Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student UnderstandingWhat are ""essential questions,"" and how do they differ from other kinds of questions? What's so great about them? Why should you design and use essential questions in your classroom? Essential questions (EQs) help target standards as you organize curriculum content into coherent units that yield focused and thoughtful learning. In the classroom, EQs are used to stimulate students' discussions and promote a deeper understanding of the content. Whether you are an Understanding by Design (UbD) devotee or are searching for ways to address standards-local or Common Core State Standards-in an engaging way, Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins provide practical guidance on how to design, initiate, and embed inquiry-based teaching and learning in your classroom. Offering dozens of examples, the authors explore the usefulness of EQs in all K-12 content areas, including skill-based areas such as math, PE, language instruction, and arts education. As an important element of their backward design approach to designing curriculum, instruction, and assessment, the authors:
Using essential questions can be challenging-for both teachers and students-and this book provides guidance through practical and proven processes, as well as suggested ""response strategies"" to encourage student engagement. Finally, you will learn how to create a culture of inquiry so that all members of the educational community-students, teachers, and administrators-benefit from the increased rigor and deepened understanding that emerge when essential questions become a guiding force for learners of all ages. |
Contents
Chapter 1 What Makes a Question Essential? | 1 |
Chapter 2 Why Use Essential Questions? | 17 |
Chapter 3 How Do We Design Essential Questions? | 28 |
Chapter 4 How Do We Use Essential Questions? | 42 |
Chapter 5 How Do We Address Implementation Challenges and Special Cases? | 65 |
Chapter 6 How Do We Establish a Culture of Inquiry in Classrooms? | 81 |
Chapter 7 How Do We Use Essential Questions Beyond the Classroom? | 102 |
| 111 | |
Annotated Bibliography | 113 |
| 115 | |
About the Authors | 118 |
Related ASCD Resources | 120 |
Other editions - View all
Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding Jay McTighe,Grant Wiggins Limited preview - 2013 |
Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding Jay McTighe,Grant Wiggins Limited preview - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
action research answer artists ASCD Ask students assessments authentic performance behavior big ideas challenges chapter classroom questions coach collaborative inquiry consider culture of inquiry curriculum debate effective elicit engage essential questions example experience explore extent feedback Figure focus frame goal seeks grade Grant Wiggins Graphic organizers important improve in-depth inquiry initiatives instruction issues Jay McTighe Jerome Bruner language learners learning goals listen look mathematics meaning metacognition Mortimer Adler noted Oedipus the King overarching parallel postulate performance perspective Phase Pixar pose practice probe problem protocols ques reading Richard Feynman role rote learning rubrics skills Socratic seminar standards strategies student questions Student-related indicators Students Suggestions Teacher-related indicators Teacher teachers and students teaching techniques tentative closure tests textbook thinking tion topic Understanding by Design unit What’s Wiggins & McTighe Winnie the Pooh