Eureka!
Teacher Lesson Plans

Lesson: College Essay Writing

Possible Adaptations:

 May be used as a single essay assignment.  (Example shown is used over the course of the year)

Materials Needed:
    Writing Prompts
    Grading Rubric
 

Description of Activity:

1.  Discuss the difference between writing literary analyses and personal essays.  Remind students that most of their work in upper grades is based on literature, but that they have had experience writing personal essays in previous years.
2.  Teach different aspects of essay writing.  This may be done in small intervals (perhaps the first ten minutes of the class period, over the period of a week) or all at one sitting.  Be sure to focus on organization, style, and development, as well as effective introduction and conclusion strategies.
3.  Assign the writing assignment.
4.  Give students writing prompts.  Many of these prompts have been taken from college applications, scholarship essays, and freshman English assignments.  You may consider allowing students to use questions from applications to substitute for items already on the list.
5.  Allow students to turn in essays before the due date to have you suggest areas for improvement in developement, style, organization, etc.  This will teach them the revision process as well as allow them to try for a better grade.  Allowing class time for "writing conferences" is a good idea to keep from having to re-grade essays.
6.  Grade essays according to the scoring rubric, or develop your own.