It’s August, and a new school year is fast approaching. IEW’s Customer Service Team and Schools Division Educational Consultants have years of experience as homeschooling parents, IEW Online instructors, tutors, and classroom teachers. To assist parents, teachers, school administrators, and students to prepare, we have pooled our top recommendations for a successful year whether you are new to the Structure and Style® methodology or you are returning.
What do you wish you had known when you were first introduced to Structure and Style?
Jennifer Mauser (Educational Consultant, Special Education)
Do the training. It will benefit you and your students! Also, complete the practicum assignments. This leads to compassion for your students and a better understanding of the challenges they face in writing.
Renee Vasher (Educational Consultant, Hybrid Schools Manager)
Trust the process! Give each structural unit and the stylistic techniques the time that is needed and do them in order.
Sharyn Staggers (Schools Division Director)
If you teach a subject other than English, integrate the checklists with the assignments to hold students accountable to the same standards that are given in English class. It teaches them the importance of using good writing everywhere—not just English class.
Jeff Nease (Implementation Coach, Online Instructor)
I can't stress enough the EZ+1 philosophy. Teachers need to remember that IEW is spiral learning. They'll come back to concepts next year. The pacing will be quicker, so they will be able to get to more things than they did the year before.
Evan Smith (Educational Consultant, Accreditation Specialist)
Schools should consult with an Educational Consultant to make sure they have the best curriculum to use. Then trust it and proceed! Furthermore, don't be afraid to modify checklists as the year goes on for certain students.
Marci Harris (Editor, Online Instructor)
I wish I had known ahead of time that it was better to work through the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style (TWSS) just a step ahead of my students rather than to binge the entire seminar in a summer.
Allyson Heins (IT Assistant, Customer Service Agent, Online Instructor)
I wish someone explained to me that Structure and Style was a method of writing, not just a curriculum or course. Additionally, I wish I’d known that Structure and Style will teach students how to organize their thoughts for many different kinds of compositions and essays, not just one type of paper.
What are your best tips for experienced teachers?
Andrea Pewthers (Schools Division Communication Specialist)
Review notes from the previous school year. Where did students struggle? Why? What could you do differently? Also, catch up on blog posts and podcasts you didn't have time for during the school year. Make sure to have an efficient paper management system and assignment schedule in place. Finally, be realistic about what your schedule will bear. Sometimes less is more.
Erica Nease (Educational Consultant)
Go back to the basics and watch the videos again. My IEW colleagues say, “I learn something new every time I watch or listen to Andrew Pudewa!” Collaborate with other educators who use IEW and energize each other for the year ahead. Getting excited about something and having a plan seems to help me power through.
Debbi Hall (Educational Consultant, Independent Charter Schools)
Create a Jeopardy!™ game to review stylistic techniques and dress ups. Play a memory matching game for banned words and their alternatives. Students love to play games!
What advice would you give to classroom teachers and school administrators?
Sharyn Staggers
Even though it might seem daunting for a school to start with a whole new curriculum, our Four-Step Implementation Plan makes it easy to connect with an Educational Consultant, who will walk you through all of the processes.
Jennifer Mauser
Teachers need administrators who believe in the importance of investing in training and finding ways to fit that into the schedule.
Erica Nease
I know an administrator currently going through the training to better support her teachers. She has shared how she doesn't want to forget how it is being “in the trenches” and spends time with her teachers often. How I wish every teacher had that!
Andrea Pewthers
Encourage all teachers—not just the language arts teachers—to learn the method so writing expectations are consistent across all disciplines.
What advice would you give to new students?
Jennifer Mauser
Set up your notebooks ahead of time. Don't get too anxious. You will have lots of support, will learn about lots of great stuff, and will surprise yourself at how you grow your writing skills.
Allyson Heins
You should know that Structure and Style for Students will teach other skills besides writing, such as following a checklist, organizing your resources for future reference, and determining what papers are no longer needed.
Marci Harris
Teachers should actively walk through the review of the writing process with the Structure and Style for Students video classes. Knowing the steps to writing will help students transfer their skills to writing for other classes. For older students submitting work digitally, learn to touch type rather than hunt-and-peck.
How can experienced students improve their skills?
Renee Vasher
I encourage my experienced students to look at less commonly used -ly adverbs to challenge them to expand their vocabulary and incorporate words other than amazingly and surprisingly into their papers.
Jennifer Mauser
Look to “up your game” by playing with advanced dress-ups and decorations. A well- thought-out dual -ly adverb, quality adjective, or strong verb pairing makes for elegant writing. Adding in decorations provides the icing on the cake!
Marci Harris
Don’t just choose a word from your brain for a dress-up. Use a thesaurus or word list to evaluate options and choose the best word that fits the context of your sentence. The process of reviewing options helps to build a strong working vocabulary, which is important when it comes time to study for the ACT and SAT exams.
Andrea Pewthers
Add stylistic techniques with purpose. Select sentence openers to highlight specific key points or to create an interesting pattern.
In the coming weeks and throughout the school year, IEW’s experienced, knowledgeable team is ready to assist you whenever you need help or advice. Marci Harris shared one more thing she wished she’d known when she was new to Structure and Style: “I wish someone had explained to me how helpful IEW’s customer service department is. I could have emailed with questions as I taught Structure and Style the first time—questions about how to implement as well as specific ‘what to do if’ questions.”
Contact our Customer Service Team.
Contact our Schools Division.
by Jean Nichols
