Welcome to Advanced Writing
Personal Essays!
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
- Understand Personal Essays
- Write Your Personal Essay
- Use the Pop-Up Pointers to Edit and Polish Your Work
Be sure to complete the lesson by following the roadmap:
- Play the Warm-Up Game
- Learn About Personal Essays
- Choose Your Topic and Complete the Quick-Write
- Complete the Writing Activity
- Explore the Pop-Up Pointer
- Edit Your Work
- Discuss Your Homework
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
Warm Up
Take these "tiny moments" in everyday life. Pick one and write about why these small moments matter.
Sometimes the little moments in life matter the most!
Eating Breakfast
Waiting for the Bus
Listening to Music
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
Let'sLearn
Let's Learn about Personal Essays.
Voice is your unique sound and style as a writer. Write the way you think and speak!
Personal Essays
A Personal Essay is a short piece of writing where you explore a real experience from your own life and explain what it means to you. This type of writing combines storytelling with reflection, helping the reader understand not just what happened but why it matters.
Details are specific images that help the reader see your world.
Reflection means explaining what the experience means to you now.
Structure is important in personal essays. Include a clear beginning, middle, and end.
The Theme is the big idea that connects your story to a greater human experience.
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
ExampleText
Read the Personal Essay example out loud. Identify the Details and discuss the theme.
Last summer, I spent an afternoon sitting on the old wooden steps behind my apartment, listening to the hum of traffic and the soft clicking of someone’s bicycle as they rode by. I didn’t do anything exciting that day, but the quiet felt like a gift. In that silence, I realized how rarely I pause long enough to hear my own thoughts. That small moment reminded me that calm doesn’t always show up in big ways. Sometimes it hides in the background, waiting for us to notice it.
Pop-Up:Personal Essay Pointers
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
QuickWrite
Choose a Writing Topic. Spend 5 minutes writing!
Option 2:Ordinary Objects
Write about an ordinary object that carries an extraordinary memory for you. It could be a keychain, a pair of shoes, a notebook, a snack, a photo — anything.
Option 1:A Learning Moment
Write about a moment when you learned something surprising about yourself. Maybe it was a lesson from travel, a mistake, an argument, or a tiny moment.
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
Edit YourWork
Ready to make your writing shine?
Highlighter Hunt
Choose one color for strong verbs and one for weak verbs. Highlight them all. Replace weak verbs with stronger ones to boost your writing!
The Chop Test
Put brackets around any phrase that feels unnecessary or extraneous. If the meaning still makes sense without it, chop it!
The Punch-UP
Read just the first sentence of every paragraph. Does it hook you? If not, add something vivid, specific, or emotional!
Sensory Sprinkle
Add one sensory detail (sound, smell, texture, taste, or sight) to every paragraph to make the moment feel alive.
POV Switch
Pretend that you are a stranger who never lived this moment. Reread your essay and ask "Why does this matter?" Add a powerful sentence.
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
Feedback
Share Your Thoughts!
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
Homework
Homework
Option 1:Snapshot Essay
Find a photo from your life and write a personal essay inspired by that moment. You can mention the photograph or use it solely as inspiration.
Option 2:Sensory Spectacle
Choose one of the five senses and think of a memory associated with that sense. Write a personal essay about the sense and the memory. What is the deeper meaning?
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
Pro Tip for Personal Essays
Zoom in on one moment. Instead of trying to tell your whole life story, choose a single memory, feeling, or experience and describe it with specific details. Small moments often reveal the biggest truths.
Tip from author, Zadie Smith:
“A writer’s duty is to register what it is like for them to be alive.” - Zadie Smith Zadie Smith is a bestselling British novelist and essayist known for her sharp observations of identity, culture, and everyday life.
Example:
Courage Theme: "I dug deep inside of myself and walked on, one step at a time."
Check Your Work
Key: Setting Details | Reflection | Sensory Details Theme: Finding calm and clarity in the little, everyday moments. Last summer, spent an afternoon sitting on the old wooden steps behind my apartment, listening to the hum of traffic and the soft clicking of someone’s bicycle as they rode by. I didn’t do anything exciting that day, but the quiet felt like a gift. In that silence, I realized how rarely I pause long enough to hear my own thoughts. That small moment reminded me that calm doesn’t always show up in big ways. Sometimes it hides in the background, waiting for us to notice it.
Example:
“Moving to a new city felt scary at first, but it taught me how brave I can be.”
Example:
"That moment taught me to trust myself."
Example:
Start with the moment. Explore the lesson. Finish with a reflective conclusion.
Example:
Waiting for the Bus: "In those quiet moments, waiting for the bus to arrive, I am often reminded of how much of life we spend in transit."
Example:
Listening to Music: "Putting on my headphones and turning up the music transports me into another world of rhythm and sound."
Example:
Text or Call: "Breakfast isn't just a meal, it's our time to mentally and physically prepare for the day."
Example:
A warm honest tone: "Thinking back, I believe that this feeling of nervousness is something we all can relate to."
Think about it!
Tiny Moments, Big Meanings When you think of the "tiny moments" in your life, what kind of emotions do you feel? How can hearing a song, opening a gift, or waiting for the bus have a big meaning?
