IEW TWSS. Help me decide.

[maptime]

We're new to IEW, and I'm looking at the American History based lessons for my 5th grader next year.  I understand that these lessons are designed to be taught by a teacher who has already gone through the TWSS DVDs, but alas, I'm looking for an easy way out😜   When I was searching through old threads, I saw someone mention that they used the physical TWSS syllabus in lieu of watching the actual DVDs.   In your experience, would the syllabus alone be enough to prepare me to teach the theme-based lessons well?  $189 and 14 hours of seminar watching feels like quite the hurdle to clear when I'm not 100% sure we'll be using IEW for years to come, but I do want to give this a fair shake and not set us up for failure.  Thoughts?

Edited July 25, 2019 by maptime

[Momto6inIN]

I totally understand where you're coming from! I held off on buying IEW for years because of the time and money investment required. But my DS's writing was a mess and I didn't know what else to try in order to get him to limit and organize his thoughts, so I took the plunge. 

I don't think I would have been able to implement the IEW system and see results with my kids without watching the TWSS. That doesn't mean you couldn't, but I personally would not have been able to get the most out of it without watching Mr. Pudewa go through the steps and without actually writing the assignments myself (which is an important part of learning the program). The notes are all there, and the syllabus is pretty detailed, but seeing him and hearing him and then doing it myself brought it all together for me in a way that just reading through it would not have. It was a very good investment of time for me as a teacher.

[BlsdMama]

14 hours ago, maptime said:

We're new to IEW, and I'm looking at the American History based lessons for my 5th grader next year.  I understand that these lessons are designed to be taught by a teacher who has already gone through the TWSS DVDs, but alas, I'm looking for an easy way out😜   When I was searching through old threads, I saw someone mention that they used the physical TWSS syllabus in lieu of watching the actual DVDs.   In your experience, would the syllabus alone be enough to prepare me to teach the theme-based lessons well?  $189 and 14 hours of seminar watching feels like quite the hurdle to clear when I'm not 100% sure we'll be using IEW for years to come, but I do want to give this a fair shake and not set us up for failure.  Thoughts?

 

My advice is buy used, watch them, then sell them.  You're still out the 14 hours but I believe it to be a necessary 14 hours.  After you've watched the videos, it should stick pretty good.  I haven't seen them in years. 😉 

[Kerry Blue]

A few thoughts:

1. IEW strongly suggests using passages that are at or below the student's reading level. This allows the student to focus on writing instead of difficult words and reading comprehension. I notice that American History is rated for grades 6-8. You might want to look over the samples and see how easily your student can process them.

We did IEW last year for the first time, and I put my 5th grader into the (discontinued) Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales book. It worked for us until about unit 4, and then fell apart. I think a part of it was the level of the passages. So I shifted my 5th grader into All Things Fun and Fascinating with her younger sisters. While the passages were probably too easy, she was able to focus on the instructions and her writing.

Unless your student already possesses some writing skills, All Things Fun... is not a bad place to start. The instructions in the book are fairly clear, and I would consider it a very gentle introduction to the IEW method.

2. You might be able to get an idea of what the different units in IEW are about if you listen to the podcasts about each level. It certainly does not have all the information in the DVDs, since it is meant as a review, but there is some information there.

I personally tried to glean the needed information from the podcasts, but still felt lost. I ended up purchasing the TWSS because I did not know how to teach writing. I feel I can write decently, but I had no clue on how to impart that knowledge to my children. It took me a while to bite the bullet and buy the DVDs, but I feel it has been worth it. Thinking of it as a continuing education workshop for a teacher made the cost more understandable.

As for just using the workbook instead of getting all the DVDs to go with it, I don't think it would work very well. The workbook has bullet points to remind someone about what was covered in the videos, but without the actual instruction, I think someone trying to learn from it would get lost.

[maptime]

Thanks for all of the helpful feedback.  I think it's the kick in the pants I needed to suck it up and just commit to doing the program as intended.  A question for those of you who have already gone through the TWSS training: have you gone back to view the sessions again after your initial viewing?  I'm tempted by the one-year streaming option (much more convenient for me to be able to watch from my laptop), but that would mean I wouldn't be able to go back and re-watch years down the road.   Will I regret not having a hard copy, or would it likely just collect dust on the shelf?

[Momto6inIN]

4 minutes ago, maptime said:

Thanks for all of the helpful feedback.  I think it's the kick in the pants I needed to suck it up and just commit to doing the program as intended.  A question for those of you who have already gone through the TWSS training: have you gone back to view the sessions again after your initial viewing?  I'm tempted by the one-year streaming option (much more convenient for me to be able to watch from my laptop), but that would mean I wouldn't be able to go back and re-watch years down the road.   Will I regret not having a hard copy, or would it likely just collect dust on the shelf?

I have not re-watched but I did take lots of extra notes in the curriculum binder and I do review those from time to time. So I think the streaming would probably be fine.

[Slache]

28 minutes ago, Momto6inIN said:

I have not re-watched but I did take lots of extra notes in the curriculum binder and I do review those from time to time. So I think the streaming would probably be fine.

I disagree, but I'm forgetful. So I guess the right answer is whatever you're comfortable with.

[Momto6inIN]

37 minutes ago, Slache said:

I disagree, but I'm forgetful. So I guess the right answer is whatever you're comfortable with.

I have listened to the live workshops periodically since then and those have helped keep it fresh in my mind. They don't re-teach the content of the TWSS but they do review it pretty well.

I agree that one answer isn't right for everybody!

[maptime]

Thanks for the feedback!  I think I'm going to go ahead and take the gamble on the streaming option and just make sure I take copious notes.  I'm afraid having to view them through my DVD player in the recesses of my basement would result in me not getting all the way through them even one time, much less additional times😂

[Momto6inIN]

11 minutes ago, maptime said:

Thanks for the feedback!  I think I'm going to go ahead and take the gamble on the streaming option and just make sure I take copious notes.  I'm afraid having to view them through my DVD player in the recesses of my basement would result in me not getting all the way through them even one time, much less additional times😂

I hope it works for you! IEW really helped my kids learn to organize their thoughts and it helped me be a better writing teacher. Hopefully it does the same for you and your family!