Master in Teaching Paper
Rubrics & Guidelines

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

A. Statement of the Research Question - Your paper will be built around a question that has the potential to help you become a more effective teacher for children with diverse needs and backgrounds. Framing the question appropriately is the foundation for a useful
and interesting paper.

Example: What are the effects of using math manipulatives on primary students' understanding of mathematical concepts?  (allows exploration and provides manageable focus)

NOT: Are math manipulatives good for students? (limits exploration)
NOT:  Why are math manipulatives unnecessary for teaching math? (limits exploration)

Example: What have been shown to be effective methods for improving middle school readers' comprehension of content area materials? (allows exploration and provides manageable focus)

NOT: Why should phonics be used to improve middle school readers' content area
reading comprehension? (too narrow)

NOT: How should reading comprehension be taught? (too broad)

Question either allows for exploration OR provides focus but not both.

Question neither allows for exploration nor provides focus.

 

The questions directly relate to classroom practice.  Answering the question has the potential for helping you become a more effective teacher.

The answer to the question is unlikely to significantly inform your classroom practice.

Either the question is not related to classroom practice and/or it insufficientlyaddresses the needs of the children you are likely to teach.

 

 

B. Rationale - Papers of the type you will be writing generally begin with a rationale or literature base, as opposed to a critique of the research, for exploring the question. The  rationale foreshadows the larger research literature critique. In the rationale, you define  your terms (not everyone defines "experiential" or "developmental", or "reluctant  reader" as you do), and state the limitations you are placing on your research. We think  you would find it very helpful to read several examples of rationale statements in doctoral  dissertations and master's papers.

The rationale provides all of the following:

o        a succinct explanation of the importance of the problem to you

o        a discussion and balanced overview (not skewed towards one point of view) of the importance of the question to the educational community

o        a discussion based on information available in the professional literature, referenced with specific citations in APA form

o        a description of existing controversies or conflicts that your paper will need to address

o        clear definition of terms and statements of limits

The rationale provides only the following:

o        an explanation of the personal relevance of the problem

o        a discussion of the relevance tot he professional community based on your opinion, not the professional literature

o        general references to the literature but with few specific APA citations

o        a partially developed description of existing controversies and conflicts or a skewed presentation of the current status of the problem

o        an incomplete or uneven balance between personal opinion and a literature based discussion of the importance of the problem to the educational community

o        definition of terms and statement of limits

The rationale is based almost exclusively on personal opinion with little or no reference to the literature and to existing conflicts and controversies. Definitions of terms are not provided.

 

CHAPTER II: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

History: Educational research doesn't just happen. Compelling questions arise from particular social, cultural, economic and historical contexts.  This chapter will explore the historical background for the question you have chosen. How far back the history goes depends on your question. If, for example, you were interested in exploring the effects of sex education and in-school health clinics on high school students' academic achievement, you would trace the history of schools as social service providers. In your discussion, you would explore why schools came to be viewed as providers of social services (social, economic contexts), the various ways in which schools have provided social services, the historical effects of having schools provide social services, the political responses over time to this issue, and the reasons why this issue is surfacing today. Another example - if you have an interest in experiential education, you would need to try to find forerunners. Pestalozzi, Montessori, Foxfire, Dewey, Summerhill, early BIA schools - an exploration of these educators and programs might provide useful information in understanding the current issues related to experiential education.

The chapter on historical background

o       is partially or tangentially connected to your problem OR is too broad

o       summarizes individual historical events but does not link the events, discuss the implication or provide clear connections to social and cultural contexts

o       provides insufficient tracing of the evolution of the thinking in the literature about the OR insufficiently develops the historical, cultural, and social contexts of the problem

o       uses APA citations for some, but not all, references

o       is tenuously connected to the foreshadowing provided in the rationale

The chapter on historical background

o       has few clear connections to your problem

o       states discrete events but does not provide a discussion of significance or connections

o       does not trace the evolution in the literature of the thinking about your problem

o       incorrectly uses APA citations or does not specifically cite references from professional literature

o       has little or no connection to the rationale

 

 

Chapter III: INTEGRATIVE, CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

(rubrics to follow soon)

This section is the heart of your paper. Generally, integrative reviews of the literature critically review and summarize recent research related to a specific topic or question. Your goal in this chapter is to present the current state of knowledge concerning your question, including any important issues/controversies that the research has left unresolved. Essential to this chapter is the critical review and analysis of the research that you have found.

As you are writing this section, you are tracking, comparing, and contrasting major arguments AND analyzing whether the research used to support the argument is sufficient.

The integrative review of the literature provides all of the following:

Example: If you were interested in studying what the research shows about successful strategies for educating autistic children, you may find that one group of "experts" argues that self-contained, special programs get the best results, while others argue that "inclusion" in regular classrooms is effective. Your job then, is to carefully critique the research to see what it shows. Examples: If you found quantitative or qualitative studies that contradict each other, discuss why that might be so. If you found only "case studies" of a few specific programs, discuss the implications of that for drawing conclusions about the potential ""success" of the strategy in other situations. If you found that professional opinion and empirical research are divided about what works best -- e.g. phonics and whole language strategies -- discuss the differences highlighted in the research. If you found no conclusive research on what works best, but several studies suggest promising approaches, discuss them. However, if you found the bulk of research supporting one particular strategy or approach, discuss that strong evidence.

 

 

 

Chapter IV - CONCLUSIONS
(rubrics to follow soon)

This final section is your opportunity to go back to your original question/topic. Relate some of what you found in the current literature to the historical background of the question that you described in Chapter II. Depending upon your question and the findings from the research literature, you may make recommendations for classroom practice, based on the critical review that you presented in the previous chapter.

The conclusion provides all of the following: