Sample ToK essay grade

Post the grade you gave the essay we read at the end of last class with an explanation that cites at least one example to justify your grade.  Try to use the language of the rubric in your answer. We are going to read one more essay on Friday on a different prescribed title, then we will move on to focus on dissecting the presentation rubric.

Welcome back to ToK!

Your senior year is upon you!  Well done so far, but it's not over yet.  This semester we are going to be focusing on knowledge issues, areas of knowledge, and ways of knowing that are interesting to YOU.  Much of this course will be guided by your input and I will try to be as much of a facilitator as possible, as this is the ToK way.  In order for this to happen, though, you must all come prepared to class to think, write, think some more, rewrite, discuss, think some more, discuss, vehemently disagree with the logic and coherence of your peer's argument, question your own sanity and intelligence, then finally agree that there is no right answer, and move on.  Sounds fun right!!??  I say this with a certain degree of sarcasm, but truthfully, at the heart of the ToK coursework is the idea that there is not necessarily one right answer, and that is (T)ok.  In fact, it's downright welcome.  We want to explore any and all possible answers in ToK.  Question everything.  Then question your question, ad infinitum.

I look forward to helping all of you start off (you're not even close to finished, despite the fact that many of you know where you'll be next year) your senior year with some interesting stories, articles, and ideas.

Although constructive, coherent, precise discussion is the cornerstone and primary focus of the second half of the ToK course, the secondary focus will be on the assessments (ToK paper, ToK presentation, final submission of EE) you are required to turn in after this class ends.  Exact due dates will be communicated when they are given to me, but tentatively this will be sometime in the spring.  Knowing the rubrics and understanding HOW you will be graded should remove all stress and doubt from this process.

Thanks for reading my rambling, incoherent mess of an introduction, see you in class, and good luck this year!

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