Question for users of IEW's Student Writing Intensive...(crosspost)

[Heather in VA]

I'm considering this for my 12 year old but I'm concerned about the whole 'dress-up' thing. Do you find that your student ended up just throwing in a bunch of adverbs and adjectives to make it sound fancy? How did the lessons transfer to essays and other expository writing when the topic isn't so much of a story as younger writing is?

Thanks

[Alyce]

I can't remember if he wants one adverb and one adjective or just one out of the two of them. He does suggest using a thesaurus to help you chose of words but I haven't found it too fancy. My son writes using words he pretty much knows but he has used the Thesaurus for better verbs than he's used to using. Since you learn note taking I found it has helped my son write his research papers better. My son still has trouble coming up with topics but if I give them to him he doesn't have any problems considering the program discusses outlining as well. He's just gotten to the 5 paragraph essay so hasn't had a lot of practice but so far he's doing well.

[kRenee]

There are 6 dress-ups that are taught. One is a quality adjective and one is an adverb. The others require clauses and a fair amount of thought and planning. 1 of each is "counted" in each paragraph, you can have more but they don't lead to extra credit. Therefore, no, my children do not throw in adverbs and adjectives. It would be a waste of their time. I do see my daughter testing out her 'wings' sometimes and uses words that I wouldn't have chosen, but that is okay. In a couple of years she'll settle down and find her own style.

Writing with style should be used in both creative writing and essay writing. No one wants to read a boring essay! And young kids quickly get into report writing from a single source so it isn't all creative writing.

[Brenda in MA]

Heather,

I watched the TWSS video set and then went straight to using the History-Based Lesson plans. My 11 yo has enjoyed them very much. The Ancient and Medieval plans, that we are using now, don't have many stories. The assignments are mostly like a typical history summary or report on a history topic.

Sometimes my son will stick in a dress-up that sounds a little off, but the idea of the program is to get the kids used to using them. I heard Pudewa speak at a hs convention, and he said that you have to get the kids writing and using the dress ups for a year or two before they become natural, so I'm not too concerned at this point.

My son's writing has improved dramatically, and he really enjoys how nice it sounds. We have much less grief over writing this year.

HTH,
Brenda

[Denise in NE]

Mr Pudewa tells students in the SICC B that they shouldn't need the checklist after finishing the course. In fact, the last 2 assignments we just completed were supposed to be done WITHOUT the list.

The whole point of dress ups and decorations is to force the writer to become familiar with them through practice, practice, practice.

I haven't had my 9th grade daughter put everything into her compositions since the beginning of this semester. She was at the point where it is no longer necessary (she really was ready to quit earlier actually). I still have her younger sister (7th grade) use the list when assigned though and will probably make a sort of "modified" list for her to use next year or until I feel she's "got it".

Denise