U.S. History-Based Writing, 6th-8th, 2024-2025 academic year, Instructor Bell, Mondays, 11:05am CST

U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons (grades 6-8 or equivalent, no previous IEW experience required, grades 9-12 remedial)

Mondays 11:05-12:00pm CST

September 9th-November 25th; January 6th-March 24th (no classes in December)

After purchasing this class, you will receive downloadable instructions via email.

All students must own a copy of the student manual for this course. You may purchase it from IEW by clicking here.

The purchase of the student book includes a free PDF copy of additional material: The Student Resource Packet. If you would prefer to order a printed copy instead, you may do so by clicking here. (I recommend the printed version--it will be useful to your student for many years to come.)

This themed writing unit is a wonderful option for new or remedial learners. Because of its brilliantly methodical approach and the use of checklists, it works equally well for enthusiastic and reluctant writers.

IEW produces a highly acclaimed writing method that benefits both reluctant and eager writers, and everyone in between! Susan Barton recommends it for dyslexic students as well. While all students benefit from parental involvement, children with learning challenges will need extra parental support at home; I suggest these parents attend classes alongside their children.

The organization of materials is highly logical and uses the mastery approach: EZ+1. Students refer to checklists throughout so that each student has the tools to achieve 100% on every assignment. Students who fail to complete the checklist requirements before turning in an assignment will have at least one opportunity to correct their mistakes.

For this special course, the instructor will advance at the pace of the students, taking longer with some assignments if necessary. The result is that some groups of students will not entirely finish the book, but they will still be prepped to begin a new class next year. The ultimate goal is mastery of presented skills, not 100% completion of the course.

All assignments must be typed, either by the student or a parent. Parents are responsible for editing rough drafts for spelling and punctuation; final grades are based solely on the student's completion of the checklist.

Amy Bell is a registered IEW instructor, and she or another highly-trained IEW team member will review each assignment submitted, make suggestions, and leave comments to help students understand anything they are struggling with. In addition, team members are usually available for private instruction if comments and linked videos fail to shed light on the student's understanding.

To make sure our teaching philosophy aligns with yours, please review the following articles before signing up for classes: Letter to Parents, Our Teaching Philosophy, The 4 Deadly Errors of Teaching Writing.

Online classes meet via Zoom.

If a student is unable to complete the class for some reason, they will still have access to the videos. :)