Writing at the Farm: IEW courses with Mary Odell
Composition and Literature Courses using material from The Institute for Excellence in Writing
Composition and Literature Courses using material from The Institute for Excellence in Writing
Born and raised in Montana, I graduated from Montana State University with a B.A. in French Language and Literature. This choice of major resulted in my spending one year of post-graduate study in France and then returning to the states for graduate school. I received an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Maryland.… Continue reading About
I would love to talk with you after you have reviewed the content from my website. Want more information?
Despite being a precocious reader, our son struggled when it came to writing. Grammar was fine. He enjoyed learning and applying grammar rules, and he excelled at it. The challenge was composition. He didn’t know how to organize his thoughts, which caused him to feel frustrated and eventually led him to believe he could not write well. Try as I might, I just made it worse. Then came IEW and Mrs. Odell.
We quickly found out why her classes had been highly recommended to us by numerous friends. The IEW program breaks the writing process into manageable chunks and provides a framework for students to build on. Expertly guiding students through the steps, Mrs. Odell puts students at ease with her relaxed, friendly demeanor. Fun is the undercurrent and mutual respect is the rule in her classes. Under Mrs. Odell’s instruction these past five years, our son has flourished and grown into a confident writer. We are so thankful for her and highly recommend her classes!
Mrs. Odell is the best! She took the conflict out of doing IEW with my daughter. Not only does she know the material inside and out, she explains it clearly to students from elementary to high school. She’s also patient and gentle without lowering the standards of the program or her expectations for the students. We are so glad we found her class!