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]
