Blog Archives

College Essay Boot Camp- Day 6 (Friday)

9/14/2018

Review what you need for MONDAY:

Final Draft College Essay (1 copy printed, 1 emailed or shared to Lori) . For the printed copy get it onto one page if possible, and do NOT print double-sided!
A digital photo of yourself that you can use for the display board

Conferences with Lori
Bring with you the most recent copy of your essay (it can just be pulled up on your computer), and any focusing questions you have for me. If you conferenced with me yesterday, I may have time to meet with you again, but no guarantees!

Revise, Refine, Write!
When you're not conferencing with me, you should be revising, refining, and making your essay as amazing as possible. Remember to rely on your peers for help here! You have lots of eyes--use them.

DONE?
Get a head start , and create your COLLEGE ESSAY DISPLAY BOARD!

HOMEWORK:

FINAL College Essay: Due Monday, 9/17, at the start of class. You need to have a copy printed and have it emailed or shared with Lori BEFORE class starts.

College Essay Boot Camp- Day 5 (Thursday)

9/13/2018

Starter
Look at all the sentences pulled from college essays that are on the boards.

Choose your favorite one, and write it in your starter. Explain why you think it's a strong sentence.
Now, go through your draft of your college essay. Pull out one sentence you think is weak. Write the original version, then write a revised version. Explain what you did to make the sentence stronger.
List 3 more sentences from your draft that need revision.

Conferences with Lori
Bring with you the most recent copy of your essay (it can just be pulled up on your computer), and any focusing questions you have for me.

Revise, Refine, Write!
When you're not conferencing with me, you should be revising, refining, and making your essay as amazing as possible. Remember to rely on your peers for help here! You have lots of eyes--use them.

HOMEWORK:

FINAL College Essay: Due Monday, 9/17 at the start of class. You need to have a copy printed and have it emailed or shared with Lori BEFORE class starts.

College Essay Boot Camp- Day 4 (Wednesday)

9/12/2018

Peer Critiques

Get into your assigned group (see the front board)
Everyone should have three printed copies of their essay
Complete critiques for each person using the assigned protocol

Work Time!
Revise, revise, revise! And sign up for a writing conference with Lori for sometime in the next two days.

Missed Peer Critique?
Share your essay with a trusted friend or two, and have them give you feedback. Then revise, and sign up for a writing conference with me.

HOMEWORK
Final Draft College Essay due on MONDAY, 9/17, start of class.

College Essay Boot Camp- Day 3 (Tuesday)

9/11/2018

Announcements

Bears Ears Forms/$/Attendance- I will be checking in with you individually about each of these pieces
Ute Mt. Ute Tour, 9/19- This is REQUIRED for people not joining us for Bears Ears. First come, first served for everyone else. Check your emails for permission forms. This is FREE, and there are limited spots available that are going fast.
Bears Ears Talk, 10/16- Again, this is REQUIRED for people not joining us for Bears Ears, and is highly recommended for everyone else. This will be in the evening at the Discovery Muserum, and will consist of a short film about Bears Ears followed by talks by Friends of Cedar Mesa and our own Ashley Carruth. This is FREE!
Tuesday 6th period- Charter group meets up in Tina’s room.
Essay Conference Sign Up- Sign up on the board for a conference about college essay on Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday.

Starter
Read this New York Times article about a controversial college essay and answer the following prompts:

What are your general impressions?
Would you advocate for accepting this student, given the rest of his application was worthy? Why or why not?
In general, do you think one should aim to "entertain" the admissions officer? Why or why not?

Who Am I? Brainstorm

“It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”

― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

Brainstorm/journal/word map/idea vomit- Who ARE you?
1. What’s the story you tell about yourselves?
2. What makes you unique?
3. What experiences in your life have shaped you?
4. Who are you beyond your education/lifestyle?
5. What do you most want people to know about you?
6. What’s the metaphor that defines you?
7. Imagine a box, with a set of objects in it. Each object represents one of your fundamental qualities. What’s in the box? What does each object represent?
Now find a partner who knows you reasonably well. Have them write a description of you. Is there anything here that you want to add?

Support Group Check In (Be sure to save 5 minutes at the end of class to check back in and share out what you accomplished today)

Spend 5-10 minutes in your support group, checking in.
Make sure everyone knows what they need to do for the day
Have each person in the group share where they want to be by the end of class today.

College Essay Work Time
Today, your goal should be to get a complete draft written, and if possible, do some initial refinements. Try to run right up against the word limit of your essay!

Support Group Check-In
In the last 5 minutes of class, regroup with your support group. Go around, see how well each person did at achieving the goal they set for themselves at the start of class today.

HOMEWORK
Have 3 printed copies of your essay for peer critique Wednesday. PRINT BEFORE CLASS. Make sure each copy includes, at the top of the paper:

The prompt you are responding to and word limits
Your current word count for your essay
A focusing question for critique (see College Essay Tuning Questions on the documents page for ideas here)

College Essay Boot Camp- Day 2 (Friday)

9/5/2018

Support Group Check In
Spend 5-10 minutes in your support group, checking in. Make sure everyone knows what they need to do for the days, and have each person in the group share where they want to be by the end of class today.

College Essay Work Time
Time to work on your college essay! You could tackle any of the following:

Choose a Prompt- Figure out what prompt speaks to you. Need help with this? Come talk to Lori!
Brainstorm- Use your own method, or any of the methods linked on my Documents page to help you generate ideas.
Write- Start writing, get words on the page. Remember, at this point it's okay to go over the word limit. We can always cut later.
Get Feedback- Show your writing to Lori, your support group, another teacher, other classmates.
Revise- Make it better! Cut, revise, focus, refine! Check for show don't tell, cut extra words, replace boring sentences with more powerful ones, check out the revision strategies on the Documents page of my DP.

