The month of March is traditionally when students encounter Unit 7: Inventive Writing. In Podcast 182, Andrew Pudewa and Julie Walker discuss this writing unit and introduce the writing prompts for this year’s IEW Writing Contest.
In most writing programs, early on students are asked to create compositions that address a prompt. This can lead to frustration for the student, whether young or old, because it asks the student to do many things at once, increasing the complexity of the assignment. IEW differs, however, in that it separates the complexity, teaching writing using an approach that gradually builds writing skills through the various units and employing an “EZ+1” approach to introducing stylistic techniques. After students have established a firm foundation in the basics, it is then that IEW addresses prompt-based writing.
During the podcast, Andrew and Julie discuss how to approach a prompt-based assignment in steps that are easy to understand and accomplish. Listening to the podcast will give you solid information about how to teach your students these skills. After you practice a few assignments with your students, how about you encourage them to enter the 2019 IEW Writing Contest? This prompt-based contest offers students a fun way to showcase their Unit 7 writing skills, and for the top three winners in each division, it also offers some sweet prizes!
Andrew Pudewa describes Unit 7, saying, “This is the door through which the writer must pass.” The skills taught in Unit 7 are ones that students will use over and over again in their academic careers and beyond. Help your students learn to tackle the task effectively by separating the complexity. Podcast 182 will help you to help your students.
