TOK RESOURCE.ORG

TOK ENDGAME:
TOK Essay ESSENTIALS

GETTING STARTED

Guide students through this page of TOK Essay essentials before plunging into the planning and writing process using the TOK Essay strategy. In the spirit of “doing and experiencing,” the classroom activities on this page will ensure a close encounter with the formal expectations and rubric.

RITE OF PASSAGE

The student-friendly Exhibition, undertaken during the first year of the course, is good preparation for the TOK Essay which, like the Extended Essay, is a culminating rite of passage for all Diploma students in their final year. It is suggested that ten teaching hours are devoted to working on the Essay. Prescribed titles are released six months before the submission deadline. They can be downloaded from the My IB portal and shared ceremoniously with your students.

By design the Exhibition is rooted in the Core and Optional Themes. The Essay emphasizes Areas of Knowledge.

CLASS ACTIVITY i:
SETTING THE FRAME—ESSAY ESSENTIALS

Begin by setting out the expectations unambiguously. Tell students that TOK essay is a “formal, sustained piece of writing” in response to one of six prescribed titles. It is externally assessed, with twice the weighting of the Exhibition.

Here are the perennial conventions for the essay:

1. Title must be used “exactly as given”

2. Standard 12 size font—double spaced

3. Sources must be acknowledged

4. Maximum word count is 1600* words.

*The word count includes the main body of the essay including quotations. It does not include the title or references (whether given in footnotes, endnotes or in-text) and/or bibliography.

THREE TEACHER INTERVENTIONS

A close reading of the TOK Subject Guide on teacher guidance and the imperative to ensure authenticity is essential reading for the teacher. It declares that:

The TOK essay must be the student’s own work. However, the teacher plays an important role in supporting the student during the planning and writing of their essay. Teachers are expected to explain the requirements of the task and ensure that students are familiar with the assessment instrument, provide clarifications in response to students’ questions, monitor students’ progress, and check the authenticity of the student work.

During my own time as a TOK examiner, grading hundreds of randomly selected  essays from all over the world, it was very often obvious when a teacher had, for whatever reason (including, no doubt, student procrastination until the very last moment), taken a completely hands off approach, and left a weaker student to sink or swim. Over the years some very precise guidelines for the role of the teacher in preparation and planning have evolved.

Three mandated formal interactions between the student and teacher are recorded on the Planning and Progress Form (TK/PPF):

1. Discuss the list of prescribed titles with the student.

2. Discuss the student’s initial exploration of their selected title

3. Comment on one draft of the student’s essay.

CLASS ACTIVITY II:
GRADING IB EXEMPLARS WITH THE RUBRIC

The final piece for setting up students for success in the Essay is providing a close encounter with the official assessment rubric. Here is a convenient Google Doc version of the Rubric. Emphasize the “single driving question” that underpins the five levels of performance defined in the rubric:

Does the student provide a clear, coherent and critical exploration of the essay title?

Here are the descriptors for the highest levels of performance:

1. The discussion has a sustained focus on the title and is linked effectively to Areas of Knowledge.

2. Arguments are clear, coherent and effectively supported by specific examples. The implications of arguments are considered.

3. There is clear awareness and evaluation of different points of view.

In advance of the session download some Essay exemplars from the teacher support material at My IB. Select two of them and make them available to the class, ensuring that you select one that scored very highly. Then jump into following activity:

1. Working solo

• Read and assimilate is the official Assessment Rubric 

• Read and grade teacher chosen Essay Exemplar A

2. Find a partner

• Share with detailed justifications your own grading decision.Try to reach consensus.

3. Repeat 1 and 2 with Essay Exemplar B

Call on student pairs in turn to reveal their grading consensus. Then provide cathartic release by verbally sharing the gist of the examiner’s perspective.

At this juncture the frame is set. It is time to unleash the TOK Essay Kraken!

CLASS ACTIVITY III
PRESCRIBED TITLES BRAINSTORM ENCOUNTER

Deliberately create an atmosphere of theatricality and ritual around the revelation of the year’s Essay titles. They are announced six months before the examination session.

Print out (on both sides of one sheet of paper) the “Theory of Knowledge prescribed titles” document. The first page contains the IB logo and formal “Instructions to candidates,” the second page lists the titles. Place the printed copies with titles face down in front of each student with ceremony and gravitas.

Allow students to settle. Wait for silence. Maximize a pause for dramatic effect. Finally declare... “Let's all get started... Ready, Fire... Aim! Off you go...”

1. Turn over the page and make a close reading of the prescribed titles.

2. Trust your initial intuitions — identify your favorites. Are there any titles that initially you think you will avoid?

3. Share your initial thoughts with a partner.

4. Again with your partner, go deeper — for your favorite titles, think about two appropriate Areas of Knowledge, and brainstorm some specific real-world examples that could help provide a clear, coherent and critical exploration of the prompt?

3. Stop for now… know that the game is on!

NEXT…

Students are now primed to begin planning their own TOK Essay using a general TOK Strategy — that can be used “as is” or adapted by the teacher — for any prescribed title.