Education: Annotated essay
In Education, you often find that an essay is used as a key assessment tool. The main purpose of an Education essay is to further develop your knowledge of relevant theories and practice related to the teaching profession.
You may be asked to:
- synthesise different sources of literature relevant to your research question/topic
- identify, analyse and reflect on an important issue or debate in teaching and learning practice
- present a critical argument drawing on class materials and your own research
- identify and examine key ideas and themes about teaching and learning
- apply relevant theories to your teacher-student interactions and/or teaching placement/practice.
We want to share with you an example of an assignment done by a first-year Education student and commented on by the lecturer. The assignment is an essay based on observations made during the student's professional experience placement.
The topic of the essay: Researching Teaching
Students were asked to observe teacher-student interactions during their placement and interview the teacher involved. For the essay, they had to choose one interaction to analyse and relate to the ideas discussed in their classes and readings.
The lecturer’s expectations were set out in the marking rubric for this assignment with six criteria as below:
- Clear and specific description of the context of the interaction
- Clear and specific description of the interaction
- Critical analysis of the interaction
- Selection and critical use of relevant ideas from the lectures and readings
- Professional presentation in the written assignment, including clarity of expression, coherence, fluency and adherence to a set of academic writing conventions
- Referencing and citing
Now read the essay. How well do you think it meets these expectations?