Turning an Enemy into an Ally
Adolescence encompasses some of the most difficult years of a person’s life. Middle school teachers, therefore, face a daunting task, which toda...
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Media Resources
articles
66
audio
8
e-news
2
A Common Language
Lower Yukon School District in Alaska implements IEW’s Structure and Style method districtwide to improve students’ language arts knowledg...
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Structured Success
With each edition of the schools magalog Arts of Language, we enjoy spotlighting a teacher or administrator who has implemented with fidelity the Stru...
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Getting Started with Structure and Style
Every year, IEW has chosen an outstanding teacher who has implemented IEW in his or her classroom with enthusiasm and fidelity. Join us this year as w...
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You Don’t Have to Like Writing
The Real Goal of Learning English Composition
by Andrew Pudewa
I have heard this—or something very similar—hundreds, if not thousands of...
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Many Paths, One Writing Method: An interview with IEW mom Lisa Averitt
Lisa Averitt lives in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where she is a pastor’s wife and mother of five. She has a BA in English and several years of teac...
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Work Smarter, Not Harder
We at IEW® have the honor of introducing our 2017 Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Andrea Pewthers. She teaches English and literature to middle school s...
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However Imperfectly: Lessons learned from thirty years of teaching
by Andrew Pudewa
It’s hard to say exactly when I began thinking myself a teacher, but I do remember when I set out on my own as an independent ...
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IEW's Premium Membership: Incredible Results, Digital Convenience
In 2014 the newest video version of Teaching Writing: Structure and Style was poised for release, changing forever the accessibility and ease that our...
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In Retrospect: Heroes of Providence
by Andrew Pudewa
From the time I could talk, I was begging for a violin. Or so said my mother. I don’t remember, but the harangue must have bee...
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Out of the Mouths of Students
Rachel’s Story
Entering Middle School Rachel Averitt was a student of Mrs. Pewthers in grades 7, 8, and 9. She entered those grades largely hav...
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Squirrely Students Inspire Structure and Style®
by Andrew Pudewa
The year was 1948. Tall, young James Webster stood at the blackboard, writing as quickly yet legibly as possible a sentence dictated...
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A Weekly Spoonful of Inspiration
“We (IEW) should do our very own podcast.” This sentence was not initially greeted with much enthusiasm, believe it or not. Doubts of not ...
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IEW’s Mission: Teaching Teachers How to Teach Writing
by Julie Walker
My IEW® story is simple: I was organizing classes for a group of homeschooling parents and teens in Southern California, and I ha...
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Low-Tech Teaching with High-End Results
by Andrew Pudewa
If you attend a large education conference these days, a quick circuit around the exhibit hall makes one fact immediately evident: E...
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What is IEW? Method not Madness
by Andrew Pudewa
Most everyone has an opinion about what good writing is. It’s concise. Correct. Detailed. Winsome. Engaging. Organized. Clear....
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Common Sense on Standards: Freeing Teachers to Be Teachers
by Andrew Pudewa
The idea of standards in education is not new. Since the first Nation’s Report Card in 1969, schools, districts, states, and p...
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Is IEW "Classical"?
by Andrew Pudewa
With the rapid rise of interest in classical education in homeschools, hybrid schools, and even full-time schools, we at IEW are oft...
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Harnessing the Power of Parent Participation with One Activity
The Institute for Excellence in Writing encourages parents to participate in their students’ education. Because recent studies prove parent part...
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IEW: The Key to Success
Forty years ago the better colleges did not have the writing labs that are a ubiquitous feature of college campuses today. Contrary to the pedagogy of...
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Process versus Product
by Andrew Pudewa
In the 1992 film A River Runs Through It, there is a particularly charming scene which gives us some important insight about the tea...
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Testimony to Oklahoma House Education Committee Regarding Common Core
Occasionally we are asked by concerned teachers and parents what position IEW and Andrew Pudewa take on Common Core. We invite you to read for yoursel...
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Thoughts and Words: the Chicken or the Egg?
by Andrew Pudewa
One of the few criticisms of IEW’s checklist-based approach to teaching style runs something like this: “Students’...
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That Puppy Won't Fly
The Core Problem with Educational Standards Today
by Andrew Pudewa
Over the past decade, I have had the privilege to interact with a wide range of t...
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Concerns About Common Core
Over the past few weeks, many homeschooling families and bloggers have been expressing concerns about homeschool curricula changing to align with the ...
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Recitals, Recitation, and Theatre
Performances in Preparation for Life
DO YOUR CHILDREN TAKE MUSIC LESSONS? Ours did. Although their musical talents are vastly different, all three ha...
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Remembering Mrs. Myers
ON JUNE 29, 2012, Lesha Myers passed from this life after a long battle with cancer. The beloved author of three of IEW's books, The Elegant Essay, Wi...
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Thoughts on Common Core
by Janet Spitler and Genevieve Priest
The Common Core State Standards Initiative® has caused quite a stir in the educational world. Most states m...
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Why and How Music Will Save the World
Challenging the Crises in Educational Thought
by Andrew Pudewa
“Maybe music will save the world,” said Pablo Casals, the great cellist a...
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The Colloquium Environment
by Andrew Pudewa
(This article first appeared in the September 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine®.)
For the past ten years, I have...
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What We Really Need
by Andrew Pudewa
(This article first appeared in the August 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine®.)
Depending on when one starts coun...
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Contemplating Grammar
by Andrew Pudewa
(This article first appeared in the June 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine®.)
It seems that the pattern of t...
