IEW love!

[NittanyJen]

This week was a week for some serious love for IEW SWI-A (Institute for Excellence in Writing).

 

My younger has formally Dx'd dysgraphia, and though we have noted much improvement over the past couple of years (thank you WWE and HWT and much hard work) it still exists, and when he is concentrating on new material, I still have to scribe for him frequently, if he must write more than a sentence or two and is not using the computer.

 

This week, we were starting SWI-A's story sequence model, where students really pay attention to character, setting, plot, climax, and denouement, rather than a line-by-line outline, brainstorm, and then use their notes to recast the story in their own words.

 

I was so surprised when DS sat himself down with his outline, set to work, and eventually handed me a full sheet of hand-written paper, written in one sitting in a reasonable period of time... and his story was very well-written, for his ability level! Given the difficulty just writing itself poses for him even with copy work, I was really proud of the effort he put into his story.

 

Clearly, IEW is working as a confidence-builder for this kid. He even said he can understand how a writer might sit down and describe his characters, setting, major problem, resolution, how the character changed at the end, and different descriptors before actually starting to write a story, so now he gets why I asked him to start keeping a journal (Bravewriter) of ideas "for someday."

 

At age 9, we have a long road ahead still, and clearly, we can also credit WWE, Bravewriter, MCT, and a few other programs for getting him here (I'd like to thank the Academy, and my Mom, and ...). But tonight, I'm really feeling the love for IEW for helping it all click together!

[boscopup]

Hooray! I had a similar experience last year with my son. He doesn't have any physical problems with writing - his was all fear of making a mistake. Pudewa's methods of using a pen to write a rough draft helped sooooo much. My son finally got comfortable with the rough draft not being *perfect*. So when he sat down and wrote an entire page (double spaced ;) ), I was in shock! :lol: He still didn't get very creative with his story rewrites, but he did well. The keyword outline also helps him a lot.

 

For us, WWE and  IEW have been a great combo. We did half of SWI-A last year, and this year we'll do the other half at some point. Right now, we're doing WWE3. I made one big mistake last year while doing IEW: I had temporarily dropped narrations. I don't recommend that! I didn't mean to. It just happened that I dropped the ball. Now I've picked it up again, and his narration ability is slowly coming back to him.

 

But yes, IEW really helped us move from copywork/dictation to writing an original sentence without freaking out. Love it!!!

[5LittleMonkeys]

:hurray: WooHoo!  That is great!  I have two older dc that, due to some wasted time in ps, do not feel confident in their writing ability and so balk at writing, and I can tell you that when they get up to upper middle school and highschool that is not a task you want to spend hours struggling over.  Schoolwork is so much easier at that age if they have solid writing skills and the confidence to just crank out written responses without spending far too much time agonizing over putting pen to paper.

 

Teach them well when they are young!

[mothergooseof4]

I have failed my 14yo in the writing area.  I can write all day, but teaching it was another story.  We have tried many programs over the years, but it was like pulling teeth, so I would fail to follow through.  Or, some of them we did work diligently with, but they just didn't give either of us the structure we needed.  I bought the TWSS and the SWI a couple of years ago, watched the first couple of units myself, then had ds start the SWI.  He hated it because he is very much a just-tell-me-what-to-do kid and Mr. Pudewa likes to talk.  I enjoy his humor and extra tidbits of info, but ds did not appreciate it.  Since I had not watched the entire TWSS to see where it was going, I sold it and moved on.  FAILURE!

 

So, this summer I got the TWSS and watched the entire thing.  It clicked for me.  I bought a couple of themed programs to use for our first year, and ds completed lesson two which was to rewrite a paragraph from his KWO.  It was the best paragraph he has ever written.  I have lesson 3 to grade later this morning, so I am hoping to see the same quality.  I will say, I can't just hand it to him.  He has needed help picking the key words even at 14yo since we have never done it before, and I am having to take his first draft to go over his checklist and recommend some ideas, but it is a skill that needs to be taught.  Hopefully, he is picking it up quicker than his younger siblings and will be more independent in the future.  But, again, that is my fault for not teaching him in the past.  My 4th and 5th graders are also working through a themed program, so I expect their skills to be so much more developed by the time they are his age.

 

I am loving IEW!  It has finally given me the skills to teach my kids to write.  I can see that it is a little over formulated, but even Mr. Pudewa states that his program is not going to result in perfect writing.  Instead, it gives them a foundation and some skills that are drilled until mastered, then you allow the dc to use them as they fit.

[FairProspects]

Awesome! We are starting IEW with my dysgraphic in a few weeks and I hope we will have similar results!

[Guest]

IEW has been a huge hit here too!