College Essay Bootcamp Day 3

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?

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​Announcements

• Bears Ears Forms/$ (few still missing!)
• 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 Museum, 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!
• 2:15 TODAY 6th period- Charter representatives meet up in Tina’s room. Check the email from Ashley first.
• Essay Conference Sign Up- Sign up on the board for a conference about in-class essays and college essay on Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday. If I passed back your in-class essay, you should conference with me unless you are good on my feedback. You must refine it as I'm grading you on growth. No refined essay, no grade.
• Bring in cushions and cheap sunglasses (label both w/your name) no later than Friday for a completion assignment grade for us to use when we go outside for class to Ashley's Amphitheater.  We'll be outside for peer critiques tomorrow so come prepared!
• Homework/Deadlines review (see below or "Homework" tab on my DP)
• Now, read through ALL of today's agenda and get to it!

Agenda

Who Am I? Brainstorm

1. “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

1. 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?
2. 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
Bring sunglasses and a cushion and have 3 printed copies of your essay for peer critique TOMORROW. PRINT BEFORE CLASS. Make sure each copy includes, at the top of the paper:

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