Walking Through Writing a Compelling Essay

Students in Karla Hilliard’s AP Literature class at Spring Mills High School in Martinsburg, West Virginia, know they’ll have to be confident writers when it’s time to take the advanced placement exam. In order to respond to three prompts in two hours, they’ll need a strong grasp of the components of an essay. Fortunately, Hilliard has developed a strategy to help students remember and visualize the parts of an essay, which she calls Walking Through Writing. Hilliard introduces this as a prewriting activity: Once students have identified a topic for their essay, it helps them to plan not only what they’ll write—but also how.

In addition to preparation for the AP exam, this strategy can help students craft strong personal essays for use in college applications. Students read examples of excellent personal writing; together, they identify the common elements that those examples share. Hilliard has already translated those components into steps, such as dropping readers into a scene, creating tension, adding dialogue, and offering reflection. She prints each step on a different piece of paper. Students pick one or two partners to work with, and each group receives a stack of printed steps. Working in the classroom or hallway, they lay out the steps on the floor.

Starting at the first step, one partner talks about what they want to convey at that point in their essay. The other partner uses a guided handout to take notes. This setup allows students to think about what they want to say, unencumbered by taking notes. Meanwhile, the notetaker plays an important role in prompting their partner to think about their topic in new ways and writing down the ideas that are compelling to them. The process encourages students to do their thinking upfront and to test out ideas with their peers. Talking with their partners, they consider different modes of telling a story: What if the moment of tension came sooner? What kind of imagery would convey this message best? How can dialogue enliven this scene? Once the partners have gone through every step, the notetaker hands their notes to the speaker, and they switch roles.

Hilliard encourages students to think about the process as hopscotch: They don’t have to go through each step in order, or even hit every step. Empowering students to physically move through the process and to share ideas with a peer generates more energy and creativity than if students were sitting at their desks, writing solo. It also encourages vulnerability, and Hilliard notices how students open up to each other.

Following the Walking Through Writing exercise, the students study the notes and reflect on the process. Then, they’re ready to begin drafting the first paragraph of their personal essay. Because they’ve visualized the process and collaborated with a classmate, the students approach an otherwise daunting task—putting pen to an empty sheet of paper—with confidence and clarity.