Undergraduate / A CREATIVE RESPONSE TO POMONA SUPP. - A MOCK SYLLABUS [3]

Hi guys! for this prompt, i wanted to take an unorthodox route and instead of just describing a hypothetical class, I took the initiative to immerse the app reader into my course by creating a mock syllabus. Please let me know what you think!!!! Thanks in advance.

POMONA PROMPT: Pomona's Critical Inquiry course is required of all first-year students, and is designed to be highly interdisciplinary and engaging. Recent class titles include: 'Molecules of the Mind', 'The Economics of Sin', and 'Punk: Poets, Politics and Provocation'. Imagine you were hired to design and teach a Critical Inquiry course. Describe the title of the class, its contents, and why you chose it.

POMONA ESSAY:
Gift Rapping
GIRA5513 (KXL15)
Semester: Fall Term 2015
Class Syllabus

Instructor: Keavin Ly
Office: FIC1012
Hours: Monday - Friday, 12:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M.
Phone: 123-456-7890 (available every day at reasonable times)
E-mail: [email]

Course Introduction

Gifts are a great thing, but they can be made greater by the method in which they are delivered. For example, it would be a joyous sight for most to have an iPhone 6 placed into their hand Christmas day, but imagine the happiness you would receive when upon opening a large box, enveloped in elegant foil gift wrap, you find a smaller box - and in that smaller box you find an even smaller box to open - suspense and curiosity building upon each subsequent box until finally (and perhaps gloriously) you receive your gift. This is not unlike the idea of Freytag's pyramid; neither is it unlike the concept of a rap song. Raps carry messages and meaning just like gift wraps carry gifts.

Course Description

In this course, there are three parts. Students will: (1) unravel and analyze the techniques used in raps to convey a particular message, (2) learn about rhythm and poetry in order to create their own rap songs, and (3) reach out to a local inner-city school to inspire students (that are willing) to channel their thoughts and emotions through rap.

"Unrapping" is the process by which students will meticulously analyze the literary devices used in rap songs (found in the "Appendices" section of the syllabus) to convey a message. Common rhetorical devices covered in the class are: word play, alliteration, metaphor, simile, analogy, pathos, and juxtaposition. Additionally, students will learn to identify and debate the overall meaning of the rap. Unrapping a song will help students understand and appreciate the work put into creating a poem.

In the class, students will also be creating their own rap songs, utilizing the skills they have learned regarding rhythm (flow) and other rhetorical devices. They will also showcase their creations to the class. The goal of this section in the course is for students to interweave their personal experiences in their poetry to create original and meaningful work.

The class concludes with the students engaging in giving back to the community. Idleness runs rampant amongst youth and rap and poetry may be the catalyst for change in these children. Thus, students will go to a school of their choice in the inner city to give the gift of self-expression through poetry - ideally forging bonds with the younger students through a mentor-mentee relationship. The students of the Gift Rapping class will in turn become teachers, and pass on a condensed version of what has been taught previously in the semester.

Course Objective and Mission

Students will become: rap connoisseurs that are able to analyze poems intellectually and determine the efficacy of raps, rappers that are able to turn their own life experiences or personal views into rap form, and rap mentors that can educate and inspire others to pursue self-expression through rap.

Grading

Participation in Discussions - 40%
- Each student is expected to attend every class and willingly engage in discussions regarding the rap of the week.
- Each student is expected to contribute to the discussion in an academic or philosophical manner by posing questions, commenting with relevant and cogent thoughts, or through personal relevancy.

Participations in End-of-Year Outreach - 30%
- Each student is expected to attend each bi-weekly meeting at the school of choice. This is verified through the teacher aide and student sign-in sheets.

Papers - 25%
- Papers are essays on a specific topic assigned every week or two weeks.
Performance - 5%
- Each student is expected to perform their own rap songs. This is a credit/no-credit assignment.
Grading Scale:
A+: 97-100%
A: 93-96%
A-: 90-92%
B+: 87-89%
B: 83-86%
B-: 80-82%
C+: 77-79%
C: 73-76%
C-: 70-72%
F: 0-69%

Unrapping the Instructor

As a teenager, I listened - and still listen - to all kinds of rap music and have always found myself exuding giddiness and interest when hearing clever wordplay or unique rhythms when rapping (what my friends and I often refer to as "sick wordplay" and "crazy flow"). Quickly, the interest turned into fascination when I found myself spending my days, often hours at a time, trying to decrypt their words and figure out what they meant to say. I could not believe that someone could express their own pains, shortcomings, joys, life experiences, and more so elegantly and in such a magnetic manner. This is the appreciation and interest I hope to spread through the analytical portion of the class.

Fascination led to passion and I started to venture into the world of rap. I took my first steps and began to create my own art. The first few drafts were mediocre - nothing to be proud of, but not necessarily bad. I was stuck in the typical braggadocio rap, and my work did not contain much substance. It was not until I channeled my own pain and bitterness of being fatherless into a poem that I became addicted. The phrase "the pen is mightier than the sword" never became truer than that very moment. I understood the power of channeling one's own life experiences into lyrics and how it could serve as a light - albeit dim, but shining nonetheless - for others. My mother cried hearing the song (as did I). From that point on, I wrote. I wrote about everything. My raps satirized the political battleground of our country, expressed the bittersweet pangs of love, and most importantly of all, it was a manifestation of my soul. This is the love for self-discovery and self-expressions I hope to instill in the second part of the semester.

