Summary
Participants will experience a workshop session that provides the fundamentals of Essential Questions. They will then discover how they can use Essential Questions as a focus when lesson planning by creating their own content-specific Essential Questions.
Essential Questions
How do Essential Questions promote higher-order thinking and engagement?
Why are Essential Questions an effective instructional tool?
Learning Goals
Identify the characteristics of Essential Questions.
Recognize the role of Essential Questions in lesson planning.
Develop Essential Questions for a lesson.
Snapshot
Engage
Explore
Explain
Extend
Evaluate
Materials List
Lesson Slides #1
Lesson Slides #2 (Follow-up Activities)
Card Sort Cards handout (one set per group of 2–3 participants)
Card Sort Answer Key handout (one copy per group)
T-Chart Essential Questions handout (one copy for each participant)
Checklist—Characteristics of Essential Questions handout (one copy for each participant)
Instructional Strategy Note Sheet
Jigsaw Reading handout
Types of Essential Questions handout (print double-sided, one per participant)
Highlighters
Markers
Chart paper
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Welcome participants and briefly introduce yourself and the professional development session.
Show slide 3. Introduce the Card Sort Activity. Pass out Card Sort Cards to groups of 2 or 3. Have participants sort the cards into two different categories based upon the instructions on the slide.
As groups are sorting their questions, briefly explain the T-Chart strategy, and distribute the T-Chart Essential Questions handout. Each group can record the common characteristics of their two question categories.
Invite groups to discuss the differences between the two types of questions among themselves and come up with a way to summarize the difference between the two types for the other participants.
Show slide 4 to illustrate the T-Chart Essential Questions handout. Explain where each type of information should be recorded.
When groups have completed their card sorting, verbally confirm with them that they are satisfied with the information they have added to their T-charts. Take a moment to share the session objectives on slide 5 before moving on to the whole group discussion.
Show slide 6. Ask a few groups to share the differences between the two types of questions with the whole group. Review the answers to the card sort activity posted on the slide. Then pass out the Checklist—Characteristics of Essential Questions handout.
Show slide 7. Review the Characteristics of Essential Questions on the slide. Allow participants to revise their grouping and explanations if necessary based on the information it contains.
Explore
20 Minute(s)
After the discussion of the characteristics, ask participants to read excerpts from the Jigsaw Reading handout Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding to deepen their knowledge regarding topical essential questions, nonessential questions, and metacognitive questions. Distribute copies of each of the individual Jigsaw reading assignments or have participants access the Google Docs version.
Share slide 8, which describes the Why-Lighting activity. Pass out highlighters to participants.
Share slide 9, which introduces the Jigsaw strategy and describes the assigned reading topics. Each section is labeled with a letter to denote the topic.
Jigsaw Reading Assignments (Photocopy attachments or Link to Google Doc version)
A - Two Sides of a Coin
B - Three Connotations of Essential Questions
C - Size and Scope Matter
D - Non-essential Questions
As participants read their sections, have them highlight the main ideas and make notes in the margins noting what is important.
When all participants have completed the reading/highlighting activity, have them write a summary of their designated section.
Ask pairs who read the same section to share their Why-Lights and synthesize their ideas into a shared summary statement.
Once summaries have been completed, have groups from each letter assignment share their summaries with the whole group.
Explain
5 Minute(s)
Once the participants have a clear understanding of essential questions through reading, ask them to reflect on the essential questions. Show slide 11 to share instructions for the Gist strategy.
How do Essential Questions promote higher-order thinking and engagement?
Why are Essential Questions an effective instructional tool?
Ask participants to answer the questions individually by taking into consideration all four parts of the reading as shared to the whole group. Have participants write their summary using only 28 words or fewer.
Extend
20 Minute(s)
Advise participants that the lesson culminates with their writing their own essential questions.
Ask participants to form small groups (3–5) with teachers who teach the same content area. Designate space on a board (if possible) or provide a large sheet of chart paper to each group.
As a group, have participants develop an essential question using a provided topic, or a concept of choice from their content area, (both of which could be based on content standards). Remind participants to use their Checklist—Characteristics of Essential Questions as a guide while formulating their questions.
Evaluate
5 Minute(s)
After everyone has formulated an essential question, ask participants to do a Gallery Walk around the room. Have them read each other’s essential questions and anonymously evaluate them according to the Characteristics of Essential Questions criteria.
Follow-up Activities (EXTEND)
30 Minute(s)
If more time is available, continue to expand on the lesson content with an extra Extend activity on Overarching and Topical Essential Questions. Refer to Lesson Slides #2 for Follow-up Activities.
Show slide 3. Before Card Sorting into the general categories of Overarching and Topical Essential Questions, review definitions from the earlier Jigsaw reading.
Review definitions on slides 4–5.
Hand out the Types of Essential Questions handout and inform participants that they will be watching a video.
Show slide 6. As they watch the video, ask them to complete the table on the first side of their handout. Following the video, discuss how the teacher in the video encouraged inquiry and developed students’ critical thinking through the use of Overarching and Topical EQs.
Show slide 7. Have participants flip their handout over to the back side and fill in the table for their own content lesson objective.
Show slide 8. Explain the Think-Pair-Share strategy. Ask participants to partner to discuss the video and the strategies used in the video. Explain that essential questions are more than just having preset questions. The teacher in the video listens to student responses and rather than just answering the questions, he prompts more questions, which either leads to further investigations or more responses.
Show slide 9. Pass out the printed standard cards based upon the needs and size of your group. For example, if you are working with high school teachers, print a few secondary cards. Or ask teachers to pick a lesson idea they will teach in the future and develop the objective for that lesson.
Pass out sheets of chart paper and markers. Have participants read the lesson objective and develop the Overarching and Topical Essential Questions. Ask each participant to write their questions on the chart paper and hang it on the wall.
This can be done in partners in similar subjects or as a cross-curricular activity.
Have participants walk through the room (Gallery Walk) and discuss each other’s questions.
Research Rationale
Using essential questions to guide lesson development and implementation is a proven process that increases academic rigor and deepens understanding (McTighe & Wiggins, 2013). The criteria used to determine whether or not a question is essential could also be a list for what makes a classroom or lesson engaging and one that promotes critical thinking. The criteria include the following:
open-ended
thought-provoking
calls for higher-order thinking and important transferable ideas
raises additional questions
requires support and justification
is recurring
When engaged in learning that extends beyond the four walls of a classroom, students see connections to other subjects, topics, and their own lives. These types of experiences foster authentic learning environments, which have been correlated to higher student achievement (Newmann, King & Carmichael, 2007).
Resources
Higginbotham, T. (2018, October 23). Essential Questions overview Wiggins and McTighe [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcYsi81PADU
Keely, P. (2008) Science formative assessment: 75 practical strategies for linking assessment, instruction, and learning. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.
K20 Center. (n.d.). Card sort. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/147
K20 Center. (n.d.). Gallery walk / carousel. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/118
K20 Center. (n.d.). Inverted pyramid. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/173
K20 Center. (n.d.). Jigsaw. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/179
K20 Center. (n.d.). T-Chart. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/86
K20 Center. (n.d.). Think-Pair-Share. Strategy. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/139
K20 Center. (n.d.). Gist. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/3289
K20 Center. (n.d.) Why-Lighting. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/128
McTighe, J., & Wiggins, G. (2013). Essential questions: Opening doors to student understanding. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Newmann, F., King, M., & Carmichael, D. (2007). Common standards for rigor and relevance in teaching academic subjects. Des Moines, IA: Iowa Department of Education.