ESSAY #1—English 1A Dr. Leiby Fall2017

For Essay #1, you will write a five-paragraph essay(a minimum of 3-4 pages) abouteither Pasi Sahlberg’s article “Teachers as Leaders in Finland” (Option A),the excerpt fromMike Rose’s book Lives on the Boundary (Option B), or Samuel Abrams’ article “Forget Charter Schools and Vouchers—Here Are Five Business Ideas School Reformers Should Adopt” (Option C).

Option A: Your essay should answer the following questions in its body paragraphs:

  1. What main points does Pasi Sahlberg make in his article “Teachers as Leaders in Finland”?
  2. How do teachers in Finland differ from those in the United States, and why are these differences important?
  3. Which K-12 public education system is better: Finland’s or the United States’? Why?

Option B: Your essay should answer the following questions in its body paragraphs:

1. What main points does Mike Rose make in the excerpt from Lives on the Boundary?

2. Why does Rose use a variety of student examples?

3. What is the significance of Rose’s points for students attending universities and communitycolleges,

for educators, andfor policy makers?

Option C: Your essay should answer the following questions in its body paragraphs:

1. What main points does Samuel Abrams make in his article “Forget Charter Schools and

Vouchers—Here Are Five Business Ideas School Reformers Should Adopt”?

2. Are the examples Abrams uses to support his points effective? Why or why not?

3. Which concepts that Abrams presents should be applied to schools (or not applied to them) and why?

Content and Organization. Your essay should include an introductory paragraph that gives some background information on the author you are writing about, the title of his text, and the main issue it addresses; the paragraph should end with yourthesis statement(an argument connected to #3 above). For the body paragraphs of the essay, you should not only quote and paraphrase, but set up your examples as well as provide commentary on them (use the “sandwich method”). Each body paragraph should begin with a solid topic sentence linked to your thesis and then support it with examples from the text and with your own reasoning and commentary. DO NOT begin paragraphs with paraphrases, summaries, or quotations from the text. Instead, start with a topic sentence, and then provide support for it.Utilizebrackets and ellipses to make quoted material flow with your prose (you can also use a combination of quotation and paraphrase, even in the same sentence), and be sure to includetransitional words and phrases to link examples to make paragraphs unified. Your essay should be logically organized and include appropriate transitions between paragraphs. Include a conclusion paragraph in which you re-emphasize your thesis and wrap up the essay.

Format. You should use MLA format for the essay (see

by including correct margins, a heading and header, a centered title, and double spacing, as well as putting the page numbers of the quotations or paraphrases in parentheses and punctuating these properly. (Punctuation like periods and commas should go after the parentheses for correct MLA format.) The last page of the essay should be a Works Cited page that includes the article or book, as well as any other source you used (for example, if you included biographical information about the author in your introductory paragraph).

Style and Grammar. Be sure to use formal academic style (no contractions or use of second person point of view). Review the Guidelines for Academic Papers handoutto help you revise and proofread the essay before you submit the final version.

Essay Submission. On the due date (September 6), submit the essay in a two-pocket folder, with the final essay in one side and all rough drafts (including any Writing Center reviewed drafts) in the other side; also bring a copy of the paper on flash drive in Word 2010 or earlier, as well as email a copy in the text of an email to your MyECC email as a back-up. We will create Turnitin.com accounts and submit the essay in class on September 6, so please DO NOT submit the paper to Turnitin.com sooner.