At the homeschool conference, I was able to attend a writing and language arts panel. Three moms shared their various favorite language arts curriculum ideas, and a few were discussed in depth. One of these is a program which I always wanted to use, but never took the big jump. Years ago, when my girls were attending a local homeschool PPP through the school district, their writing teacher used Excellence in Writing. I remember loving how they were able to take those keywords and turn them into coherent paragraphs. I was an IEW wanna-be.
I have been on the IEW newsletter mailing list for years. I am notified when ever they come to town or offer trainings or Student Writing Intensives in my state, yet I do not use the program. I did use their spelling curriculum with the girls when they were in 3rd-7th grades, and loved it. It was the fear of all the different odd parts to teaching or learning the writing program that has always intimidated me.
During the writing panel I listened intently to what they had to say about IEW. They make it sound so easy! I even asked them a question, which I now pose to any of you who use IEW and know what you’re doing with it:
How would teaching and using this program look with a child who cannot write? I don’t mean handwriting; his penmanship is very nice. My 9 year old cannot so much as copy a paragraph. It takes hours…. and hours… and hours… Getting it from his brain or eyes, to the pencil and to the paper is just something he’s not able to do easily. If I ask him to tell me a story, or tell me about something, this he can do without hesitation.
Just the process of coming up with keywords from even one short paragraph I think will give me gray hair. We don’t think about what we have to go through to do things like this! For D1 it is a multi-step process:
- Read the paragraph.
- Read the first sentence.
- Find 1-2 key words that hold meaning to the sentence.
- Write the words down.
- Repeat with second sentence.
Sure, it sounds pretty quick doesn’t it? Not with a child with a developmental delay due to brain damage! Reading is fine. Choosing a word or two? From a pile of words? I shudder to think. Maybe I should just try it and see what he can do. Maybe he will surprise me. Writing the words down, since it is only one or two, may be okay although he would still need to be prompted.
Then they put away the source material, take their key words, and make up their own sentences. This could go one of two ways: he may make up sentences that have NOTHING to do with the source text, or he may repeat the original sentences word for word. He has a fantastic memory.
The whole thing just really intimidates me!! I don’t understand how they can get from keyword outlines and paragraphs written from those, to writing on their own. The different pieces and parts of the program just seem rather disjointed to me, even though I know it works! I need to get my hands on the DVDs, watch them, and just try it. Hopefully I can find a friend who owns them. I think I know someone who does. When I do finally try this I’ll be sure to post an update on how he did. For now, I’m still an IEW Wanna-Be. 
My 18 yo ds had beautiful handwriting but also could not write. So after agonizing (and different curriculums) we didn't. I didn't require any writing beyond thank you's and letters to Grandma.
Instead, for years I had him do detailed narrations and verbal reports. In 10th grade we did a few writing projects and then In 11th grade I enrolled him in a tutorial class on academic writing. He loved it- made a's.
Now he loves to write.
.-= Susan´s last blog ..How? =-.
Thank you SO MUCH Susan! This is what I need to hear. I know that the physical ACT of writing isn't nearly as important as the process… the getting thoughts from brain to paper somehow… And this is exactly what we are trying to work through now. I'm so glad to hear that he moved beyond the difficulty and into loving it. It gives me hope!
i have one year's experience with iew and many years' experience with a child who hates both the mechanical process and the "brain" process of writing, so i'll throw out some thoughts here. i'll try very hard not to be too long-winded!
brief (ha!) history: i didn't use any sort of formal writing instruction with ben until he was 12. for many years i simply had him narrate to me (usually from our history reading) while i wrote down what he said, and then we would sometimes work together to "polish" his narrations. when he was 12 i had him do a simple writing book called "wordsmith apprentice" (i helped him with some assignments), and then last year when he was 13 & my daughter was 10, we did iew.
we did the "student intensive," but i also watched the "teaching with structure & style" dvds for myself to get more of a background on the principles. while there were a few things i didn't like about iew, i do think it's a good program and it was very beneficial for us. i didn't continue with it this year only because the enrichment program ben was in decided to offer a writing class. i do plan to go back to iew.
so here's a suggestion: watch the "teaching…" dvds yourself so that you can understand the principles behind it. but don't actually "do" the program with your son yet. instead, have him do history narrations, etc, to you as i mentioned above. then use your knowledge of "dress-ups" and "sentence openers" to help him polish the narrations. this way you are introducing the principles. work with him every step of the way. sometimes it will feel like YOU are doing most of the brain work as well as the physical writing, but that's okay. the more you go through the writing process WITH him, the more of the process he'll absorb. don't worry right now about having him make keyword outlines and writing on his own. that can wait a year or two. (remember, my son was 13 when we started.)
oh, back to my son– he's just finished his writing class, and he survived! i helped him A LOT, and sometimes (usually) it was like pulling teeth, but he got through it and did pretty well. then this week i had him write from history again (not dictating to me, but typing it on his own), and i was amazed at what he came up with right from his own brain! i could write much, much more about this, but this is way too long already. let's just suffice it to say that, despite his "late start" with writing, he has come a very long way in just a few years. lots and lots of baby steps!
I teach writing to regular college students, but find the most practical advice about teaching is in the writing by folks in special education. I use a lot of special ed techniques with my students who struggle to write for lots of reasons other than learning disabilities.
Steven Graham and Karen R. Harris out of Vanderbilt University have several books on writing for kids who struggle with writing. I recommend their work highly and also find their publisher's newsletter very useful. http://www.you-can-teach-writing.com/writing-and-…
You might also find Livia McCoy's new book on teaching struggling students useful. She teaches science at a school for college-bound dyslexics. An interview with her is at http://www.you-can-teach-writing.com/learningdiso… The school emphasizes daily writing. What she has to say is very practical.