Welcome to Writing to Learn! Using the Institute for Excellence in Writing method (IEW), I equip students with lifelong tools for effective and engaging communication.
Why does IEW work so well? IEW goes beyond simply teaching students to write! The method actually teaches them to think. Humans think by asking themselves questions. In the IEW method, self-questioning is an important part of the thinking/writing process. Students are taught to retrieve information from their brains by asking questions, which change according to the type of writing to be accomplished.
Frequently, another problem for students is that they do not have suitable information stored in their brains to use for writing. In other words, they are asked to create something out of nothing, which is impossible for humans! This often results in the frightening “Blank Page Syndrome,” a paralyzing state wherein students stare at their papers with not a clue of how to start. As Andrew Pudewa, creator of IEW, notes,
One simple and immutable fact about the human brain is that you can’t get something out of it that isn’t there to start with. Supernatural inspiration notwithstanding, human beings in general—and children in particular—really can’t produce thoughts or concepts that they haven’t first experienced and stored. In other words, we cannot think a thought we don’t have to begin with. Even the most unique, creative and extraordinary ideas can only exist as a combination and permutation of previously learned bits of information. Only God creates something from nothing; the rest of us are stuck with what we’ve got.
Instead of asking students to produce something from nothing, IEW provides tools of structure and style so they have a reserve of knowledge from which to write.
The end result is competent, confident writers who are able to analyze any writing task and comfortably employ an array of highly effective tools to accomplish it.
