Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil.” At IEW we agree. Believing the best way for a child to progress and learn is to meet him where he is educationally and move at a rate custom-tailored to his needs, we regularly encourage parents and teachers to adjust the style checklist to reflect an “Easy +1” approach. Essentially what that means is that the child is able to meet all of the elements of the checklist without it sounding awkward, most of the time. Once one skill is mastered, a new skill is added to the checklist for the student to practice.
Up to this point this personalized checklist will have been created by either adding in items or scratching them off from the checklist provided in the curriculum or by creating a custom checklist “from the ground up.” But starting now, premium subscribers have the opportunity to create custom checklists via the web by using the IEW Checklist Generator, an online premium IEW tool. This tool allows parents, co-op facilitators, and hybrid school instructors to quickly and easily create customized checklists for each of their students.
When accessing the Checklist Generator tool on IEW’s website, premium members are able to select a checklist for any of IEW’s eight writing units (Units 2–9). Once they make their selection, they are able to not only remove elements, but also add any additional elements they wish to assign. They can then determine the point value to be assigned to the new elements. Optionally, the entire point column can even be eliminated if desired. Not only are premium subscribers able to remove and create elements and assign point values, they are also able to select and create their own banned word lists.
After the checklist template has been created, it can be saved in the premium member’s “My Templates” folder, allowing the checklist to be printed again and again. Conveniently, the checklist can also be saved as a PDF to the subscriber’s computer. By using the IEW Checklist Generator, parents and co-op instructors will be able to more easily and quickly meet the needs of their students, something all educators are happy to accomplish!
To learn more about how to teach writing to students in an individualized manner, listen to a recent discussion between Andrew Pudewa and Julie Walker, the marketing director for IEW. The Arts of Language Podcast Episode 94, "Individualized Learning," discusses not only the Checklist Generator, but also other ways to vary the material to suit each student’s needs. Check it out when you have a few minutes.
The IEW Checklist Generator is debuting now and is available only to Premium Members. If you are not yet a Premium Member, you can become one by either purchasing the updated copy of Teaching Writing: Structure and Style (DVD or Forever Streaming), purchasing just the Premium Membership, or by updating your old version of Teaching Writing: Structure and Style. If you have the older DVD version of the TWSS, now is a perfect time to update so you will be able to take advantage of all of the perks that come with a Premium Subscription, including the IEW Checklist Generator! “Respecting the pupil” has hopefully become just a little bit easier!
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About the IEW Checklist Generator™
IEW Checklist Generator is a trademark of the Institute for Excellence in Writing, L.L.C.
