Colorado College has an academic setup called the "Block Plan" that allows students to take one course for three and a half weeks at a time.
Here is my essay for the second question on the supplement. Please help edit!
REQUIRED: The Block Plan at Colorado College has a tradition of innovation and flexibility. Please design your own three-and-a-half week intellectual adventure and describe what you would do.
Through much experience I have learned that the best way to completely understand a subject is to be completely immersed in it. This is how I became sufficiently fluent in Spanish, and why I dream of someday being able to connect with Spanish-speaking individuals in places like Ecuador, Spain, or Guatemala. Although I plan to be a Psychology major, I am passionate about nature; more specifically botany and dendrology. My three-and-a-half week block would be for students who have had a bit of exposure to the Spanish language and are interested in the great outdoors. For the first few days, my students and I would take walks all over campus, identifying different trees and plants and brainstorming different types of trees we are most familiar with. The entirety of our discussions would be in Spanish. Students would be encouraged to help each other to come up with different words get their minds flowing in a different way. Throughout the first few days, we would spend our time establishing the basic vocabulary for the different trees and plants in Spanish. The students will have a Spanish dictionary as well as various Plant Identification books to be able to study from. The first week and a half will mainly be spent discussing different plants and studying from the books. At the start of the last two weeks, the class will set out on a camping trip. We will spend our days hiking and conversing in Spanish, while still stopping to point out any type of plants we recognize. After this block, students will have not only improved on their ability to speak another language, but to acknowledge the environment surrounding them.
Here is my essay for the second question on the supplement. Please help edit!
REQUIRED: The Block Plan at Colorado College has a tradition of innovation and flexibility. Please design your own three-and-a-half week intellectual adventure and describe what you would do.
Through much experience I have learned that the best way to completely understand a subject is to be completely immersed in it. This is how I became sufficiently fluent in Spanish, and why I dream of someday being able to connect with Spanish-speaking individuals in places like Ecuador, Spain, or Guatemala. Although I plan to be a Psychology major, I am passionate about nature; more specifically botany and dendrology. My three-and-a-half week block would be for students who have had a bit of exposure to the Spanish language and are interested in the great outdoors. For the first few days, my students and I would take walks all over campus, identifying different trees and plants and brainstorming different types of trees we are most familiar with. The entirety of our discussions would be in Spanish. Students would be encouraged to help each other to come up with different words get their minds flowing in a different way. Throughout the first few days, we would spend our time establishing the basic vocabulary for the different trees and plants in Spanish. The students will have a Spanish dictionary as well as various Plant Identification books to be able to study from. The first week and a half will mainly be spent discussing different plants and studying from the books. At the start of the last two weeks, the class will set out on a camping trip. We will spend our days hiking and conversing in Spanish, while still stopping to point out any type of plants we recognize. After this block, students will have not only improved on their ability to speak another language, but to acknowledge the environment surrounding them.
