Teaching Writing: Structure & Style DVD Seminar Plus Seminar Workbook

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.

Many teachers have found it helpful to get started using this teacher’s course by also by starting their students off with a Student Writing Intensive (SWI). The SWI includes prompts to tell you what part of Teaching Writing: Structure & Style (TWSS) to watch in preparation for the SWI lesson, and the SWI gets your student writing immediately under the teaching of a Master instructor, Andrew Pudewa. Besides, the kids find that he makes writing fun. Also check out our Theme Based Lessons page for more ready-made lessons using this program.

Save Money!
Because the Student Writing Intensive makes it so easy to get started, we offer a discount for purchasing the teacher and the student DVDs together. You can save $29 by purchasing the TWSS/SWI Combo course.

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 Intensive and Student Intensive Continuation Course).

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)


About the Scope And Sequence:

Teaching Writing: Structure & Style prepares the teacher to teach writing to all grade levels. Teaching tips and recommendations are provided within the units to help you individualize each unit to meet the needs of each of your students. For more information on IEW’s philosophy of teaching writing, check out our newsletter articles.

Unit I ~ Note Making and Outlines
Teaches students to make a "key word outline," preparing them to be freed from the problem of what to write about so they are able to focus clearly on how to write well.

Unit II ~ Summarizing from Notes
Builds on Unit I by showing students how to summarize their notes and improve their writing with descriptive adjectives, adverbs, and more.

Unit III ~ Narrative Stories
Shows students a basic story structure and develops their ability to write stories using familiar stories as models.

Units IV and VI ~ Summarizing References & Library Reports
Prepare students to take notes from their sources and write library research reports without pain and agony.

Unit V ~ Writing from Pictures
Uniquely taps students' creative energies by writing stories from a series of one to three pictures.

Unit VII ~ Creative Writing
Gives students a method to "get information out of their brain" to use when writing anything, from those summer vacation essays to a decent letter to Grandma.

Unit VIII ~ Essay Writing
Provides students with the skill of writing formal essays of five or more paragraphs, developing the foundation for high school and university writing.

Unit IX ~ Critique Writing
Concludes the course, teaching a solid structure for book reports, reviews, and critiques.