Amy Bell is the founder of Crescenza Studio, where she and a team of teachers offer private tutoring, writing classes, and other courses covering various subjects. Amy’s background as a writer and music teacher, including training in the Suzuki method, informs her love for teaching IEW. In Amy’s own words, “Teaching is my all-time favorite thing to do!”
How long have you been using IEW?
I heard about IEW when I was homeschooling my son. When I first started using IEW, I didn’t use it properly. I believed I knew how to write, so I didn’t buy any of the teacher materials. By the time we got to Unit 3, we were completely lost and stopped.
Years later, a parent of one of my choir students asked me to teach her kids writing and gave me her copy of Teaching Writing: Structure and Style® (TWSS). When I started watching the videos, I realized what I had previously missed. I taught her kids and began tutoring others. During 2020 I taught my first IEW writing class and pursued accreditation.
What made you decide to become an accredited IEW instructor?
I wanted to take IEW seriously. I also wanted people to take me seriously. I realized the demand for IEW teachers. My background is music, and I’ve been teaching for twenty-five years. My teaching had always been a hobby I loved in addition to being a supplementary income.
Everything changed when I started teaching IEW. Starting in 2020 when I taught my first IEW class, the effect was immediate. That summer I worked through all of Structure and Style for Students: Year 1 Levels B and C. That fall I taught SSS-1B, SSS-2B, and SSS-1C. Suddenly, IEW became my full-time job. My husband quit his job and is now teaching as well. Teaching is what we both do because of the demand.
One of the IEW® products you use is Fix It!® Grammar. Explain how you use this course.
For my grammar classes I always start students at Fix It! Grammar: Level 1 Nose Tree. If necessary, I assess students to see if they need to start in a higher book. Usually we start in the first level, and if the students catch on, we fly through it. We'll do two or three lessons a week, moving at the pace of the students.
Why do you use Fix It! Grammar?
Fix It! Grammar builds a foundation and never lets that foundation go. The fundamentals become so simple for students that it’s easy to label articles or parts of speech. They can do it with their eyes closed. My students learn best when we are correcting their mistakes because that's when I find out what they do not understand. I love it.
Another IEW product you use is Introduction to Public Speaking. Explain how you use this course.
I teach Introduction to Public Speaking (IPS) as an online course. We meet for half an hour to an hour every other week depending how long the speeches take. Students watch the videos and go over the assignments at home so that they are practicing or delivering their speeches when we come together.
Even though we are online, I have each student stand up to give their speech. I tell my students to give their positive feedback after each speech and to hold any negative or constructive feedback until after everyone has finished. I also give critical feedback to individual students to help them continue to polish their speeches and make them sound more professional.
Why do you use Introduction to Public Speaking?
I buy everything that IEW produces. IEW produces it, I buy it, and then I figure out a way to teach it. So that's how I got into teaching IPS.
The first year, one of my students was really struggling. He was so nervous he had trouble putting the key word outline together. After a few sessions he was starting to be less nervous. By the last session, he was speaking confidently and moving around. He even pulled a prop out in the middle of his final speech! I felt like he went from a fifth grader to a tenth grader that year in terms of his social comfort. It was amazing to witness.
As an educator, why do you use IEW?
I use IEW because it aligns with my teaching philosophy. When I was in college, I took some Suzuki courses as a piano student. In one of the courses, I learned about Dr. Suzuki and his philosophy that you need to meet children where they are at.
When I watched Teaching Writing: Structure and Style for the first time, the EZ+1 philosophy of IEW was applicable to me because I was a homeschooling parent. Beyond writing I realized that EZ+1 was applicable regardless of what you are trying to teach. I think it’s phenomenal.
So when it comes to teaching IEW, I tell my clients that we don't sell writing lessons, we sell confidence. We can help students feel like they are capable of learning. If you can do that, students can learn anything.
by Hannah Averitt
