Institute for Excellence in Writing Student Writing Intensive Level B Review

I had the wonderful opportunity to review Teaching Writing: Structure and Style, Student Writing Intensive Level B  from  Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW). This writing course is amazing, it is so thorough and just busting with information that’s it’s easy to feel overwhelmed once you receive your books.

This post may contain affiliate links meaning I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Read my disclosure policy here.

What’s included in the Deluxe combo for Level B:

• Teaching Writing Structure and Style, including the Premium Subscription
• A Student Writing Intensive level (A, B, or C)
• Two Fix-It! Grammar levels, with hard copy for the teacher book and e-copy for the student (Books 1 & 2, Books 3 & 4, or Books 5 & 6)
• A Word Write Now
• Portable Walls

I was surprised to find that they give you two binders with these books so once I received my books, I set up up the binders. There are instructions that are included and it was super easy to set up. There’s a teacher binder with the guide from the TWSS and then the teacher component of SWI-B. There was also a student binder to be used by your child.

The TWSS is a writing seminar for the parent and this alone can be used to teach your child. However, the SWI-B program makes things even more simple and is catered to the student so you don’t have to do anything. I love the freedom that it leaves me from having to teach writing to my son. I can revert to the teacher. I’m not a great writer and I find myself learning along side my son.

I watched the first disc in the TWSS to give myself an overview of the whole program. I believe it’s an hour long so it was very thorough but I love the way Andrew Pudewa teaches and his philosophy. I feel as though his whole method is perfect for my boys. He totally gets boys and how they don’t want to read boring stories. So the samples of literature that the students work from appeal to my son because they’re interesting, gross or funny.

The program starts with keyword outlines. My son would watch the designated video sections and then he’d go through the written assignments. I just had to read the lesson plans to see what he had to work on. So I knew what sections he had to watch on the DVD, SWI has their own set of DVDs for the students. It’s recommended that you watch along with the student so you know what is expected of him.

Then I’d give him the assignment. From his work, there’s a rubric that they give you for expected answers which was really helpful to ensure that the child is on track with their answers. My son worked on the writing portion 3 times a week and spent another day on the grammar component, Fix it.

The fix it program involves editing and marking up compositions using shorthand symbols. I think this was the slowest part of the program for my son because he wanted to write out the corrections but he had to get use to the symbols. He’s does understand grammar pretty well so I focused more on the writing aspect of the curriculum in order for him to really get it.

I loved how each lesson plan outlines, disc sections and then page numbers so although it seems like a lot in the beginning, the program itself is very easy to get through.

A Word Write Now is a thesaurus so that your child can really expand their vocabulary and stretch their writing. It’s helpful because as Andrew Pudewa goes through the banned words the students shouldn’t use, there’s a huge list of words that can be used to extend their vocabulary.

Writing is my weakest subject to teach and I feel as though I have a wonderfully complete program that I can use with any middle school age student. It’s so thorough but the style and concept of teaching is so easy to follow. It’s broken down in manageable chunks and easy to digest and take in.

My son finds Mr. Pudewa to be funny which is a plus so he’s engaged in the videos. We definitely have a ways to go to finish through the program but I’m loving the fact that we can take our time with it. I’d definitely recommend this writing curriculum.

The Deluxe Combo Teacher/Student Writing Package Level B [FIX-1 & 2] can be purchased from IEW for $299 and is geared towards students in grade 6-8.

You can follow IEW on Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube or their blog.