Example:
"The bus smelled like lemon cleaner and coffee in the morning."
L5 Advanced Writing Course - Personal Essays
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Transcript
Welcome to Advanced Writing
Personal Essays!
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
Be sure to complete the lesson by following the roadmap:
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
Warm Up
Take these "tiny moments" in everyday life. Pick one and write about why these small moments matter.
Sometimes the little moments in life matter the most!
Eating Breakfast
Waiting for the Bus
Listening to Music
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
Let'sLearn
Let's Learn about Personal Essays.
Voice is your unique sound and style as a writer. Write the way you think and speak!
Personal Essays
A Personal Essay is a short piece of writing where you explore a real experience from your own life and explain what it means to you. This type of writing combines storytelling with reflection, helping the reader understand not just what happened but why it matters.
Details are specific images that help the reader see your world.
Reflection means explaining what the experience means to you now.
Structure is important in personal essays. Include a clear beginning, middle, and end.
The Theme is the big idea that connects your story to a greater human experience.
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
ExampleText
Read the Personal Essay example out loud. Identify the Details and discuss the theme.
Last summer, I spent an afternoon sitting on the old wooden steps behind my apartment, listening to the hum of traffic and the soft clicking of someone’s bicycle as they rode by. I didn’t do anything exciting that day, but the quiet felt like a gift. In that silence, I realized how rarely I pause long enough to hear my own thoughts. That small moment reminded me that calm doesn’t always show up in big ways. Sometimes it hides in the background, waiting for us to notice it.
Pop-Up:Personal Essay Pointers
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
QuickWrite
Choose a Writing Topic. Spend 5 minutes writing!
Option 2:Ordinary Objects
Write about an ordinary object that carries an extraordinary memory for you. It could be a keychain, a pair of shoes, a notebook, a snack, a photo — anything.
Option 1:A Learning Moment
Write about a moment when you learned something surprising about yourself. Maybe it was a lesson from travel, a mistake, an argument, or a tiny moment.
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
Edit YourWork
Ready to make your writing shine?
Highlighter Hunt
Choose one color for strong verbs and one for weak verbs. Highlight them all. Replace weak verbs with stronger ones to boost your writing!
The Chop Test
Put brackets around any phrase that feels unnecessary or extraneous. If the meaning still makes sense without it, chop it!
The Punch-UP
Read just the first sentence of every paragraph. Does it hook you? If not, add something vivid, specific, or emotional!
Sensory Sprinkle
Add one sensory detail (sound, smell, texture, taste, or sight) to every paragraph to make the moment feel alive.
POV Switch
Pretend that you are a stranger who never lived this moment. Reread your essay and ask "Why does this matter?" Add a powerful sentence.
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
Feedback
Share Your Thoughts!
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
Homework
Homework
Option 1:Snapshot Essay
Find a photo from your life and write a personal essay inspired by that moment. You can mention the photograph or use it solely as inspiration.
Option 2:Sensory Spectacle
Choose one of the five senses and think of a memory associated with that sense. Write a personal essay about the sense and the memory. What is the deeper meaning?
© 2025 For Kids Corp. All Rights Reserved
Pro Tip for Personal Essays
Zoom in on one moment. Instead of trying to tell your whole life story, choose a single memory, feeling, or experience and describe it with specific details. Small moments often reveal the biggest truths.
Tip from author, Zadie Smith:
“A writer’s duty is to register what it is like for them to be alive.” - Zadie Smith Zadie Smith is a bestselling British novelist and essayist known for her sharp observations of identity, culture, and everyday life.
Example:
Courage Theme: "I dug deep inside of myself and walked on, one step at a time."
Check Your Work
Key: Setting Details | Reflection | Sensory Details Theme: Finding calm and clarity in the little, everyday moments. Last summer, spent an afternoon sitting on the old wooden steps behind my apartment, listening to the hum of traffic and the soft clicking of someone’s bicycle as they rode by. I didn’t do anything exciting that day, but the quiet felt like a gift. In that silence, I realized how rarely I pause long enough to hear my own thoughts. That small moment reminded me that calm doesn’t always show up in big ways. Sometimes it hides in the background, waiting for us to notice it.
Example:
“Moving to a new city felt scary at first, but it taught me how brave I can be.”
Example:
"That moment taught me to trust myself."
Example:
Start with the moment. Explore the lesson. Finish with a reflective conclusion.
Example:
Waiting for the Bus: "In those quiet moments, waiting for the bus to arrive, I am often reminded of how much of life we spend in transit."
Example:
Listening to Music: "Putting on my headphones and turning up the music transports me into another world of rhythm and sound."
Example:
Text or Call: "Breakfast isn't just a meal, it's our time to mentally and physically prepare for the day."
Example:
A warm honest tone: "Thinking back, I believe that this feeling of nervousness is something we all can relate to."
Think about it!
Tiny Moments, Big Meanings When you think of the "tiny moments" in your life, what kind of emotions do you feel? How can hearing a song, opening a gift, or waiting for the bus have a big meaning?
Example:
"The bus smelled like lemon cleaner and coffee in the morning."