I was cooking dinner the other night when I decided to read the instructions on the Bubba Burgers box. I don't know what prompted me to do that because, well, who needs to read instructions on how to cook frozen burgers? You put them on the pan, cook one side, cook the other, and just keep flipping them until you think they're done. Right?
Nope.
The instructions said to put the frozen burger on your pan, but then it said:
Don't mess with it until you see the juices on top,
and don't press it!
So I tried it. And now I wonder how in the world I made it all this time without this simple instruction. 😆
Waiting for the juice was an easy way to be able to tell when it was time to turn that burger over and cook the other side. Not only that, but I free to do other things in the kitchen while I waited for THE SIGN.
I don't think I was ever so relaxed while cooking a burger.
But then it hit me. Wait for the juice.
What does that mean exactly? It means, don't flip it until the one side is cooked. Then proceed to the other side, and DON'T PRESS IT.
My brain often applies the things I'm reading or doing to the things I teach, so obviously I had to apply this to the writing process!
Wait for the juice: Improvement in your child's writing will come. You just have to wait for it. Sometimes, and more often than not, it will take a student a year (maybe more) to get the hang of the process of writing. When we teach using the methods from the Institute for Excellence in Writing® (IEW), we aren't just letting the kids go crazy with what they write. We are teaching them how to write with Structure and Style®.
Through the different units of the program, students are taught how to structure their writing for different purposes. They learn how to organize their thoughts with an outline, and then they dress it up so it sounds better and is more descriptive.
The process can be frustrating, both for the child and the parent. We want results, and we want them now.
Don't press it: We don't want to see our kids struggle, but they need to exercise this writing muscle. And they need to exercise it at their own pace. That's why IEW® instituted the EZ+1 method. We watch and wait until the kids are ready to add more stylistic techniques to their toolbox before we add more to their plate.
That means, we follow the method and wait for the juice, and we don't press it.
If you want to take a look at some of our class offerings for this upcoming year, be sure to check out our live virtual classes, asynchronous options, and book clubs.
And if you wanna chat, I would love to do that on your favorite social media platform, either Instagram or Facebook. See ya there!