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The Work of a Child
by Andrew Pudewa
(This article first appeared in the March 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine®.)
At some point, most homeschooling ...
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Hate of Learning: One Cause and a Possible Remedy
by Andrew Pudewa
(This article first appeared in the February 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine®.)
When one of my daughters was ar...
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You Don't Have to Like It ...
by Andrew Pudewa
(This article first appeared in the February 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine®.)
I don’t really like to wr...
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Fill Yourself
by Andrew Pudewa
(This article first appeared in the November 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine®.)
One role a homeschooling parent...
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De-Confusing Essays
by Andrew Pudewa
“Essay” is perhaps the one word most feared by students, wielded by teachers, and misunderstood by many. But what is it ...
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A Swing towards Sanity
by Andrew Pudewa
Every once in a while, something happens which restores hope that the world is not completely insane. When this occurs in the field ...
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The Art of Teaching a Skill
or, The Skill of Teaching an Art
by Andrew Pudewa
MORTIMER ADLER, IN HIS PAIDEIA PROPOSAL calling for a return to a classical curriculum, points out...
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Developing Skills and Character through Homeschool Speech and Debate
by Andrew Pudewa
(This article first appeared in the January 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine®.)
Welcome to my column: Finishing ...
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The Arts of Language
by Andrew Pudewa
For many of us, the expression “Language Arts” evokes an emotional response; in some it causes excitement, but more ofte...
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Bad Writing vs. Bad Circumstances
by Andrew Pudewa
Recently, a co-op teacher commented, “Help! My students are completing the checklist but producing bad writing! They may use a...
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Lesson Planning
by Andrew Pudewa
The goal of Excellence in Writing is to make writing part of what your students are learning, not a course unto itself. With nine st...
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Teaching Writing: Structure and Style - Unit 3 Overview and Tips
Watch this video by Andrew Pudewa on Unit 3
For an explanation by Andrew Pudewa on how to use Unit 3 and some tips for teaching, read on...
...
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Now Is the Time
by Andrew Pudewa
A decade has passed since the Institute for Excellence in Writing became a full time enterprise, and over these ten years we have se...
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Why is Structure and Style® so effective?
by James B. Webster, Ph.D.
I completed a four-year B.A. with honors in history and English, in which three to four yearlong courses required three su...
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What Are We Really Doing Here?
by Andrew Pudewa
Adorning our humble office, there are two things that always brighten my day and help restore my focus—a map and a pile of pap...
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Success in Schools
Teachers who are teaching writing well
by Janet Spitler
When it comes to teaching writing, the teacher must often choose between art and science. Ho...
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But it’s so ... so ... awkward!
by Andrew Pudewa
Awkward. Even the spelling of the word is disturbing. If we look back, we likely have memories of high school or college teachers ha...
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How to Think
by Andrew Pudewa
But I don’t know what to write! How many times have we heard those words from a frustrated student? Of course what he is reall...
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Good Writing vs. Great Teaching
by Andrew Pudewa
Good writing. What is it? Everyone has an opinion, but opinions differ widely. While one language arts curriculum judges that simply...
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Four Deadly Errors of Teaching Writing
by Andrew Pudewa
We’ve all suffered it at one time or another—frustration about writing assignments. Either on the receiving end or ...
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Encyclopedia Dad
by Andrew Pudewa
Although Encyclopedia Brown is famous for what he did know, Encyclopedia Dad is famous for what he doesn’t know. Knowing so li...
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Mixed-Age Classrooms
by Andrew Pudewa
As a teacher, professional development presenter, and educational consultant, I have had, over the past twenty years, a chance to vi...
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Music Is Not “Nice”
by Andrew Pudewa
Most people today think of music as a nice thing—something to break the monotony of a boring job or keep you pumped up while e...
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What? or That!
Reflections on Reports
by Andrew Pudewa
In sixth grade or thereabouts, you had to write A REPORT. Searching for a subject that seemed moderately int...
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Plagiarism
What is it really? And what to do about it...
by Andrew Pudewa
(This article first appeared in the IEW Newsletter—Spring 2008.)
One of the mo...
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Motivation
by Andrew Pudewa
To accomplish difficult tasks, motivation is absolutely necessary. No one doubts the need for motivating students, and methods of in...
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What about Grammar?
by Andrew Pudewa
It’s a question often asked—at conventions, during writing seminars, in emails—by teachers, parents, and even stud...
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The Art and Science of Motivation
by Andrew Pudewa
Part One: The Four Forms of Relevancy
I have studied the science and art of motivation for many years, first as a violin teacher, t...
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Marking and Grading
A few thoughts about a sticky, tricky subject
by Andrew Pudewa
As soon as people get serious about the business of teaching writing, certain beasts ...
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One Myth and Two Truths
Nurturing Competent Communicators
by Andrew Pudewa
“Good readers will become good writers!” A mantra frequently heard in the lecture hal...
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The Madness of Multiple Choice
by Andrew Pudewa
At some point, one of the hardest decisions that a home-schooling family must make is whether to do home education or to do sch...
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Writing without Tears
by Andrew Pudewa
Teaching writing can perhaps be one of the greatest challenges in home schooling. Because of the bleakness of grammar workbooks ...
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Convert ... to Pens!
by Andrew Pudewa
“First draft in pencil, final copy in pen” were the traditional instructions of our grade school teachers. However, when...
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Imitation: A Common-Sense Approach
by Andrew Pudewa
As in many areas of education, the skill of writing has been elevated to the status of art, which it rightfully should be. However, ...
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