Essay prompts for middle schoolers

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Instead, I often talk about what makes an essay good. Notice that I didn't say great or memorable. Every essay doesn't have to be off-the-charts amazing. They don't have to be destined for publication more on that later. They have to be good.

A good essay conveys the voice and personality of the writer.

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A good essay shares something that hasn't come through in the other parts of the application. A good essay has made it to it's final form after a round or two of editing. So how does this all come together? Well, I have three main pieces of advice that I give every year: Don't "Overthink" the Topic The essay prompts colleges give you are deliberately broad because we want students to have some room to take an essay in whatever direction feels right for them.

I think some people spend a lot of time googling essay prompts that's a major source of traffic for the blog in the fall because the think someone will tell them what the college wants.

What we want is to get to know you through these essays. Use the topic that lets you be authentic in your writing. As you get closer to the deadline, you may start hearing others talk about their essays. Don't let other people's essays make you second guess your topic.

You may be tempted to change your essay.

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I don't think this is always a good idea. You probably wrote with more authenticity about your first choice topic than you will if you use a topic that popped into your head during a moment of panic.

Don't Feel Beholden to the Academic Essay Format Many students are taught to write the "five paragraph essay" in school I learned it when I was in grade school, too! This kind of essay has an introduction, three supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion.

This format is fantastic for class or for a testing situation, but it's not necessarily the best way to let your personality shine through. Don't feel obligated to use the academic essay format for your application essays. Application essays are personal statements.

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Use the format that works best for the story or message you want to convey. I usually tell students to free write first and then cobble together the structure that makes sense for their essay.The Internet is full of free resources for you to use in your homeschool.

Click on the links below to find some of the ones that we find noteworthy. t ESSAY AND JOURNAL TOPICS Ken Stewart Chapel Hill High School Chapel Hill, North Carolina Journal writing is an informal approach to .

Below are some descriptive, sequential, compare and contrast, cause and effect, and problem/solution writing prompts to help you give your students the practice they need. Descriptive Write an essay describing your school to a potentially new student.

Writing Prompts. vii Introduction ix 1 Persuasive Writing Prompts 1 Rubrics—Scoring Explanations 19 Model Persuasive Essays 20 The samples provide a look at a top essay, a middle-of-the road essay, and a low-scoring essay.

You can use these as benchmarks to compare and contrast your writing.

Possible Persuasive Writing Prompts 1. Elementary and secondary schools around the country are beginning to actively address the problem of bullies.

Kate Messner, author of Breakout and the Ranger in Time series. I look for small things when I write. Often, the tiniest detail is the best detail when it comes to grounding a scene in a particular time and place or bringing a huge, sweeping moment back to the personal.