Essentials In Writing

For Essentials in Writing (EIW™), the goal is that students will learn to write well. Through incremental lessons, students develop a logical line of thought and learn to convey their purpose and context, all while explaining a topic they’ve explored. Material covered in each grade is age appropriate and is introduced in a sequential manner. Beginning in lower elementary, students spend approximately half the year learning about and applying grammar concepts in sentences and various activities. Level 1 begins with an overview of correctly writing sentences, learning parts of speech, and then moves to paragraphs. Grammar will be a focus in the lower grades. In the upper levels, grammar is taught with the focus on writing application. Mr. Stephens believes that the program covers grammar sufficiently, but if you want to cover sentence diagramming, a separate course would be necessary. Spelling is not covered in the course. By the middle grades, the focus is on sentence and paragraph structures as used in essays, personal and business letters, research papers (with some oral presentation in high school), and more. By high school, students will fine-tune their research skills and be prepped for college-level writing.

Each level features a bundle of 12-month renewable lesson-by-lesson video instruction; consumable student book (which functions like a worktext), a teacher handbook (with answers and a schedule), and a choice of a grade level bundle that includes optional digital resources and assessments for levels 1-10. Levels 7-11 offer an optional bundle of EIW™ Writing and Literature for a complete language arts program. Within 72 hours after your order is processed, you’ll receive digital access via email directly from EIW™. Access terminates one year from the date you begin.

Lessons are typically assigned over 34 weeks (with breaks included). The video lessons featuring Matthew Stephens are the core of the course. With a wealth of multi-age teaching experience, Mr. Stephens presents and explains the material, leaving clarification, follow-up discussion, assignments, and writing evaluation (using rubrics) to you as the teacher. No need to worry, though: instructor helps in the Teacher Handbook include scoring rubrics, writing checklists, answers, and a weekly lesson plan. Each day has a regular rhythm. Watch the video lesson, read the day’s text in the student book, complete the day’s assignment, and verbally discuss the concepts—all working toward a final draft. Assessments (2nd edition only) are optional. These are assigned regularly throughout the year (number of assessments will vary by level).

Each lesson is presented in bite-sized chunks, featuring one main point. At the elementary levels, these courses will be more parent/teacher dependent. You and your student will watch the videos together, and then discuss. Then you’ll guide your student as they work out concepts in their student book. The activities in this consumable book serve to apply the skills taught and help students understand the material and practice specific skills. Lesson lengths are age appropriate. Grades 1 and 2 average 10 to 20 minutes total, including about 3 minutes of video presentation. By grades 6 to 12, courses become more student-driven. Lesson length can run 20 to 40 minutes, with several minutes of video presentation. Levels 1 through 10 are in the second edition, with grades 7 through 10 recently being updated in textual content, visual presentation, and video instruction. Second edition updates for Levels 11 and 12 are projected for the future. Videos from grades 7 through 10 feature Mr. Stephens teaching before a white background, often screensharing to engage with a writing sample, showing corrections, showing writing steps, etc. For the remaining grades, the videos show Mr. Stephens teaching before a whiteboard, which he uses to explain concepts.

The consumable student book coordinates with the video lessons. You’ll need one per student. Please note that there has been a cover change to the print books. Newer covers feature a lion. While we work through our inventory, you may receive two different covers if you order an extra worktext with a course. ~ Ruth