Additionally, rap saved me from idleness and mischief. It is a very time-consuming art form as I must write, rewrite, edit, record, reexamine, reedit, and publish and so it kept me occupied. It also helped me appreciate all life experiences, whether they be positive or negative, as the rap songs showed me that all experiences shape a person to be who they are. It is essential that someone knows who they are (in this day and age of distraction and sensory overload) and can be comfortable with expressing themselves. This is the lesson I hope to promote through the outreach program during the last part of the semester.

Thus, I choose to teach this course; firstly, to appreciate the art form that is rap, secondly, to transform experiences and views into word form, and lastly, to show that being who you are is the best guideline in life.

Appendices
"Dance with the Devil":
[link 1]
"Everything's Good (Good Ass Outro)":
[link 2]
"Everything I Am":
[link 3]
"Sing about Me, I'm Dying of Thirst":
[link 4]
"Curry Chicken":
[link 5]

Undergraduate / Time is the currency of life - Dartmouth Supplemental Essay checkup [2]

PROMPT:
Tell us about an intellectual experience, either directly related to your schoolwork or not, that you found particularly meaningful. A paragraph to a page in length is ideal.

THE ESSAY:
Upon finishing an episode of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, I engaged in hearty discussion with my friend, Jacob, about the intricacies of time. We moved the conversation from a purely scientific standpoint (analyzing the effects of gravity on time) to a philosophical perspective (whether or not time actually exists), and even to a cynical view (asserting that man created time as a way to control others), but the topic that had truly resonated with us, was the value of time.

It seemed to us that of all the things in the world that one could buy, time is not one of them. Seconds outweigh gold bars tenfold - especially when it is your time. The serendipitous realization that every action performed takes up time - finite and limited time - struck me as deceptively obvious. There is a rental cost for your corporeal form and it is paid by the minutes and hours from your life; furthermore, the payment can never be refunded. It had also dawned upon me that time acts as a chisel - it sets things in stone. Any and all things that have passed have gone and cannot be altered.

Although this new understanding is already particularly heavy and unsettling, the true gravitas around the matter was made clear when I connected it my own life. It made me aware of the activities I was engaged in - be they beneficial (school, homework, athletics) or not (procrastination, video games, overt studying). I analyzed whether or not these activities were worth my time and if there was something else I could do to use my time wisely. My time could be used to develop my skills in sports, to improve and work on my character, or to ensure my performance in school - all it would take would be some effort and a little time management; otherwise, I would let copious amounts of sand fall through the hourglass without really putting it to good use. This experience made me realize that time is limited, nonrefundable, and therefore precious; and in conjunction with the discussion, the incessant ticking of the clock could be heard in the background.

Undergraduate / 'I felt lost. It was as if I was stuck in a rut.' Criticism wanted on my common app personal essay [3]

COMMON APP PROMPT:
Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

COMMON APP ESSAY:
I felt lost. It was as if I was stuck in a rut. Complacency diseased my mind and heart with boredom; my mother knew this, and she had taken me to the "doctor" to get it fixed. When we arrived, I watched intently - observed almost scientifically as my mother handed the man $350. No sooner had the transaction ended that my words attacked her; the air resounded with booming thanks and piercing gratitude. I had my bike. After a couple minutes of admiring the contraption (about the time it takes for my mother's patience to run out), she suggested that we go home; I agreed, but not on her conditions. After much bargaining, it was agreed that I was to embark on a thrilling ride back home while she rode away in her mundane, moving mass of metal.

The bike soon became my friend; however, the bike is, by no means, a friend of my complacency - constantly it challenges me like it did when my friends and I rode from Chinatown to Venice Beach. The ride was a grueling 17 miles littered with hills, stoplights (both being mortal nemeses of fixed gear bikes), and the rays of a beating sun. As we approached the corner of 6th Street and Grand Avenue, we looked up at the asphalt mountain in front of us; I was the last of three to go. Only having a single gear, the idea of biking up the hill was menacing. With each forward motion came clenched teeth, guttural grunts, perspiration, and a burning sensation in the legs comparable only to the fires of eternal damnation itself - and I loved it. I did not understand why; the feeling was completely antithetical to the teachings I have grown around. Life was something to be made easier, more convenient, and less abrasive; yet, here I was, purposefully placing myself in front of trial and tribulation.

Amidst this testosterone-induced frenzy, I looked up to see my friends in front of me - not far, however - no more than three grunts away. Powerfully gripping the handlebar and ignoring the searing pain in my legs, I pedaled as fast I could - right foot, left foot, right, left, right, left. I propelled myself past Jason in one burst - Ian in two - towards the summit of the urban peak. At the very top, I stopped to appreciate what I had just accomplished (but mostly to catch my breath) and saw the outstretched, steep road before me, heard the bustling of the cars around me, and felt the breeze embrace the beads of sweat on my face; I was satisfied.

The satisfaction soon turned into craving like fullness into hunger. The bike ride up the mountain had instilled in me a love for reaching new personal heights. I could not stay at this height without growing bored of my surroundings. I bask in the thought of exceeding expectations - those of my own, and those of others. I live for the feeling of accomplishment after enduring hardships; and thus, I could no longer find peace in stagnancy, in a comfort zone.

The bike ride resulted in a paradigm shift; nothing would be too difficult, too big of challenge - they would only be difficult, only a challenge. Every quiz, final, job, and career is now an opportunity to excel. I no longer see obstacles (past, present, or future) in my life with contempt or disdain - rather I look at them as a chance to grow. Every hardship I have experienced in my life is seen through this new lens, each shaping my character beneficially and each containing a reward. Complacency would never again bother me as it did; an asphalt summit is only a few pedals away.

DARTMOUTH SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAY PROMPT:

MOD comment:One essay at one time please