Review: Institute for Excellence in Writing

Teaching writing. You either love it or hate it. I wasn't in the love it category. Neither was my daughter Mackenzie. Then the Institute for Excellence in Writing sent us Teaching Writing with Structure and Style (TWSS) along with the Student Writing Intensive B (SWI).  We've changed our minds.

About IEW

These DVD writing courses cover note-taking and summarizing, story writing, creative writing, and report writing. The student will learn many stylistic techniques that will make their writing clearing and more interesting.

TWSS includes:

     * 10 DVDS

     * Seminar Workbook

This set is a video seminar for parents and teachers. It gives you the whys and hows behind the program. It gives you an overview of the program as well as the nitty gritty behind teaching each of the stylistic techniques. It will take you from the basics of paragraph writing all the way through research reports and essays.


SWI B includes:

* 5 DVDS

* Student Binder with all hand outs (level B): Source texts, check                                                               lists

* Detailed Lesson Suggestions for parent/teacher: Scope and         Sequence, detailed lesson suggestions, teacher notes.

The course can be covered in 15-30 weeks and will expose the student to a variety of structural models and techniques using a variety of interesting source texts. As an added bonus, not only will your student be learning about writing but a bit of history and science as well.

Our Experience

What can I say, other than we LOVED it!!  Writing went from a dreaded subject to a much anticipated subject. We are sold!!

I watched the the TWSS on my own as it is a seminar geared to the teaching of writing. One would think that watching TEN DVDS would be overwhelming and maybe a tad dull. Not so. I loved and learned during every minute of it.

Mackenzie and I watched the student DVDs from the SWI B together. Then we go over the assignment together and I help her as needed. Like the TWSS DVDs, we enjoyed every minute of these. Mr. Pudewa is an amazing teacher. He has just the right amount of humor to keep us from noticing that a particular lesson might be 45 minutes long. We were too busy learning and having fun.


From the first lesson, note taking, I saw dramatic improvements in Mackenzie's writing. And it immediately carried over to other subjects, like science and history.  Genius!!!

When I say that this program revolutionized writing in our house, I am not exaggerating. Mackenzie went from hating writing to loving it.

Once she was given the tools and rules in IEWs program it was like a great weight was lifted. She was suddenly inspired to write. She went from writing the bare minimum to endless pages. She can now turn a 3 paragraph assignment into 6 pages in the blink of an eye. I guess that makes her what Mr. Pudewa calls "an 18-pager." lol As least as far as creative writing assignments are concerned.

At the moment, that is our biggest problem. My child is so inspired to write that she doesn't want to stop. How awesome is that?

I can not speak highly enough of this program. It has made writing, and the teaching of writing, a joy in our house. Mr. Pudewa's personality and sense of humor in the lessons makes him feel like family to us. Mackenzie looks forward to the lessons, she enjoys them, she is able to easily apply what she's learned to her writing. (Well everything except the length of creative assignments. lol) She even quotes his funny sayings to put into her scrapbook.

During the review period I was blessed to be able to hear Mr. Pudewa speak in person. His session just reinforced my love for this program. It takes common sense and applies it to create this wonderful writing program for teachers and students a like.  Dare I say, genius again??? Yes, I dare. Genius!!!

If you are looking for a way to lift the writing burden in your home, then definitely take a look at the Institute for Excellence in Writing. It's easy to use, it's fun, and it gets results.

F.Y.I.

Website: http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/

Age Range (for level B): Sixth through eighth grade

Pricing: TWSS/$169.900, SWI B/$109.00

Samples are available on the product pages.  And check them out of Facebook.