Two Andrews On Writing and Teaching Writing

I just finished a four city tour with Andrew Pudewa of Institute for Excellence in Writing and what a trip it was!

We divided up six talks between us as follows:

1. Andrew P talked about the four arts of language: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. This laid the foundation for the day.
2. Then I talked about the five paths to writing greatness:
   1. The linguistic
   2. The literary
   3. The critical
   4. The theoretical
   5. The practical
3. Then I discussed the three canons of classical composition and, briefly, how classical compostion went out with the rejection of the Christian classical tradition at the end of the 19th century.
4. Andrew P talked about the four stages to lead a student from report writing to essay writing (Developing the essayist: A natural approach)
   1. Reports (facts) about animals, states, and countries
   2. Reports about people, things, and events, selecting topics based on your opionions
   3. Thesis on literature, using topics selected to support the thesis
   4. Strategic persuasive essay about an issue that matters
5. Andrew and I discussed assessment. This talk was the one in which I learned the most over our four days and by the time we got to Dallas (echoes of Glenn Campbell?) we had combined and permutated our ideas into something really useful.
6. Panel discussion, different in each location and always fascinating.

Keep your eyes open because the Dallas presentation was videotaped by the IEW folks and I anticipate it being available in the not too distant future.

I can’t say enough how grateful I am to Andrew Pudewa for mentoring me and bringing me into his orbit. What a fine and good man.

Thank you Andrew.