How to write an essay on pedagogy?
The pedagogical essay
as a genre does not lose its relevance even in this age of computerization and
dynamic scientific and technological progress, because, thanks to it, the word does
not lose its power and strength and is the main tool of the teacher’s professional
activities. First of all, an essay should be considered as a literary genre in view of the fact
that this type of written work was “invented” by writers. Nevertheless, the
author of the essay must have sufficient knowledge of the topic and must be
able to present it in an unusual perspective, based on the original and
non-standard idea.
The genre of a
pedagogical essay can be defined as one of the approaches to the creative
self-realization of a student of a pedagogical specialty, a vision of a
solution to a pedagogical question or problem. The essay reflects the
pedagogical philosophy of the future teacher, his/her values, worldview,
ideas and priorities. Below you can find the main characteristics of a
pedagogical essay:
- the presence of an individual author’s position;
- subjectivity in considering the issue or problems;
- imagery of the language and creativity of thoughts;
- freedom of expression;
Writing the essay on
pedagogy should be carried out in stages. The topic of the essay has to be considered first. You should understand that the topic should not be
limited to a mean statement of facts. The purpose of the essay is to express
one’s position creatively and encourage the reader to think.
The planning
stage, where the author determines for himself/herself a certain
sequence of providing facts, ideas, sets a certain course for his/her future
written reasoning. You can add original metaphors, analogies, associations and arguments
that will make the text alive and interesting.
Stage direct
writing is where a student will be able to present his view on a particular pedagogical
problem or question, while respecting the inner semantic unity of the
narrative.
And the last
stage is approbation and verification. It will review
the draft essay, analyze its content, assess the style and literacy. If
necessary, ypu can reduce the volume of the essay. Ask yourself the question – could I
reveal the chosen pedagogical topic? Will my vision be interesting to a
potential reader?
The
methodological recommendations presented above will definitely help you not only to
write a pedagogical essay, but also to creatively present your ability to
navigate current pedagogical theories and concepts, identify pedagogical
problems and propose effective and reproducible solutions to them.