Please note that you should NOT be using your time for any of the following:

College Applications- This time is for writing your essay, NOT filling out the applications. That needs to be done outside of my class.
Scholarship Applications- See above.
Work for Other Classes- This is pretty self-explanatory, right?
Time Wasting Techniques- Including, but not limited to....YouTube, social media, finger-boarding, cosmetics, movies, idle chatter.

Support Group Check-In
In the last 5 minutes of class, regroup with your support group. Go around, see how well each person did at achieving the goal they set for themselves at the start of class today.

HOMEWORK:
Complete draft of college essay. DUE: Start of class, Wednesday, 9/12. Need 3 printed copies for critique. Please print BEFORE class!

College Essay Boot Camp- Day 1 (Thursday)

9/5/2018

Preface: Independence! and College Essay Boot Camp
One of the themes of this year for me, for you, is increasing independence. As such, I’m putting you in the driver’s seat for much of this process. In college, it’s unlikely that your professors will have interim deadlines for papers and projects. You will have to plan your time, hold yourself accountable, and seek the help you need. So let’s practice that with this project—there’s some symbolic resonance, no?

Starter 9

What does success look like for you in this project? How will you measure if you’ve achieved it?
What is a potential obstacle to success, and how do you intend to overcome it?
Look through the tips of dos and don’ts. Which of these will be most helpful to you? Which of these might you have difficulty with? Why?

Sample Essay Read-aloud.
Choose one of the sample essays in your group to read out loud. Non-readers should follow along with the paper in front of you. As you read look for the following. When the read aloud is done, discuss:

Personality- where does it come from (use of story, written word, other?)
Favorite sentences/essay moments
What are the inherent strengths and weaknesses of the essay?
Would you want this person in your college? Why/why not?

Where Are You?
The corners of the classroom have been labeled with numbers 1-4. Go to the corner that best represents your current status in regards to college essays. Use the following criterion:

Which phrase best describes your current situation in regards to college essay writing?

I haven't started yet, and don't have a clue what the outcome might look like.
I have a prompt and have started writing, but I'm nowhere near done.
I have finished at least one essay, but it would benefit from some more refinement
I have mostly finished my college essays, but still have a few more and/or supplementary writing I can work on and refine.

Support Groups
Pick a group of 3 students from your corner and form a support group. You will be working in/with your support group for many of the remaining College Essay Boot Camp tasks. After your group is formed, go to the link for Support Group Scheduling. MAKE A COPY of this document, and work with your group to fill it out. You'll run through the following tasks:

As a group, you'll create a schedule using the handout and resources on the handout.

Deadlines and Resources

Review deadlines (see handout linked on DP if you were absent!)
Review resources- tons of helpful stuff on the docs page of my DP! Explore them, use them if you get stuck!

Start Writing!
Start work on brainstorming for your college essay draft!

Sustainable Classroom Charter

9/5/2018

Starter

Music playing
Guidelines:
1. 5 minutes at each station. When music stops, rotate.
2. Anything goes here! Don’t shoot down your or others’ ideas. Just get it all down!
3. “Yes! And…” Build off others ideas.
4. Don’t stop until time is up. Even when you think you’re done having ideas, keep thinking deeply until I call time!
4 prompts
1. Rules
2. Behaviors
3. Out of the Box Ideas
4. Rituals and Routines

Discussion and Advocacy

Sit in a circle (all of us!)
Take a look at the ideas that people came up with
Discuss how your favorite ideas reflect your personal values
Now is the time to advocate for the ideas you love, and to challenge the ideas that you are not in love with.
Don’t worry too much about coming to conclusions or narrowing just yet, this is the time to flesh out all the ideas and hear the reasoning behind them
Evidence and/or personal anecdotes is encouraged!

Narrowing

Now, as a class, decide on the TOP THREE ideas in each category. You could use post-it notes, put it to a vote, combine ideas, etc. Group decision making challenge AND a leadership opportunity.
1. What values underlie your choices?
  1. Consensus = inclusivity
  2. Majority rules = efficiency
  3. Advocacy = Advocate for the ideas to keep before voting process
  4. Combine ideas= Is there a way to combine like-ideas under umbrella terms/practices?
We need 2-3 representatives to present and advocate for our charter with the rest of the senior class the last 30 minutes of 6th period in the Commons.

Bring Representatives Together (in Tina’s room) (30 min)

Share out/present their top three in each category, explain why it is awesome
Look for overlapping/similar ideas
Decide on top practices/ideas in each category. It’s up to your group to determine how many you think is appropriate/manageable/attainable/sustainable (remember, too many, and we might fail!?)
Report back to your classes
Choose artists to create our class charter for all the school to behold. To be posted in the hallways/bathrooms, etc.. MAYBE WE CAN HAVE A LASER CUT VERSION TOO!!

HOMEWORK- None!

Sustainable Classroom In-Class Essay

9/4/2018

Reminders...
BEARS EARS FORMS! Get them to Ashley NOW!!!

Time to Write! A few reminders...

This is your time to voice what you really want to see in this classroom. Use this privilege and power wisely.
Let this week’s weekly inspiration be the inspiration for writing today:

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

HOMEWORK- None!

Forward>>

College Essay Boot Camp- Day 6 (Friday)

College Essay Boot Camp- Day 5 (Thursday)

College Essay Boot Camp- Day 4 (Wednesday)

College Essay Boot Camp- Day 3 (Tuesday)

College Essay Boot Camp- Day 2 (Friday)

College Essay Boot Camp- Day 1 (Thursday)

Sustainable Classroom Charter

Sustainable Classroom In-Class Essay

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