Ah, the dreaded college application essay. Here's a unique approach to crafting a powerful personal essay. Class members read The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Leslie Marmon Silko's Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit, analyze the structure, style, and content of these personal narratives, and then produce their own.

Concepts

Narrative Writing, text analysis

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Because most college essays are due by the middle of October, schedule the units for the beginning of the school year for seniors and at the end of the school year for juniors

Classroom Considerations

• The units using The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Yellow Woman and A Beauty of the Spirit as anchor texts presume a protocol is in place for the safe, respectful discussion of emotionally charged language and controversial issues

Pros

• The massive packet includes the three separate units, lesson plans, worksheets, rubrics, activities, and links to related materials

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.11-12.1 RL.11-12.4 RL.11-12.10a RI.11-12.4 RI.11-12.10a W.11-12.9.a W.11-12.10 SL.11-12.1.a SL.11-12.3 L.11-12.4.a L.11-12.4.b L.11-12.4.c L.11-12.4.d