Bringing Back the

   Would you like to learn a simple technique to instantly improve your students’ writing? It is simple: Teach them some style. So far in this series of monthly posts, we have been discussing the structural units (most recently Unit 4: Summarizing a Reference and Unit 5: Writing from Pictures). However, structure is only half of our program: Teaching Writing: Structure and Style. IEW’s stylistic techniques are a series of writing elements that make writing stronger. Improving vocabulary, the â€Å"dress-ups† add clarity and interest to writing. To avoid starting every sentence with a subject, students learn to use a variety of sentence openers. Decorations bestow a bit of bling to a composition while advanced techniques challenge students to add complexity to their work. The techniques are presented incrementally so that students can master each one before learning a new one. Teachers are encouraged to follow the â€Å"EZ+1† rule: Everything should be easy for the student except the one new thing. This ensures that students can face writing assignments with confidence. To help students keep track of what is required of them, teachers can provide a composition checklist. The checklist catalogs the list of required style and identifies important structural requirements, from how to format the paper to reminders about elements such as the topic/clincher words. Clearly, the checklist is an invaluable tool for students because it makes writing assignments a known quantity: Complete everything on the checklist, and the writing is done. The important thing to remember is that IEW writing is not just structure nor is it just style. It is the intentional blending of the two that makes this program so successful. When you teach   using the IEW method, you can be sure your students are acquiring sophisticated skills for writing with both structure and style. Jill Pike  is a homeschooling mother of eight and an IEW ® Accomplished Instructor. Serving as moderator of the  IEWFamilies forum, she provides support to thousands of teachers and parents. She has authored many lesson plans offered by the Institute for Excellence in Writing, most recently adapting Anna Ingham's  Blended Sound-Sight Program of Learning  for home educators in the  Primary Arts of Language. After graduating five children, Jill and her husband, Greg, continue to home educate their youngest three in Indiana. Log in or register to post commentsJill Pikes blog Log in or register to post comments