Teaching developmental writing courses is a high-wire act, complicated by its need to balance both rudimentary skill-building and college-level writing preparation. However, many developmental writing instructors spend most of their time on the former, focusing on rote memorization of grammar rules and sentence skills development, which often leaves students feeling unmotivated and anxious about their writing. This article offers an effective teaching method aimed at increasing student success in developmental writing courses by taking an active-learning approach, known here as the "class essay," that emphasizes the entire writing process, not just the building blocks of the English language. Additionally, this article explains the benefits of collaborative writing in general, details the "class essay" approach specifically, and describes the observed results of using this method.