Essay Writing, Beyond the Basics, With Personalized Feedback

Once students have a basic understanding of essay writing, what comes next? How do they develop their writing skills, to go beyond the basics, into well-structured, well-developed essays?

This class will do just that. Each week we'll go beyond the basics, to build on learner's existing knowledge of essay writing. Students will gain strategies to plan essays, engage readers, communicate their points effectively, and so much more. In this weekly class, students expand on existing writing skills to become confident, skilled, independent writers.  They will follow steps to write different styles of essays, responding to a variety of writing prompts.

Each week briefly walks learners through steps to writing essays, and then applies them to a specific type of essay.  We focus on one specific writing strategy / skill each week that adds onto the basic essay structure.  This might include writing a clear thesis statement, using descriptive writing as a hook, or adding clear transition sentences. Students will follow steps together (modeled by me), while working on their own essays independently. While students will have time to write in class, the general expectation is that they will need to complete essays outside of class.

This class is highly practical, with lots of discussion and hands-on practice.  We will cover the entire essay writing process, including brainstorming, organizing, rough drafts, and final drafts each week. This class rotates through different styles of essay writing. Three unique topic options are given in each class and students are able to choose one of those prompts to write about.  (For example, each informative essay week will include unique prompts and a different minilesson.) 

Since this class builds on existing knowledge, students should be able to write a simple essay on their own in order to be successful.  While all learners are welcome, this class is great for reluctant or struggling to intermediate writers, and gives them tools to become more independent and confident in their writing.  

Students do not share their writing out loud during class, but are welcome to post in the classroom if they'd like others to see it. Most learners will not finish their essays during class time but do finish it after class ends. All students are welcome to send their essays to me each week in an Outschool message. Students who chose to submit original essays for feedback will receive a personalized video outlining strengths and areas for growth. Weekly feedback will focus on whatever our lesson focus was. (For example, if the lesson focused on writing clear, focused thesis statements, feedback will be focused on that skill.)

This class is designed so students can start and stop at any time; there is not a true "beginning" to the order of lessons. 

Essay types are listed by week below, as well as the specific skill focused on in class.  

Week of January 6, 2025: Informative: writing clear thesis statements
Week of January 13: Persuasive: consistent verb tense and point of view
Week of January 20: Narrative: transition sentences
Week of January 27: Informative: outlines
Week of February 3: Opinion: conclusions (including restating thesis statements)
Week of February 10: Analysis: CER for expanding ideas and including analysis
Week of February 17: Argumentative: descriptive hooks in introductions
Week of February 24: Informative (compare and contrast): using formal, academic language
Week of March 3: Persuasive: MLA formatting
Week of March 10: Narrative: including descriptive language
Week of March 17: no class (Spring Break)
Week of March 24: Informative: paraphrasing evidence / research
Week of March 30: Definition (in-depth focus on term / concept / idea): introductions 
Week of April 7: Opinion: brainstorming / focusing ideas
Week of April 14: Analysis: managing time for timed / standardized tests
Week of April 21:Argumentative: using direct quotes
Week of April 28: Informative: word choice
Week of May 5:Persuasive: eliminating second person
Week of May 12:  Narrative: writing clear thesis statements

Additional lessons may be added, and these will all rotate through again throughout the year. 

All students are welcome in this class. Although there is a discussion element, students are never called on and are welcome to interact out loud or via chat (or not at all). 

If your learner needs an in-depth class that walks through essay writing in a step by step way, please check out this Informative Research Essay class:

Live Version
https://outschool.com/classes/informative-expository-explanatory-research-essay-a-step-by-step-approach-gVAL0qKb

Self-Paced, Middle School
https://outschool.com/classes/writing-an-informative-explanatory-expository-research-essay-ayseb4re

Self-Paced, High School
https://outschool.com/classes/writing-an-informative-explanatory-expository-research-essay-KDehUvco