Looking for a comprehensive college essay application class that will take your learner from inspiration to finished personal essay?  

You want your learners to become better writers, but it’s not easy to find instruction that will actually improve their skills. Simply explaining what good writing is or giving students worksheets to fill out about characteristics of writing won’t get them anywhere. In fact, it will only teach them that they are “bad at” writing and that there is no point in trying to improve.

What learners need is practical lessons that will get them engaged in analyzing writing, discussing what makes good essays, and experimenting with techniques and styles. 

The exercises, assignments, and sample essays in this short term class have been honed over sixteen years of teaching. I have found great success teaching the personal and college application essay using these plans to all levels of students, from AP Literature classes to my most reluctant learners.  

There are no lectures or presentations in this class—learners will be empowered to find their own answers and find the confidence they need to find their voice and write great essays that express their ideas and unique perspectives on the world.

While students will have a finished college application essay by the end of the course, this class is a great choice for any students who would like to improve their writing.

When your learners take this innovative short-term class on writing personal essays they will:

--Get past writers block with the low-key activities designed to get them feeling less pressure about writing and more interest in telling their stories.

--Learn that writing can be lots of fun when they read hilarious and touching essays about personal disaster and embarrassments.

--Understand the elements of the personal essay such as grabbers, structure, description, and theme so that they comprehend how to build a great essay.

--Write essays with ideas and meaning when they reflect on their own lives and look for the lessons they’ve learned.

--Engage in fun, low-key games and activities focusing on sentence structure, storytelling, and show don’t tell.

--Move through the writing process—from prewriting to drafting to peer editing to revision—with the practical lessons and activities.

--Learn to conduct peer conferences so that they can improve their own writing and more deeply understand the elements of quality writing.

--Draft, revise, and edit their essays with the time-tested and proven activities and concrete suggestions.

--Be inspired to find their voices and get their message to the world when they read accessible real student sample essays and published essays by some of the great writers of our time.

Day One: What is a Personal Essay?  Students will learn about the elements of a personal essay by reading fun and engaging sample essays.  They’ll also get started with some low-key, informal prewriting.  We’ll explore work by contemporary published writers as well as some student writing, discussing and interacting along the way.  

Day Two: Stories and Show-Don’t-Tell.  In day two of the course, learners will work to more deeply understand the qualities of a well-written personal essay by reading and discussing examples of good writing including their own informal writing and sample essays.  Through discussion, examples, and fun writing exercises, students will get a better understanding of how to show rather than tell in their writing and how to grab a reader with an engaging opening.  For homework, students will write a very rough first draft of their essay.  If desired, we’ll also schedule time to get together and write silently so students can have some accountability and company for their writing time.  

Day Three: Meaning and Structure. After writing their first draft, students will discuss meaning and theme in the sample essays and revise their own drafts to make sure that they are making a point and expressing meaning in their writing.  We’ll also continue to discuss the example essays together as we look at concrete ways that writers structure a personal essay and convey meaning through story.

Day Four: Grabbers and Peer Conferences.  In the fourth day of the class, students will continue to learn about the qualities of effective essay writing when they do focused exercises to improve their introductions as well as practice and engage in peer conferences after learning a structure and format that has proven effective for hundreds of my students.  Utilizing a handout and focused questions, they’ll learn how to get and give feedback.  This practice is extremely helpful for both partners.  Students will also have the option to schedule 15 minute one-on-one video conferences with me to help them work through any issues they are having with their work and to continue on their process of creating a finished essay.

Day Five: Revising and Editing. Students will revise and edit their essays, utilizing focused exercises and suggestions for their work.  We’ll continue to explore examples of good writing together in mini lessons focusing on questions, issues, or blocks that students are having with their writing.  We’ll also celebrate the completion of our essays with a virtual publishing party!