WebQuest Template-Taken from Bernie Dodge’s WebQuest site:

MINI-UNIT ON THE COLLEGE ESSAY 08

Introduction | The Task | The Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | Teachers | Home

Introduction:

Applying to college can be a daunting task. Here in the English department at THS we want to take some of the anxiety out of the process by helping you get started with one aspect of the application: the personal essay. The personal essay is a chance for you to provide the college with a window into your spirit. Over the next several days, you will have the opportunity to read, categorize, and analyze successful sample college application essays. You will also create two rough drafts of personal essays that you may decide to complete in the future.

The guiding question of your web quest will be how do I start to write an essay that will reveal my best self to the colleges I wish to get into?

The Task:

Your job will be to answer the following three questions and produce two drafts of personal essays.

  • What are the various kinds of successful personal college application essays?
  • How do I start writing my own personal essays?
  • How do I improve my drafts to work toward a finished personal essay?

The Process:

  1. First you'll be assigned to a team of 4 students. For 2008 let’s use the same groups we had for the Modern Short Fiction Unit. These teammates will help you produce your drafts, categorize and choose sample essays and evaluate your performance based upon the evaluation rubric.
  2. Your first task will be to find several different kinds of college application personal essays. To do this you must search the World Wide Web, our local libraries, bookstores, etc. and your peers to produce a folder where you list the various types and include 3 of your favorite samples. One question you might ask yourself is what character traits are revealed about the writer in this essay. There is a list of web sites you should visit under the resources below. Do not just choose the first samples you find. One resource is Essay edge.com. Go there now and preview some of the sample essays. You will discover numerous links and opportunities far beyond the few I listed.
  3. Your second task will be to freewrite several drafts in response to the following writing prompts: A. Write about the most embarrassing moment in your life. B. Write about your proudest moment. Write about the time when you were the most afraid. C. Write about the item you were the happiest. D. Write about what you believe is most important in life.
  4. Your third task will be to meet with your team and share your favorite sample essays and agree on one to share with the class. You will also share your freewrites and ask for feedback about which might be developed further into a personal essay.
  5. Your fourth task will be to pick two of your freewrites and develop them into a rough draft of a personal essay.
  6. You will then meet again with your team and hold peer writing conferences with all the members of your team, confer, take and provide notes and sign each others drafts. You may want to use our class peer revision sheets to refresh your memory on how to be a great conferrer. There are also some samples and suggestions on how to write a college essay put together by Ms. Haslach. You can see them on my website.

7. Your next task is to revise your two personal essay drafts.I also wanted to share with you some advice that Larry Mayer gave Mr. Cohen, from the school counselling point of view:

A. Technical perfection: do not trust spell checking. Proof, proof and then have someone else proof it for you.

B. Authenticity; Your words, your ideas. No Roget’s and no ghostwriters. Proofreaders should not write your essay.

C. Tell a story about you. It doesn’t have to have a happy end. Tell the ending at the end; not at the beginning.

D. Provide a window into the spirit and /or the soul. Share something that’s important to you but may not be obvious from the rest of the application.

E. Get them with hello—from “Jerry McGuire.” Admissions officers read hundreds of essays. You need to hook them in the first two sentences or their eyes will glaze over.

8. You will then evaluate your own and your teammates performance according to the rubric.

  1. You will then turn in a folder to me, which includes a packet of your two personal essays, your list of categories and your 3 favorite sample essays. You will also include one page, which includes your answer to the three guiding quest questions. These will be evaluated as part of your personal grade – see the rubric.
  2. Here is a timeline of the due dates for the tasks in the webquest. Webquest calendar on My Story

Resources:

Here are several places on the Internet that will be available for you to use to accomplish the task.

  • Essay edge.com
  • Teen ink.com
  • Accepted.com
  • NPR.org
  • Admissionsessay.com
  • Wilbers.com
  • CollegeBoard.com

Teacher Evaluation:

Each student will be evaluated by me using the following rubric.

Beginning
1 / Developing
2 / Accomplished
3 / Exemplary
4 / Score
Competed the two revised drafts, Selected the sample essays. Included list of categories and answered the three quest questions / Partial or minimal completion of assignment / Average folder maybe incomplete in a few areas. Minimum effort in evidence / Good thorough folder. Complete with evidence of some extra effort. / Went above and beyond normal expectations producing an exemplary folder. Work reveals considerable effort, careful thought and penetrating insight into the task.

Peer Evaluation:

Each student will evaluate the other members of their team using the following rubric.

Beginning
1 / Developing
2 / Accomplished
3 / Exemplary
4 / Score
Searched the web found categories and selected samples / Partial or minimal list of categories, weak samples. / Average list of categories – maybe a few missing, average samples. / Good thorough list of categories, and some good samples. / Went above and beyond normal expectations producing an extensive list of categories, selecting remarkable sample essays.
Completed several freewrites in response to the prompts / completed few, if any of the freewrites. / Completed most of the freewrites. / Completed all of the freewrites / Completed all of the freewrites in an exemplary manner.
Completed group work choosing sample essays and advising peers / Made little contribution. / Some passive and active contributions. / Participated actively in sample choice and made some good suggestions to peers. / Lead the discussion in choice of samples with persuasive and compelling arguments. Demonstrated sensitivity and knowledge in advising peers.
Chose two drafts, revised and conferred / Made little effort on drafts and was largely passive in peer conferences. / Worked somewhat on drafts, and made a few specific revision suggestions. / Completed drafts and participated actively in peer revision. / Developed drafts thoroughly and extensively. Made energetic, thorough, helpful and empathetic suggestions.

Conclusion:

You now know what is involved in producing a personal essay for your college application. I suggest you save your folder and continue to develop your two drafts over the summer. You just might find them useful in your applications next fall in their finished form.

Teachers:

This webquest is dependent upon numerous activities that have been taught previously - for example, “Peer Revision.” If your students are unfamiliar with peer revision, worksheets or guides could be added to that part of the process.

I also recommend including some kind of publishing or sharing event at the end of the quest to celebrate the students’ accomplishments.

Mr. Flood