This document provides instructions for a timed essay assignment. Students must write an essay presenting an education problem to an education board. They should describe the causes and consequences of the problem, but not yet propose a solution. Students can only use the provided tools and must submit an outline with their paper. They are also instructed to take a photo of their essay for reference in the next assignment. The prompt gives guidelines for introducing and defining the problem, including causes and consequences in body paragraphs, and concluding without a solution. Students must include at least two citations from provided sources.

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Timed Essay #3
Class 13
You may use only these tools:
 The computer and one open
document.
 Your own, original one-page outline
 A blue book
 You must turn in your outline with
your paper!
 Take a picture of your essay before
you leave so you can type it into
your introduction to essay 4.

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The Essay Question
 Prompt: Write an essay presenting to your reader
a well-defined problem in education today. Describe
in detail the causes and consequences, and
convince your audience that this is a problem worth
solving. Address your presentation of your problem
to your audience: one or more members of the
education board, its leadership, or to outsiders who
may be able to contribute to solving the problem.
 Note: you should not (yet) propose a solution to this
problem (that’s for Essay #4).
 Make sure to take a photo of your essay for
reference.

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Remember
 Informative or Interesting Title
 Introduction
 How will you introduce your problem?
 How will you make it seem important?
 Your thesis statement:
 State the problem: causes and consequences.
 Body paragraphs: likely between 3 and 5
 Cause(s)
 Consequence(s)
 Conclusion
 Briefly restate problem
 Who should care and why?
 Do NOT include a solution.
 Your Works Cited should be printed.
Turn your outline in with your essay!

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Don’t Forget: Essay #5 Research Requirement
 While you can discuss your own personal experience, limit this to a
single example, and be careful not to turn this into a narrative essay
about your personal challenges in school. Rather than relying
heavily on personal experience, you should use facts, statistics, or
data relevant to the larger population affected by this problem.
 To this end, quote (and cite) at least two outside sources.
 Harry Potter does not fulfill this requirement.
 Your sources should be from a popular magazine or scholarly
journal.
 You should have included your quote(s) and citation info from this
article on your outline.

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 Read: SMG: 323-330 and 339-346
Patrick O Malley, “More Testing, More Learning”
Matt Miller, “A New Deal for Teachers”
 HW Discussion #17: Do O’Malley and Miller have
well-defined problems? Justify your opinion; in other
words, why or why not? Think about your own well-
defined problem to compare. Then identify the basic
features (A Well-Defined Problem, A Well-Argued
Solution, an Effective Counterargument, and an
Evaluation of an alternative solution) as they appear in
Matt Miller’s essay. Make sure to mark each part as you
post.
 Read: Sample Problem/Solution Essay 4
Homework