50 minutes · Seniors who are about to start applications, in a classroom or a lunch workshop.
Students pick the stories they will write about, draft a strong opening, give each other feedback with a simple rubric, and learn how to ask for a recommendation letter.
Goals
Each student has three stories they could use in a scholarship essay.
Each has a first paragraph drafted for one of them.
Each student knows how to ask a teacher for a letter, and what to hand them.
Before you start
Print the brainstorm sheet, the feedback rubric and the brag sheet from the essays and letters page, one of each per student.
Pick one sample prompt from a real scholarship on the site and read it aloud.
Pens, and a timer you can show.
Agenda (50 minutes)
How essays get read · 8 min
Explain that reviewers read many essays quickly and remember the specific ones.
Read a vague opening and a specific one aloud and ask which they would remember.
Brainstorm three stories · 12 min
Students fill in the brainstorm sheet: a challenge, a time they led or helped, and something they care about.
Show how one story can answer several prompts, then have students note the prompts each of theirs could fit.
Write the first paragraph · 12 min
Students choose one story and write its opening paragraph in ten minutes, starting in the middle of the moment instead of with a general statement.
Peer feedback · 12 min
Pairs swap paragraphs and score each other on the rubric, then say one thing that worked and one thing they want to know more about.
Asking for a letter · 6 min
Show the request script and the brag sheet. Stress asking in person or by a polite email at least a few weeks before the deadline.
Remind students to tell the writer what the scholarship is for and when it is due.
Points to make
If a sentence could appear in anyone else's essay, rewrite it with a detail only the student would know.
Answer the actual prompt. A beautiful essay on the wrong question loses.
Reusing a strong essay is normal, but each version has to answer that sponsor's prompt.
A letter writer with context writes a better letter. Give them time and information.
After the session
Offer to read one revised essay per student, or set up a peer review group.
Hand out the brag sheet so students can give it to recommenders.
Remind students that Scholarship Tracker shows how long each essay is before they start.