Kindly note:
This is an ESL friendly class, CEFR  level — C1, C2 (Advanced)
Please feel free to write me via Outschool email with questions.
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HOW TO WRITE THE PERSONAL ESSAY--CONQUER THE COLLEGE ESSAY WITH STYLE AND POWER!
IN A NUTSHELL:
4 Focus Essays Discussed in classes
11 additional essays sent for background reading
4 Essay writing opportunities with instant written feedback
No Prerequisites 
No books to purchase
Small intimate class size (limited to 6 learners)


IF YOUR GOAL IS TO CREATE A FINISHED COLLEGE ESSAY (OR ENTRANCE SCHOOL ESSAY)  YOU ABSOLUTELY CAN DO SO WITH THIS CLASS.  I WILL GUIDE YOU TO A FINISHED ESSAY. I WILL ALSO HELP YOU TO BE THE WRITER YOU YOU ARE MEANT TO BE.


Note:
If a learner is currently working on a separate college essay or perhaps an essay for private school admission,  I would also be happy to offer comments and response during this class. 

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BECOME A CONFIDENT WRITER FIRST--THE COLLEGE ESSAY WILL FOLLOW NATURALLY 

The ability to communicate one’s thoughts clearly and succinctly, with elegance and flair, is one of the key skills every learner needs for success both in school and beyond.  How to Write the Personal Essay-Conquer the College Essay with Style and Power! is precisely the class to do just that.

In four deeply researched 55-minute sessions we will examine the essential skills to give every learner the confidence to craft both the personal essay and by extension, the college essay.  The college essay—often considered to be such a daunting writing task—is of course a personal essay. But to write a great college essay isn’t a slap-dash multi-step process. Rather, it’s learning the skills to become a great writer though understanding yourself and what you are passionate about through the writing the personal essay.  Become a confident writer first—the college essay will essentially write itself. 
According to a recent piece in The New York Times from June, 2023 the  essay will become more important and the SATs less. 

Each class in How to Write the Personal Essay-Conquer the College Essay with Style and Power! will be comprised of:

Class 1:Description—Focus Essay: A Thing Shared by M.F.K. Fisher

Class 2: Style/Tone—Focus Essay: All You Need to Know to Start Skipping Stones Like a Pro by Julie Benda

Class 3: Writer’s Voice—Focus Essay: Mother Tongue by Amy Tan

Class 4: Being Yourself— Focus Essay: Indestructible Beetle by Lulu Miller

In addition: these essential parts of an essay will be discussed over the course of the four sessions:

class 1
Conversational Element
Honesty, Confession, Privacy
Contractions and Expansions of the Self

Class 2
The Role of the Contrarian
One’s Ego

Class 3
Cheek and Irony
Storytelling
Movement from Individual to Universal

Class 4
Quotations and Use of Learning
Personal Essay as a Way of Thinking and Being


HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS FOR EVERY CLASS:

Writing Exercises
Extender Reading Essays (additional reading essays that support the ideas of the lesson )
Four different essay prompts reflecting the essay skill discussed in that particular session

Essays in this class include:

Class 1: DESCRIPTION
Focus Essay: A Thing Shared by M.F.K. Fisher
Extender Essays: Seeing by Annie Dillard, Street Hauntings by Virginia Woolf, Ticket to the  Fair by David Foster Wallace

Class 2: STYLE AND TONE
Focus Essay: All You Need to Know to Start Skipping Stones Like a Pro by Julie Benda
Extender Essays: How It Feels to Be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston, In Praise of Shadows
Junichiro Tanizaki

Class 3: THE WRITER'S VOICE
Focus Essay: Mother Tongue by Amy Tan
Extender Essays: Goodbye to All that by Joan Didion, Two Ways to See a River by Mark Twain

Class 4: BEING YOURSELF
Focus Essay: Indestructible Beetle by Lulu Miller
Extender Essays: Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson, If You Are What You Eat Then What Am I? By Geeta Kothari, What Makes Me Happy Now by Helen Gardner

Every homework assignment receives an immediate,  nuanced and fully detailed written response from me.

HOW DID THIS CLASS COME TO BE CREATED?

In a sense every class I’ve written has lead to this one. Every child not only has a voice in my classroom - I am listening carefully to each individual voice.  My goal is—and alway has been—to open students’ minds to possibilities, to give them confidence in their thinking, to allow them to express themselves fully.  This class aims do give students the opportunity to do so in the essay format.  Essays are provocative—they’ve changed the thinking of the world. Great essays are transformative.

How to Write the Personal Essay-Conquer the College Essay with Style and Power! was created to follow my own Spar Lit Sr: Understanding Great Essays Through Speech and Debate and my own The Elegant Essay: Crafting Great Essays Through Power and Punch!  While  Spar Lit Sr. focuses on oral skills through understanding essays, The Elegant Essay gives a broad view of the power of the essay through analysis.  They both lead to How to Write the Personal Essay-Conquer the College Essay with Style and Power! In other-words, here is the perfect opportunity for students  to learn to write their own essential essays.

NO PREREQUISITES FOR THIS CLASS
Please note: Although  both Spar Lit Sr. and The Elegant Essay are excellent preparation for How to Write The Personal Essay there are no prerequisites for this class.

LIMITED TO 6 STUDENTS 
How to Write the Personal Essay-Conquer the College Essay with Style and Power!  is limited to 6 students so all learners have a voice in the classroom.  Learners have both the benefit of a small class and the interaction with like-minded students.

NO BOOK PURCHASES NECESSARY FOR THIS CLASS
All materials will be sent to learners in pdf. over the classroom page.