Teaching Writing: Structure & Style DVD Seminar with Seminar Workbook

Many parents and teachers who have taken this course have expressed, “I wish I had learned this when I was in school!” Whether your students are eager learners or reluctant writers, the award-winning Teaching Writing: Structure and Style video seminar will give you the tools you need to confidently teach your students to write well, think clearly, and express themselves eloquently and persuasively. Teachers of students in grades 2–12 and beyond will learn how to effectively teach their students to
- Outline and summarize
- Generate cohesive paragraphs
- Create stories
- Produce reports and critiques
- Develop essays
- Translate their thoughts and ideas into writing
- Vary sentence structure
- Use interesting vocabulary
- Add literary devices

This complete package includes

• 10 DVDs:
  • Six DVDs with instruction on the nine structural models and multiple stylistic techniques (10 hours total viewing time—may be watched all at once, or viewed one disc at a time throughout the school year)
  • Tips & Tricks for Teaching Through the Nine Units, a two hour supplemental DVD refresher course
  • Three DVDs of sample student workshops at three different grade levels to help you with that first lesson
• The TWSS Seminar Workbook, which serves as the syllabus for the seminar and contains charts, word lists, sample lesson plans, and more!

About the Teacher’s Seminar:

This video seminar is our primary offering for teachers and parents presenting a system of structural models (narrative, essay, report, etc.) and stylistic techniques applicable for students of all ages and aptitudes.

Unlike many creative writing programs, this more classical system stresses modeling and builds a firm foundation of specific skills. As students practice each format and master each technique, they develop confidence - and consequently creativity. Even the youngest first grade student can get a sense of structure and a repertoire of style; high school or university students will see instant improvement in their written communication.

This program allows for easy customization, implementation, and concise grading. After learning it yourself, you will be able to communicate to students exactly what is expected of them, as they master new skills one step at a time, and assignments can be integrated with content areas of history, geography, science, religion and literature.

The set includes the full teacher training course on six DVDs (12 hours plus practicum assignments), along with three 2-hour demonstration lessons showing the first step of the process being taught to students at three different grade levels - an enjoyable jump start with Structure & Style. The accompanying Seminar Workbook becomes your syllabus and teaching manual.

Teaching Writing: Structure & Style is easy to implement. Simply watch the first disc of your teacher’s seminar and then present that lesson to your student. The Seminar Workbook has sample lesson plans and ideas to help you. Once you and your student master the material from the first disc, watch and teach another. To aid you in the teaching of the first lesson, there are student workshops on DVD included in your teacher’s program. For more student DVD’s, see the Student Writing Intensive.

You will learn how to teach your student to outline and summarize, add style to their writing, create stories, produce reports, write critiques, develop essays, and put into writing the information they have hidden in their brain. In this way you can have your students write about what they are learning in history, science, and literature.


About the Student Workshops:

Included with this seminar are three student workshops. Each one shows Andrew Pudewa demonstrating the first writing lesson at each of three levels. (Note: for more in-depth modeling of teaching through the entire syllabus, see the Student Writing Intensives and SWI Continuation Courses).

The Elementary Workshop (level A) shows 3–5th graders how to create a key word outline from a paragraph and then shows them how to use their outline to write. Additionally the students are taught how to “dress-up” their writing with adverbs and strong verbs. They are also shown how they can be creative by changing the details in their story and how to create a memorable title. (over 90 minutes)

The Intermediate Workshop instructs 6th–8th graders (level B) how to create a key word outline from a short report and write a paragraph. They too are shown how to dress up their writing with adverbs, noun clauses, strong verbs and more. Choosing a title is also discussed. (over 140 minutes)

The Advanced Workshop, for grades 9 and above (level C), not only presents how to key word outline from a report, but also shows students how to take notes on a live lecture. Students then learn effective ways to write their paragraph and to use these skills to study effectively. The style of using a variety of sentence openers is explained before the presentation of the writing assignment. (over 145 minutes)



Click here if you have viewed/attended this seminar and wish to take a brief survey about your experience.

Click here to view a list of online resources we recommend to assist in your teaching.