Essay 1: Exploring a Theme – Education

Your first essay assignment has two purposes. The first is for you to start exploring your ideas around the theme of Education by thinking about how others define what education is. To start thinking about definitions, look at forty quotations from famous thinkers that Dr. Price-Mitchell, a researcher and psychologist has gathered on her blog: . Choose one of these quotations, or another definition of what is education, that resonates with you, and use it to start brainstorming what beliefs you have about one aspect of education. This is the second purpose of this essay, and it is guided by National Public Radios call for essay contributions to the This I Believe project. 

Guidelines: 

Here are the writing instructions (quoted/adapted from the National Public Radios website):

Begin your two page (approximately 500-600 word) essay with a compelling introductory strategy such as one of the strategies given in Chapter 9.4, pages 359-361, of our textbook. Name your belief in a clear thesis statement in your introduction. 

Make sure that you include at least one quotation on education somewhere in your essay to bring in a They Say element to your writing. You do not need to give a full MLA in-text citation/Works Cited for your quotation as we will study that later in this course, but you must give the name of the quoted person. You can use one of the forty quotations on Dr. Price-Mitchells blog or another one that you like. 

In the body of your essay, tell a story and be specific. Ground your belief in the events of your life. Consider moments when your belief was formed or tested or changed. Think of your own experience, work and family, and perhaps tell of the things you know that no one else does. Your story must tie in with this essays theme of education. 

Make sure you have a conclusion that brings your essay to a satisfying end such as one of the strategies given in Chapter 9.4, pages 362-364, of our textbook.

Use correct MLA essay format: Margins, Header, Heading, Page numbers, Spacing, Title (see resources in our course site for help with this). Before you submit for grading, make sure that you proofread for errors in grammar and mechanics.