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The most difficult part of writing personal statements
is writing well in ways that reveal who students are as
individuals and students. This is something that's especially
challenging for young people who most likely believe "there's
nothing special about me". Before junior year:
- Expose students to sophisticated writing (use class
time to discuss the risks good writers take and the
choices they make in terms of style, economy, and
structure);
- Encourage
students to keep journals in which they think about the
meaning and significance of events in their lives and
experiment telling those stories with different styles,
approaches, and voices;
- Have students outline and discuss the structure
and plot lines of their favorite films, television
shows, and video games. The issue is whether the student
is capable of thinking in terms of structure and design
of any piece they are writing. Strunk and White are
quoted in the Greenes book "Presenting Yourself Successfully
to College" as saying, "A basic structural design
underlies every kind of writing...The first principle
of composition, therefore, is to foresee or determine
the shape of what is to come and pursue that shape."
The creators of films, television shows, and games
are always aware of the structure and emotional flow
of their work. Young writers should be as well.;
- Relentlessly reassure
students that proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation
are basic.
Resources for this activity:
- Personal Writing Worksheet (.pdf
format)
- Step Nine Video Clip:
 Watch
the video
- The easiest part of writing a personal statement is becoming familiar with
the topics colleges and universities will be asking of applicants. Visit http://www.commonapp.org/
and download this year's
Common Application forms, the recommended forms used
by over two hundred colleges and universities for
application to their undergraduate programs. Individual
college web sites may also provide samples of the
essay topics they put forward.
- A useful additional link: Standards for the English
Language Arts from The International Reading Association
and the National Council of Teachers of English.
www.ncte.org/standards/standards.shtml
The Personal Writing Worksheet is formatted using Adobe
Acrobat (.pdf), and can be read and printed by downloading
the free Adobe Reader.
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