About the Course
Bring your experiences to life on the page in this personal essay course. Through 10 assignments, we will experiment with different essay forms to describe scenes, illustrate conflicts, narrate events, share memories, and extract meaning. As we progress through the course and hone our personal essay writing skills, we will learn to use our senses to create vivid descriptions, observe and select details that convey our perspective to readers, imagine and describe events from others’ points of view, and unlock the power of revision. We’ll complete 10 essay projects over 10 course units. Each unit includes two lessons, a pre-writing exercise, an essay assignment, a reflection letter and an asynchronous online writing workshop. In workshops, you will read your classmates’ essays and provide feedback. You’ll receive feedback from classmates on your own essays at least twice, and practice applying feedback to your revisions. Active participation in writing workshops provides a valuable opportunity to grow with the support and insight of your peers.
Learning Objectives
- Employ pre-writing strategies to externalize ideas and evaluate which are the strongest
- Proofread, analyze, restructure, and revise drafts for submission
- Employ figurative language and literary devices to enhance your narratives
- Give constructive feedback on peers’ work and accept and incorporate feedback on your writing and make appropriate changes
- Reflect on personal experiences and extract meaning from them in essays
- Write in a range of tones, for a variety of audiences
- Demonstrate empathy and different points of view
- Reflect on your writing process and growth in letters to your instructor
- Ask your instructor for help and have confidence discussing your writing with an adult
About Advanced Enrichment courses
These courses offer above-grade-level material that is presented in a novel context, explored with other advanced learners, and guided by a CTY educator to help prepare students for higher-order thinking and college-style academic challenges.
Requirements
CTY courses have grade-level requirements and most require minimum test scores. Some courses may also have prerequisites.
Identification DetailsDates and Tuition
Online
You will be asked to join or sign in first.
Register by: December 15, 2025
Time Commitment:
This class does not require the purchase of additional materials.
Time Commitment: 4-6 hours of independent work per week.
You will be asked to join or sign in first.
Register by: February 17, 2026
Time Commitment:
This class does not require the purchase of additional materials.
Time Commitment: 4-6 hours of independent work per week.
Registration Fee and Financial Aid
Tuition and fees will be waived or reduced for students who qualify for financial aid.
Learn more about Financial Aid