Curtis WestbayThis is one of the seven Common App essay prompts. I’m not a big fan of these prompts, but at the very least, they’re not very restrictive. Just about anything a student wants to write about fits with one of the prompts.
What follows is my description of one of the simpler methods I use with students (”BOD”— “brainstorm, outline, draft”); it’s a process plan to help them write personal statements. After describing this process, I will show you how it might look by trying it myself. BOD is one of several approaches that I might take with students, but it might not be the best approach for them all. This process plan is written from the perspective of an adult, so it’s just meant to show the process to get through the nascent stages of writing a personal statement, it’s not meant as a template for students, nor is it meant to imply that this is what student writing will sound like. Students can’t just follow a template and expect to produce good writing.
This will be a long post, so I will only model brainstorming and outlining, right up to the point where I would begin a first draft.