What I love about IEW is their systematic approach to writing and how they (or you as the teacher) provide the source texts from which the student learns to write. It is based on the "Benjamin Franklin method" of writing where Franklin took notes from good essays and other works and then, without looking at the original, tried to reproduce those same works using only his notes. (To learn more about this method from Franklin himself, see http://grammar.about.com/od/rhetoricstyle/a/stylefranklin.htm)
IEW begins the same way - by teaching each child to take keyword notes from a source text and then recreate that source text using only their notes. Eventually, the child moves on to work in all the different "units" in the IEW technique: Writing from key words, writing from pictures, summarizing references, research reports, formal essays, narrative stories, critiques, and creative writing.
Last year, in 4th grade, Jared started with the Student Writing Intensive (SWI) A - a DVD writing seminar taught by Andrew Pudewa (who is wonderful with children and an excellent writing instructor.) We spent over a year in this writing intensive -taking our time and making sure that he grasped the concepts and had a lot of practice before moving on. (I think it was only supposed to take one semester!) I highly recommend this product for students in 4-5th grade. (For older students, they also offer SWI levels B & C.)
This year, we decided to try one of IEW's theme-based history writing programs to go along with our study of the Middle Ages. This has been a fantastic curriculum that walks you through each step of the way, including rough draft and final checklists for each "dress-up" requirement (strong verb, quality adjective, sentence openers, etc.) and how to label your paper with these requirements. I also love that they include vocabulary cards and games for review. As part of this curriculum, Jared wrote paragraphs about Justinian the Great, Augustine, Mohammed & Islam, the Battle of Hastings, and 2 three paragraph reports: one on Charlemagne and the other on knights. (We were also studying these same topics in My Father's World, so it coincided beautifully.)
The vocabulary cards
Close to finishing his final draft - see the labels in the left and right hand margins for the "dress-ups" and "sentence openers" (including an adverb opener, prepositional phrase, because clause, etc.)
Close-up of the right hand "dress-ups" (sorry for the fuzziness)
Left margin - numbered sentence openers
A copy of the final checklist (sorry if it's hard to read!) Yay - Jared got an A!
Here is Jared's final 5th grade report (the blog won't allow me to keep the same formatting:
The Role of Knights in the Middle Ages
By JARED
Knights played a key role in history. They were the intrepid, armored, horseback-riding soldiers of the Middle Ages. The age of knights began in the A.D. 900s and lasted until the 1500s. Skillfully trained, knights were one of three unique soldier classes in the Middle Ages: the common foot soldiers, the especially accurate archers, and then the knights. There are two explanations for the term “knight.” One came from the Anglo-Saxon word “cinght,” which means “boy,” because the first knights were only boys paid to fight for noblemen. The second explanation, which came from the word “chignt,” means “household retainer.” According to history, this is what the people of England nicknamed the Norman troops who squashed revolts against William the Conqueror. Knights were like tanks today. They were the horseback-riding soldiers of the Middle Ages.
A knight’s training could be dangerous and seemed interminable. At age seven, boys left their families to become pages. During this time, boys learned to ride horses, swordfight skillfully, and wrestle. At age 12-14, a page, who was then a squire, was assigned a specific knight under which to serve. As a squire, he took care of the knight’s armor, sword, and horse, and sometimes even followed his master into battle. At age 16-21, a squire would be fully promoted in a special ceremony. He would kneel before a knight, who would tap his shoulders with a sword and loudly proclaim, “I dub you knight.” Because he lived under the feudal system, the knight would then hire himself out to a noble and spend his life in service to him. Knights were very brave and loyal. Without them, invaders would have overrun many European countries. Diligently protecting others, a knight practiced his skills for life.
Knights had many rules to follow, which were known as the Code of Chivalry. The Code of Chivalry was supposed to control knights’ behavior. During war, a chivalrous knight was to be brave, loyal to his king, and willing to sacrifice himself humbly for his comrades. Many knights died at war. During peaceful times, a knight was supposed to protect the feeble, the women, and the church, and devoutly serve God at all times. Even with all of these rules, the standards of the Code of Chivalry weren’t always followed. Greedily, many knights plundered villages, desecrated monasteries and broke the rules to gain power and wealth. Nevertheless, knighthood is remembered for its strict Code of Chivalry. Knights had many key roles in Medieval society.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Doe, Jane. The Age of Knights.New York: ABC Publishers, 2006
“Knights.” Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. 2000 ed.
A knight’s training could be dangerous and seemed interminable. At age seven, boys left their families to become pages. During this time, boys learned to ride horses, swordfight skillfully, and wrestle. At age 12-14, a page, who was then a squire, was assigned a specific knight under which to serve. As a squire, he took care of the knight’s armor, sword, and horse, and sometimes even followed his master into battle. At age 16-21, a squire would be fully promoted in a special ceremony. He would kneel before a knight, who would tap his shoulders with a sword and loudly proclaim, “I dub you knight.” Because he lived under the feudal system, the knight would then hire himself out to a noble and spend his life in service to him. Knights were very brave and loyal. Without them, invaders would have overrun many European countries. Diligently protecting others, a knight practiced his skills for life.
Knights had many rules to follow, which were known as the Code of Chivalry. The Code of Chivalry was supposed to control knights’ behavior. During war, a chivalrous knight was to be brave, loyal to his king, and willing to sacrifice himself humbly for his comrades. Many knights died at war. During peaceful times, a knight was supposed to protect the feeble, the women, and the church, and devoutly serve God at all times. Even with all of these rules, the standards of the Code of Chivalry weren’t always followed. Greedily, many knights plundered villages, desecrated monasteries and broke the rules to gain power and wealth. Nevertheless, knighthood is remembered for its strict Code of Chivalry. Knights had many key roles in Medieval society.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Doe, Jane. The Age of Knights.New York: ABC Publishers, 2006
“Knights.” Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. 2000 ed.
(FYI - intrepid, interminable, desecrated, etc. - all the "big" words were from his vocabulary cards and part of his assignment was to include them in his paragraph.)
Through this method, Jared learned (at his level) that each paper has to have an introductory statement and that the final statement "clincher" reflects 2-3 key words from the intro. Similarly, each paragraph must open with a topic sentence, and the last sentence in the paragraph must restate or reflect 2 or 3 of these key words. (They often have the children highlight these key words for emphasis.)
Great job, Jared! We look forward to using and improving on IEW techniques in a history/humanities class taught by Carla Fritz next year. For more info on IEW (and don't worry, I am not a saleperson for them - just a satisfied mom,) go to http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/. Andrew Pudewa will also be at the AZ Homeschooling Convention this year - along with several helpful reps at the IEW booth!
Good Job Jared!
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