the essay evaluation chart. She then has them write a 3rd, 4th and 5th essay on Great Expectations. Finally they must write a 6th one in 40 minutes. Obviously, you could have them use other novels for the 3rd, 4th 5th, but I do like that she concentrates on this novel. For one thing, they get tons of practice. For another thing, Great Expectations has been listed 18 times on the exam. The next unit uses Richard III. There are more handouts with additional literary terms. She gives 2 essay assignments on this one. The next unit uses The Scarlet Letter. Once again she has quesions for them to consider as they read. There are 3 essay assignments on this one using the same checklists as unit 1. Unit 4 has them pick a work of their choosing. They must choose 2 out of the 4 prompts to write timed essays. Unit 5: Poetry Analysis- There are great handouts on terms and close reading as well as graphic organizers. She then goes through all the steps of "O Captain! My Captain!" much like she did for Great Expectations in excruciating detail. ( The others do not have sample essays like GE and this poem do. It is very helpful as she talks you through the whole process. She then goes through a detailed example where you must compare two poems using "The Tyger" and "The Lamb". She then give gives 3 examples of promps where they have to write a thesis statement with examples in the back to compare. There are 4 full timed essay assignments. Unit 6: Prose Analysis- More handouts, terms and graphic organizers She has 3 times essay assignments in this section. Unit 7- A very small multiple choice section. The Appendix has 37 forms, graphic organizers, terms, or other useful handouts before the answer key. I think it would be helpful to have done Windows to the World or some other program that goes into literary terms and how to annotate a text before you do this. $29 seems a reasonable price for all of this material. Even if your student doesn't take the AP exam, it should help their writing tremendously. Oh, and if you get irritated by dress ups and other IEW techniques, they are listed in a very brief handout, but you do not have to have used IEW before this. She does mention banned words like show and varying the sentences like IEW suggests, but most good writing programs stress vocabulary and sentence variety. I'm really excited about it. I know they will probably be sick of Great Expectations, but I like the way she helps them really learn how to write it and how to look at the prompt. Plus, this is a work that they can actually use on the exam. I need to look up this fact, but I want to say you don't have to use one of the listed works on that essay if it is a notable work. I'll look up that fact to make sure. Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anissarobert Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 I wanted this when I got the catalog, and now I have to have it! Thanks for the review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
April in CA Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Hi Christine! My son is taking the exam in May and is part of an AP lit class. Do you think this would be a worthwhile study aid over the next 6 weeks or so, or is it designed to be used over a school year? Thanks! Blessings, April Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silliness7 Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Wow!! Thank you so much for such an in depth review. I saw this product in their catalog and it is on my radar. I'm thinking of doing a year with Windows and then American Lit and British Lit, with BJU, saving this AP prep for senior year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane Elliot Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 Thank you for taking the time to write this. It's very helpful! I love IEW products but hadn't even noticed this one. It might be just the thing for ds next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted March 12, 2011 Author Share Posted March 12, 2011 Hi Christine! My son is taking the exam in May and is part of an AP lit class. Do you think this would be a worthwhile study aid over the next 6 weeks or so, or is it designed to be used over a school year? Thanks!Blessings, April I would say it is a semester class. It would depend on how quickly your child read,however. If he is taking an AP class, I would think he has been getting lots of practice and feedback on his essays, so I'm not sure it would be helpful. It also isn't all that helpful on the multiple choice. You would have to find a lot more practice for that part of it. That said, the graphic organizers, tip sheets, etc could be VERY helpful to use with novels your son was already VERY familiar with. You could just read through her specific examples on Great Expectations, but then write the essays on a different novel. I am going to use the Ratiocination with a lot of the papers my boys write from now on. I guess it would depend on how helpful you feel like the instructor's feedback on your son's essays have been. If you feel his essays are still weak, it might be worthwhile. Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MaryMargaret Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Thanks, Christine, for the very thorough review of the book. Nicely done. Please note that the IEW catalog now offers a week-by-week schedule for teaching the book. Located at the bottom of the book's description page in a .pdf download, the schedule covers either a one-year or a one-semester course depending on the reading and writing speed of your child. The book also gives instructions for finding more multiple-choice practice questions on the AP website for those who would like to continue working on that area. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Mary, thanks for pointing us to the extra resources! I just bought your book this week (my son attended some seminars Mr Pudewa gave and *loved* them! What a great rapport he has with kids, even teenage boys who hate to write :D). I am so impressed with your book -- what a wonderful resource for homeschoolers. I have to ask ... Do you have plans to write a similar book for AP Lang? Pretty please? :001_smile: ~Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MaryMargaret Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Mary, thanks for pointing us to the extra resources! I just bought your book this week (my son attended some seminars Mr Pudewa gave and *loved* them! What a great rapport he has with kids, even teenage boys who hate to write :D). I am so impressed with your book -- what a wonderful resource for homeschoolers. I have to ask ... Do you have plans to write a similar book for AP Lang? Pretty please? :001_smile: ~Laura Dear Laura, Thank you so much. I, too, have always been impressed with Mr. Pudewa and his boundless energy and expertise. I am currently planning the next book for AP English Language and Composition and will be writing it this summer to be published next March. Thanks for asking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted April 30, 2011 Author Share Posted April 30, 2011 Thanks, Christine, for the very thorough review of the book. Nicely done. Please note that the IEW catalog now offers a week-by-week schedule for teaching the book. Located at the bottom of the book's description page in a .pdf download, the schedule covers either a one-year or a one-semester course depending on the reading and writing speed of your child. The book also gives instructions for finding more multiple-choice practice questions on the AP website for those who would like to continue working on that area. Hope this helps. Thanks Mary!! I'm off to download it!! Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann@thebeach Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 Another thanks! I appreciate your time and effort writing this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 I am currently planning the next book for AP English Language and Composition and will be writing it this summer to be published next March. Thanks for asking. How exciting! I will definitely look for it. Thank you! :001_smile: ~Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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