Kaleidoscope's live virtual Persuasive Writing workshop, taught by an award-winning writer and recent Yale grad, is a writing class for leaders. It's the most important class you can take if you want to move and influence others—whether you’re hoping to get into your reach school, get a project off the ground, or get the word out about your cause or organization. Join us to break free from the confines of formulaic writing and harness the full potential of storytelling.
We know that the ability to craft a compelling narrative matters—whether you want to get into your reach school, get a project off the ground, or get a good grade in English class. In fact, persuasive storytelling matters more now than ever: our world feels increasingly polarized, and the default tendency is to tune out those whose opinions differ from our own. Telling compelling stories is an unparalleled way to transcend differences and hook people into opening their minds.
However, great writing has become an afterthought in too many schools. Even schools that prioritize writing tend to focus on the five-paragraph analytic essay. But using the five-paragraph essay as a stand-in for all writing is like using the news as a stand-in for all TV. Imagine how many people would think they disliked TV, when the truth was that they just didn’t like watching the news!
The skills we teach in Persuasive Writing will help you excel in school and the college application process, but far more important to us is that you’ll learn to use writing to do well and do good in the world beyond the classroom.
IN PERSUASIVE WRITING, YOU WILL:
- Uncover and learn to apply the hidden structures of powerful stories—how they shape what we remember and influence how we feel
- Learn to manipulate the building blocks of stories—images, sentences, paragraphs—in ways that deepen meaning
- Gain exposure to a variety of persuasive writing examples, from op-eds to personal essays, learning what makes them tick
- Receive personalized feedback—from our team and from a global community of peers—to help you more persuasively make your case in writing
- Become a more effective storyteller, whether for school, college admissions, or publication
HOW THE CLASS WORKS:
- College-like course structure: On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, we’ll meet as a full group (capped at 50) to learn techniques and workshop examples. On Tuesdays and Thursdays at class time, you’ll meet with peer cohorts (3-5 students) to take a deep dive into critiquing each other’s work (and get to know each other!)
- Dynamic, rigorous online sessions: Our full-group sessions will meet on Zoom—they will be active & interactive with cameras on, frequent verbal participation, and lectures kept to a minimum. The heart of these sessions will be collective workshopping—whether of published works (to discern what makes them great) or each other’s writing (to identify what works and how it can be improved).
- Daily deliverables: Each day you’ll submit writing, often for feedback from your teacher or your peer cohort. It may be a new assignment or an iteration on a previous one—"Good writing is good editing,” as the saying goes.
- Starred projects: You’ll finish the course with a highly polished essay. The best essays are designated as ?starred?, a designation that you can add to your resume and that may lead to your work being featured on our website!
