This summer I’ve been posting reviews of our writing products as well as some articles about writing. This is an article that I wrote last summer that I thought you might find helpful.
When we decided to homeschool our children, we did not buy a writing curriculum. As a fifth-grade teacher with six years experience, I knew how to create a writing curriculum. Most of the homeschool writing activities I saw were like the writing curriculum in the public school system. These programs taught students what to write, not how to write.
Well, that was until I discovered Andrew Pudewa's Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW). IEW had a flagship product, Teaching Writing: Structure and Style, that intrigued me. Mr. Pudewa did not spend a lot of time brainstorming ideas for students to write. Instead he spent the bulk of his curriculum on "how to write". This was a new concept to me because the biggest problem my students had, like all other students, was what to write about.
Andrew Pudewa's approach to writing is completely different. Rather than have students decide on the topic, he tells them what to write about. Using his lesson plans for writing process, students learn a variety of "structures". These structures consist of outlines for various types of writings - essays, letters, and more. Students choose an appropriate outline depending on what kind of writing they are doing and the reasons for writing.
Teaching Writing goes beyond structure, teaching students how to develop their writing "style"; thus, the program name Teaching Writing: Structure and Style. Mr. Pudewa teaches students how to develop and vary their writing style. Students use strong action words and effective adjectives to create powerful sentences. Once students learn how to dress up their sentences, they learn various methods to open their sentences.
In my next article (part 2), I will share a simple activity you can use with your own children this week (or the first week of school). If your older students struggle with writing, this is a great place to start.
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Copyright Kerry Beck, 2009
You have permission to reprint this article, as long as you don’t make any changes and include the bio below.
Kerry Beck encourages homeschool moms and classroom teachers with writing lessons. Go get her free mini-course about Teaching Writing Easily today. |
