Time for IEW compositions?

[Annie N]

We started doing IEW a few weeks ago, with a 10yo, 14yo, and 16yo.

It seems to take them close to forever to write a 2-paragraph composition. Now, I'm not saying I'm a fabulous writer, but what strengths I have are in the LA area, and my children seem more attuned to math, but I think they are taking too long!

I told my oldest she has 10 minutes to find a topic, 20 to read and write the keywards, and 45 minutes to write the composition. It that reasonable? Would it be reasonable for the younger ones? And can I increase the number of paragraphs done in that amount of time?

Or maybe somone has guidelines like 15 minutes per paragraph or something?

Thanks very much :)

[MIch elle]

My dc can take a week or more to complete ONE paragraph correctly (IEW guidelines - keyword outling, dress-ups, sentence openers, decorations, vocabulary, editing, etc.). That's working on it 4 days/week for 30-60 min./day depending on the level of difficulty of the writing assignment.

14yob - IEW U.S. History Based Writing Lessons, v1
11yob - IEW SWI A

[Annie N]

My dc can take a week or more to complete ONE paragraph correctly (IEW guidelines - keyword outling, dress-ups, sentence openers, decorations, vocabulary, editing, etc.). That's working on it 4 days/week for 30-60 min./day depending on the level of difficulty of the writing assignment.

14yob - IEW U.S. History Based Writing Lessons, v1
11yob - IEW SWI A

Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhh. I swear I am going about this program completely backwards. (I know we are supposed to have the teacher videos, but they're not in the budget right now :( )

Do you mind if I ask you some more questions? (I guess I should say, do you mind answering... ) How long (roughly) have they been using IEW? Is this the only paragraph they work on all week, or do they have other paragraphs they work on, like in science?

We have just started sentence openers. I introduced them all, and I will be going through current and previous compositions they have written to show them individually how to fit them in, so all that they are required to do now is the dress-ups.

Thank you so very much!!!!! :)

[MIch elle]

What are you using in IEW to do these writing assignments? IEW doesn't introduce all the dress ups/openers at once but slowly over weeks.

There are many free helps at the IEW website and the yahoo group. If you only have the TWSS binder and no dvd's then go to IEW website and look at the free lesson plans for SWI A,B,C (http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/index.php?q=swi) and follow those for timelines of how to do the program (2 wks on keyword outling, sentence openers etc.).

Go to the IEW yahoo website (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IEWfamilies/?yguid=93229998)and use the MANY helps in the files. I like the "Unit Model Posters (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IEWfamilies/files/%20Unit%20Model%20Posters/)."

It takes my dc so long because this is the first year of using IEW or ANY formal writing on a regular basis(other than R&S English which was infrequently) which is where you're at! They only do IEW writing.

Look at my blog linked below to see what my dc do for school if your interested (right bottom of blog).

[Brenda in MA]

We started doing IEW a few weeks ago, with a 10yo, 14yo, and 16yo.

I just started IEW with my 6th grader this past fall. I watched the TWSS video set, and then we started with the Ancient History Based Lessons.

One of the premises with IEW is that you start out by giving your children the source material because often finding a topic and getting started is the hardest part.

They take the provided source material and create a key-word outline. They then write their paragraph using only that outline. The dress-ups and sentence openers are only introduced a few at a time over several lessons.

In the Ancient History Based lesson plans, the children work for weeks and weeks with provided source materials. Only when they have the hang of that, is there an assignment that directs you to go to the library and find your own source materials and work from those.

I can't tell from your description of exactly how you're approaching their assignments, but I would definitely recommend either the theme based writing lessons or the student writing intensive, as both of these do a bit of hand holding to get you started with the IEW process. If you can't or don't want to use either one of these, try and find some source material to give your children to begin with.

It usually takes us 3 days to work on a 1 paragraph assignment. The first day, we go over the lesson, and my son makes the outline. The 2nd day, he writes the paragraph, and the 3rd day, he and I review it, he makes his corrections, and prints out a final copy. If the assignment calls for more than 1 paragraph, sometimes I have him do 2 outlines in one day or we review and revise 2 paragraphs at a time.

HTH,
Brenda

[Annie N]

Thank you so very much, Michelle! This was very helpful, and the links look very helpful too.

I am so embarrassed--I hadn't read the appendices, one of which explains the timing, but I am not totally crazy!!!! One page one, he does say to have short daily writing exercises. I was also confused by the "15-week student intensive" title.

So, now I will have to re-arrange my thinking about how to schedule this, and then (hopefully) my children will do better at it.