Homeschool Corner: “Student Writing Intensive”
My Thoughts On: Institute for Excellence in Writing’s “Student Writing Intensive”
Writing is something that I have always liked to do. However, not everyone does, especially many children. Sometimes children struggle to think of ideas and things to write about. So, what can a parent do?
For this school year, I volunteered to teach a writing class at my homeschool co-op. I had to undergo a DVD training in order to do it. It took some time, but I was so pleasantly surprised with the training and this method of teaching writing that I instantly knew that my children would be taught to write in this way.
The program I learned is called Student Writing Intensive by The Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW). The best thing about this program is that it can help children who like to write, as well as those who are more reluctant to write. I am enjoying teaching this class and it seems the students are also! Each week, at least one student tells me what a good time he or she had in class. Even my own daughter has taken time to compliment the program. They have learned so much already and we are only half way through! It helps children have ideas to write about and teaches them stylistic techniques that spruce up their writing and make it more interesting and appealing to the reader.
It addresses fictional and non-fictional writing, taking idea inventories so that children may write using their own thoughts, and even report writing. For report writing, it has a method, using the outlining technique, to write reports from multiple sources. This way of teaching writing can help writers of any grade or ability level. I have even shown it to my husband when he was working on reports for his classes in his Master’s Program and his writing has improved.
If you have never heard of this program, you can find their website at: www.excellenceinwriting.com The student materials are there, as well as the teacher DVD’s, and additional resources that you can use during instruction. Even if you and your children love writing and are excellent writers, it still is worth checking out.
What makes this writing program even more appealing is that it can be applied to any subject area that you may be working on. The children will learn two methods of outlining that can help them summarize anything they have read or heard. This is especially helpful for those children that have reading comprehension problems or need to strengthen their listening skills. Even if you are not teaching them to write compositions, they can still summarize things they are reading to deepen their comprehension and hopefully encourage their love of reading as well.
About the Author: Alicia Tucker is a homeschool mom of 3 children, after having worked in public schools in NJ and SC for over 10 years. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Sociology, as well as a Master’s degree in Education with a specialization in Curriculum and Technology. Alicia is also Moms of Faith’s lead prayer warrior and columnist.
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