Curriculum Committee
Session 3
May 3, 2014
Recap Session #2
Today’s Focus
Essential Questions Activity
Essential Questions
How do the arts shape, as well
as reflect, a culture?
What do effective problem
solvers do when they get stuck?
How strong is scientific
evidence?
Is there ever a “just” war?
How can I sound more like a
native speaker?
Who is a true friend?
Not Essential Questions
What common artistic symbols
were used by the Incas and the
Mayans?
What steps did you follow to get
your answer?
What is a variable in scientific
investigations?
What key event sparked WWI?
What are common Spanish
colloquialisms?
Who is Maggie’s best friend in
the story?
from Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins p. 1
Additional Examples
What do good readers do, especially when they don’t comprehend a text?
How does what I am reading influence how I am reading?
Why am I writing? For whom?
How do effective writers hook and hold their readers?
What is the relationship between fiction and truth?
How are stories from other places and times about me?
from Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins p. 2
Share Characteristics
http://linoit.com/groups/PSD%20ELA%20Curriculum%20Writing/canvases/PSD%20ELA%20Curriculum%20Writing
WELCOME TO LINO
One person in your group should act as recorder.
Scroll to the right of the note to read all instructions.
1-Choose the color note that matches the square taped to your grade level folder.
2-Type ONE characteristic in a note.
3-Repeat for each characteristic.
Essential Question Characteristics
1.
Is open-ended; typically will not have a single, final, and correct answer.
2.
Is thought-provoking and intellectually engaging, often sparking discussion
and debate.
3.
Calls for higher-order thinking, such as analysis, inference, evaluation,
prediction; it cannot be answered by recall alone.
4.
Points toward important, transferable ideas with – and sometimes across –
disciplines.
5.
Raises additional questions and sparks further inquiry.
6.
Requires support and justification, not just an answer.
7.
Recurs over time; the question should be revisited again and again.
from Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins p. 3
Why Use Essential Questions?
inquiry
intellectually engaging
prioritize standards
transparency
metacognition
interdisciplinary connections
meaningful differentiation
from Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins p. 17
Revising Essential Questions
Original
Question
Comment on
the Draft
What is
nonfiction?
This is a
definitional
question that
can be
answered
unambiguously.
How does a
peer group
Students view
influence the
this question
beliefs and
as too
actions of
“preachy.”
early
adolescents?
Revised Question
Comment on the
Revision
How much license does a
writer of nonfiction have
to make a point?
This version
explores an
interesting gray
area with both
historical and
contemporary
relevance.
Why do people sometimes
act stupid when they are
in groups?
Holds student
interest over the
long term and is
keyed to the
literature under
consideration.
from Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins p. 40, 74-75
What do all students at this grade level
need to
KNOW, UNDERSTAND, and be ABLE to do?
Share Essential Questions for Unit 1
http://linoit.com/groups/PSD%20ELA%20Curriculum%20Writing/canvases/PSD%20ELA%20Curriculum%20Writing
1-Choose the color note that matches the square taped to your grade level folder.
2-Type your grade level on the Tag line
3-Type ONE essential question in a note.
4-Repeat for each essential question.
Work Session
Incorporate NJMC Unit 5 standards into NJMC Units 1-4
and note additions on your curriculum document
Write/revise Essential Questions for NJMC Units 2-4
and post on the blog for each unit number
Finish writing Learning Targets for the rest of your standards
and post on the blog for each strand (i.e., Reading Literature,
Reading Informational, Writing, etc.)
Next Session: Assessments