Blessed with seven Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 This is for older boy, 8th, that HATES to write, literally won't write a paragraph and it is my mistake in not pushing it earlier. Writing/Grammar has made me sort of freeze. I want something that he can do fairly independently, although I am here to look at things and try to help, ha! Not real confident in my abilitly to help with writing as they get farther along. He just doesn't like it but needs to know how to write reports, essays etc.. He is not going to be a creative writer or go into a "writing" field but need to know how to write reports etc...as he wants to be a police officer etc.. Thanks! Kim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcara Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I've never used Writing Strands but I am using SWI B with my 3rd, 5th, and 8th graders right now and they are all doing very well with it and enjoying it. It has made writing easy here. I've sped things up for my 8th grader and she is now happy to be writing reports. But you should know that SWI B doesn't include all the topics of the complete IEW writing program. I also got the TWSS and I will go through the additional topics on their with her soon as I think they are essential to get to soon as we near high school, such as moving from a report to an essay. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I bought Writing Strands and never used it because I didn't really like that it was so much writing from your own imagination at first. I love that IEW begins writing and focuses on using other material which you rewrite while you learn the writing process and structure/techniques to make good writing. I used SWI-A with my reluctant writer last year (4th grade), and we're using the US History theme book this year. I've seen amazing improvement in his ability to write well. I wasn't confident in my own ability, but IEW has made me much more so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blessed with seven Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 Okay..so..for IEW, does it really guide them, part of the blank stare is him coming up with something to write about, let along figure out how to write it. Will SWI B get them going well enough to write reports and essays or do I NEED TWSS? If I use TWSS is there a book to use "with" it to help be more "strucuted" daily plans? I guess I don't understand how it works when people use a themed based program with TWSS?? I really want it more to the student with me there to help as needed??? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I watched TWSS an did all the assignments first, but I was able to borrow it from a friend and just buy my own notebook. I think I might would have been able to do it with just watching a SWI, though. I think the biggest help would be doing the assignments, too. I'm using a theme-based book this year, but I don't use it with TWSS. I just follow the lessons plan in the theme book. TWSS is to help the teacher fully understand the program, even the advanced techniques and units which would come later. You might want to get the overview dvd. It's only $10 and includes descriptions of all the different types of writing units and a practice assignment. Here's a break down of the units IEW teaches. Units 1 & 2: taking notes from a source text (Key word outlines); retelling the information using only the outline, rewriting the information using only the outline Unit 3: Story sequence chart; retelling a story using a 3 paragraph model chart Unit 4: Summarizing a reference for report writing (making KWOs from a single source text by choosing the most interesting/important information) Unit 5: writing from pictures (this will be more from his head, but a picture is provided to use to guide the thoughts) Unit 6: Report writing from multiple sources such as research reports Unit 7: Creative writing (writing from his own brain, used for writing from prompts) Unit 8: Essay (can be used with and intro/conc added to a report or for opinion which would be from his own thoughts) Unit 9: Literary Critique (Unit 3 with information from the book added as an introduction and his own thoughts for the conclusion paragraph) Overall, I think you can see that IEW teaches more formal writing than creative, which I think is much more necessary in real life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blessed with seven Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 Thank you for that information!!! I appreciate it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 You are welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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