Walking Through Writing a Compelling Essay

Edutopia · Beginner ·🍎 Teaching & Learning Design ·4mo ago

About this lesson

Working out the parts of an essay step by step helps students think more creatively and analytically about what they want to convey. Students in Karla Hilliard’s AP Literature class at Spring Mills High School in Martinsburg, WV 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 strategy as a pre-writing activity: once students have identified a topic for their essay, this helps them to not only plan what they’ll write–but also how. To download the resources seen in this video for classroom use, visit https://www.edutopia.org/video/walking-through-writing-a-compelling-essay Join the Edutopia community today to get articles, videos, and more delivered via email every Wednesday—all tailored to you and your unique role: https://edut.to/3wEVHUh *Follow us here:* Official Website: https://edutopia.org  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/edutopia Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edutopia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edutopia BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/edutopia.org #teachingstrategies #apliterature #writingessays © 2026 George Lucas Educational Foundation

Original Description

Working out the parts of an essay step by step helps students think more creatively and analytically about what they want to convey. Students in Karla Hilliard’s AP Literature class at Spring Mills High School in Martinsburg, WV 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 strategy as a pre-writing activity: once students have identified a topic for their essay, this helps them to not only plan what they’ll write–but also how. To download the resources seen in this video for classroom use, visit https://www.edutopia.org/video/walking-through-writing-a-compelling-essay Join the Edutopia community today to get articles, videos, and more delivered via email every Wednesday—all tailored to you and your unique role: https://edut.to/3wEVHUh *Follow us here:* Official Website: https://edutopia.org  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/edutopia Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edutopia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edutopia BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/edutopia.org #teachingstrategies #apliterature #writingessays © 2026 George Lucas Educational Foundation
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