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Writing About Ancient History Using IEW® Curriculum (Part 1)

Refine writing skills using thematic Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons from the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) and use style and structure in retelling nonfiction and fiction sources, while enjoying a study of ancient times.
Andrea Hardman, IEW Registered Instructor
Average rating:
5.0
Number of reviews:
(545)
Class

What's included

10 live meetings
8 hrs 20 mins in-class hours
Homework
2-4 hours per week. Homework is required and is assigned after each class to incorporate both the writing method and style (dress-ups). I encourage students to go through a process given in class as they complete their homework, and then they will submit their final papers to me. I will return papers with both positive and constructive feedback, not a letter grade. Students will be writing from a checklist, so students and parents will know exactly what is required for each assignment.
Assessment
No letter grades are given, but scores are based on a checklist provided in each lesson. Families who wish to used these as grades can convert the score totals into percentages and then use letter grades based on their own systems of grading.
Grading
included

Class Experience

US Grade 4 - 7
Beginner - Intermediate Level
This is the first of a 2-part course on Ancient History-Based Writing using the curriculum from IEW.    This is the first of the 2-part course.  By taking both courses, you will cover most of the lessons in the book.  Our focus will be on the lessons from the textbook introducing new stylistic techniques and/or methods.

Are you intrigued by the people and civilizations from long ago?  Dive into history to learn about each of these and more as we use historical texts to learn how to write from notes, re-tell stories, summarize references, and learn to write from pictures.  Because this curriculum is sequential and builds upon structure, we will cover the first 5 units of the IEW methods before moving into part 2 of the course, offered after this course is completed.

Each week during class, students will interact with the teacher and other students to practice building on writing skills through modeling in the required book, discussion, and short games.  The games may use the chatbox, on-screen annotation, and verbal exercises.  All activities will reinforce the concepts of both writing style and writing structure as well as the theme of ancient civilizations.  

Throughout these lessons, we will be playing with words to "dress-up" our writing, using descriptive adjectives, strong verbs, adverbs, sentence openers, figurative language, vocabulary, and more to add interest.

Vocabulary and literature suggestions will be given so students can use these to connect to their writing.    

No prior experience with IEW is required.
Learning Goals
Students will improve their writing style through the use of dress-ups, along with outlining, paragraph writing, and story writing, as they use source texts and pictures related to an ancient history theme.
learning goal

Syllabus

Curriculum
Follows Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) Curriculum
10 Lessons
over 10 Weeks
Lesson 1:
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
 This lesson focuses on an introduction to style and creating  a key word outline. 
50 mins online live lesson
Lesson 2:
Lighthouse of Alexandria
 This lesson focuses on using the key word outlines to write paragraphs with a focus on adding adverbs to enhance writing style. 
50 mins online live lesson
Lesson 3:
Roman Aqueducts
 This lesson focuses on using a kwo to write paragraphs as well as using who/which clauses to enhance writing style.  We also focus on the "title rule". 
50 mins online live lesson
Lesson 4:
Sword of Damocles
 This lesson focuses on learning how to summarize a narrative story using a 3-paragraph model. We use strong verbs to enhance writing style. 
50 mins online live lesson

Other Details

Parental Guidance
Depending on your child, students may need parental help each week with their homework assignments. At times they may need a listening ear as they retell their outline to you in their own words before turning their outline into paragraphs.
Supply List
Due to copyright, students will need to purchase their own copy of the book "Ancient History Based Writing Lessons".  This book is approximately $29 and is the resource they will be using for class and homework assignments.  The book can be found many places online, in addition to the IEW website linked below.  Please be sure to also take a look at the sample provided on the link and let me know if you have any questions. ***This is the 6th edition - no other editions will be compatible with class lessons.

https://iew.com/shop/products/ancient-history-based-writing-lessons-student-book-only
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Joined August, 2018
5.0
545reviews
Profile
Teacher expertise and credentials
California Teaching Certificate in Elementary Education
Idaho Teaching Certificate in Elementary Education
I  am an IEW Registered Instructor and have taught several IEW-related courses over the past 7 years in person and online through Outschool since 2018. I enjoy sharing in the enthusiasm of writing using the IEW method.

Reviews

Live Group Course
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$160

for 10 classes
1x per week, 10 weeks
50 min

Completed by 41 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 10-13
3-10 learners per class

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