Crafting Essential Crafting Essential QuestionsQuestions

Traci BlanchardNorth Cobb High School

Source: Understanding by Design by Jay McTighe & Grant Wiggins, © 2004

Goals Goals

What is an essential question?How do I write effective ones?

An Essential Question isAn Essential Question is

One that lies at the heart of a subject or a curriculum & promotes inquiry & uncoverage of a subject.

Essential QuestionsEssential Questions

Have no simple “right” answerProvoke & sustain inquiryAddress conceptual or

philosophical foundationsRaise other important questionsNaturally & appropriately recurStimulate vital, ongoing

rethinking

ExamplesExamples

What is a true friend?To what extent does art reflect

culture or shape it?Is everything quantifiable?To what extent is DNA destiny?In what ways is algebra real and in

what ways is it unreal?To what extent is US history a

history of progress?

ExamplesExamples

Must heroes be flawless?Who is entitled to own what?Is the subjunctive necessary?What makes writing worth

reading?Does practice makes perfect?What is healthy eating? Healthy

living?

What makes a question What makes a question “essential”?“essential”?Recurs throughout all our livesRefers to core ideas & inquiries

within a disciplineHelps students effectively

inquire and make sense of important but complex ideas, knowledge, know-how

Engages a specific & diverse set of learners

Intent, not language, is Intent, not language, is the key:the key:Why we pose the questionHow students are to tackle itWhat learning activities &

assessments we expect

Types of Essential Types of Essential Questions Questions Overarching: Frame courses

and programs of study around truly big ideas

Topical: Are unit specific but still promote inquiry

GOOD TEACHING USES BOTH!

Overarching Essential Overarching Essential Questions Questions More general, broaderPoint beyond specific topics or

skillsPromote transfer of

understandingOne will be used as your pre &

post SIP writing prompt

Examples of Examples of Overarching EQOverarching EQCan a fictional story be “true”?How do a region’s geography,

climate, and natural resources affect the way people live and work?

How does technological change influence people’s lives? Society?

How does what we measure influence how we measure?

Examples of Examples of Overarching EQOverarching EQHow do we classify the things

around us?Do artists have a responsibility

to their audience? To society?How does language shape

culture?Is pain necessary for progress

in athletics?

Topical Essential Topical Essential QuestionsQuestionsUnit specific - used to guide

individual unitsPromote inquiryResist simple answersRequire explanation &

justificationOne per month will be your SIP

writing prompt

Examples of Topical EQExamples of Topical EQ

How might Congress have better protected minority rights in the 1950s & 1960s?

Should we require DNA samples from every convicted criminal?

Is Holden Caulfield a “phony”?

Examples of Topical EQExamples of Topical EQ

What is the value of place value?

What is electricity?How do we hit with greatest

power without losing control?

Leading QuestionsLeading Questions

Meant to culminate in a fact or completely settled conclusion

No sustained inquiry or argument intended or necessary

Underscores an important point we want students to note

We need these, too, BUT...THEY CANNOT BE THE FOUNDATION

OF OUR CURRICULAR DESIGN.

Where to start?Where to start?

Determine the “big ideas”Georgia Performance StandardsCourse texts

What are Big Ideas?What are Big Ideas?

Core concepts, principles, theories, & processes that should serve as the focal point of curricula, instruction & assessment.

Big IdeasBig IdeasAre important and enduringAre not obviousMay be prone to misunderstandingPrioritize contentAre transferableAre the building material of

understandingsManifest in various ways within

disciplinesAct as “conceptual velcro”

Finding Big IdeasFinding Big Ideas

Clarify Content PrioritiesWorth being familiar withImportant to know and doBig ideas & Enduring

Understandings

Finding Big IdeasFinding Big Ideas

Unpack the GPSCircle key nouns, adjectives, & verbsDraft implied or stated big ideas

based on those key words.Critically analyze the course text

Work “backward” to determine what big ideas and/or EQ the text addresses

Big Ideas can beBig Ideas can be

ConceptsThemesIssues/DebatesProblems/ChallengesProcessesTheoriesParadoxesAssumptions/Perspectives

From Big Idea to EQFrom Big Idea to EQ

Use p. 83, Identifying EQ & UnderstandingsStart with Big IdeaAnswer ?s related to Big IdeaGenerate EQ & desired

understandings

Making the ConnectionMaking the Connection

Big Idea

Understanding

Essential Question

Topic or Content

Standard

Your taskYour task

Collaboratively draft ONE overarching EQ for your course (Sept., Dec.)

Collaboratively draft TWO topical (unit) EQs for your course (Oct., Nov.)

ExampleExample

GPS: The learner will be able to read, respond to, and critique historically and culturally significant works of literature in order to understand their importance and relationship to past and present cultures.

Overarching EQ:Does literature primarily reflect culture or shape it?

Topical EQ:What does Romeo & Juliet teach us about Shakespeare’s view of destiny? How does it compare to yours?

Where to get more Where to get more informationinformationOther training sessions--may be

department, planning period in-service, and/or Early Release or Cluster Days

Understanding by Design by Jay McTighe & Grant Wiggins