Teaching Through Tragedy in the Digital Age

by Lyndsay McCabe

I was in my second year of substitute teaching on Long Island when the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred. The story hit close to home, as I lived just two hours away and had family and friends near Newtown, CT.  The following morning, I arrived at my third grade class assignment for the day and saw the students in small groups talking about the shooting. One student was passing around ribbons his mother had made the night before.

My face grew hot, my eyes welled with tears, and I was truly stumped as to what to do. How could I discuss such a horrible tragedy that was on the minds and lips of such young children? And how could I tell them to “move on” or ignore it and just go along with their math and reading assignments for the day?

Las Vegas, Five Years Later

The day after the shooting in Las Vegas, one of my students entered my class and immediately asked, “Can we read something on that shooting that happened?” I cautiously said that if they were interested, we could read an article the following day.  The student replied, “Didn’t that guy shoot all those people like this?” and proceeded to mime shooting people with an assault rifle, a la Tony Montana in Scarface, while making gunshot sounds.

I immediately stopped him.  It didn’t hit the student that what he was doing was crude and offensive.

“But why? That’s what the guy did.  He shot all of those people.”

The conversation was short, but appeared to have an impact. I reminded my student that what that man did was terrible, and could never be taken back. Those people’s lives were cut short, and the lives of their families and friends were changed forever.  Though we are thousands of miles removed from the situation, it is serious, it is scary, and it is never funny.

A few moments passed, then the student looked at me with wide eyes and took on a somber tone. “That’s not what I meant. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make it funny.”

I believed him, and just like any teenager, it is just a matter of life events and education to build perspective and empathy.  So, we took to the news.

Students and the 24 Hour News Cycle

Our students are swimming in technology, and, consequently, they are bombarded with the news.  While you won’t see your students looking up CNN, The Washington Post, or BBC News, they absorb their news from the sites and apps they do use: social media.  According to a 2017 Common Sense Media research survey, 39% of children reported they prefer getting their news from social media, topping the 36% that said that they get their news from family and friends. Now, this leads us to consider that a Pew Research Center survey from August found that two-thirds of adults get at least some of their news from social media - so even the students who are getting news from family and friends may have their news stories traced back to social media.

With Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram as the “new” news sources, our students are bombarded with the news at all times of day, whether they sought out the information or not. A simple Facebook feed scroll to see what friends are up to can quickly turn into a rude awakening of catastrophic events happening across the nation and even across the world.

And where do they take their questions, comments, and observations? Right to the classroom.

Addressing Sensitive News Topics in the Classroom

When touchy topics are brought to a teacher’s desk, there are many strategies that you may want to implement, but all begin with being clear and being honest as appropriate for the age of the students.

Give students time to share what they know

Open the floor for students to share what they have heard and to be honest in how they feel. If they are truly in need of support that cannot be given in the classroom, use your resources and send them to a school counselor or trusted adult to talk through their feelings.

Teach from kid-friendly news sources

Have a child-friendly news source on hand to refer to, especially if students are spreading misinformation about the event.  It is always important to evaluate what is appropriate to speak to students about, and many of these sources that focus on writing news for kids already process that information and produce content that gives just the right amount of information.  Here are a few sources you may want to use with younger students:

• Newsela: A news source with content available at varying lexile levels for grades 2-12 that also includes reading comprehension and writing assignments.
• Dogo News: Provides digital media for grades K-11 with audio files of articles and essential vocabulary highlighted so students can click for a quick definition, as well as comprehension and vocabulary questions.
• KidsPost: The Washington Post’s kid-friendly version with quizzes, games, and contests.

Address the “Fake News”

With more news popping up from varying sources, it is more important than ever to teach news literacy. Undoubtedly, students may come to class having heard things that are untrue. Show students how to identify fake news by considering the following:

• What source did this come from, and do they have any obvious biases?
• What is the URL or site name? Is it known for being a reputable news source?
• Does it have signs of low-quality writing, such as writing in all caps, with multiple exclamation points or question marks, obvious errors in spelling or grammar, or no sources listed for the claims given?
• Does the “About Us” or “Contact Us” sections have legitimate information and contacts with official emails that are not @gmail.com or @aol.com?
• Does the story feel either “too good” or “too bad to be true?” It probably is, and it is probably click-bait to get your attention and appeal to your emotions.

Teach and model empathy

Guide students by modeling a calm reaction and discuss perspective-taking.  It is fundamental for students to understand that people in other states or across the world are people just like them, and their experiences need to be respected.  In the case of the Las Vegas shooting, it was difficult for students to feel the weight of the event without seeing it from afar, as if it were a movie or a videogame.  

Reassure students of their safety

At the end of the day, students want to feel comfortable and safe.  Remind them of the safety measures that are in place in their own lives, but then also remind them of the importance of kindness and understanding.  There are many choices that our students will make inside and outside of the classroom, but the most important choice to make is to be kind.

Lyndsay McCabe is a special education teacher at Jones Magnet Middle School in Hampton, Virginia, and previously taught elementary and middle school special education in New York.  In her free time, she can typically be found reading, listening to music, and trying to identify Virginian wildlife.  You can contact her at lmccabe@hampton.k12.va.us.

5 Quick and Easy Techniques for Using Understandings In Your Classroom

By Kate Wolfe Maxlow

Teachers inherently know how to use questions to illicit learning, and therefore it often seems less daunting to use Essential Questions in the classroom. But what about the slightly less known Understanding? (Not sure what an Understanding is? Click here.) How can we use those effectively to help students gain deeper insights into the topics they’re studying?  If the whole point is that students should walk away with the Understandings, then don’t we want to ensure that they actually interact with them?

Turns out, there are plenty of easy ways to authentically incorporate Understandings into your classroom instruction as well, other than just posting on the board and reading it aloud to students. In addition to strategies like the think-pair-share and journaling that were described in the article on using Essential Questions in the classroom, here are five easy techniques for incorporating Understandings into your classroom:

1. Whole Group or Individual Graphic Organizers or Anchor Charts

A great way to introduce an Understanding is by using a graphic organizer or anchor chart that has the Understanding at the top (almost like the main idea), and then supporting facts below (like the details). For instance, in first grade mathematics classroom where the students are learning how to add one-digit numbers, the teacher might have the Essential Question: What do I do when I get stuck on a problem? And the Understanding: Problem-solvers choose the best strategy to help them solve the problem. With the whole group, the teacher could introduce this Essential Question through a think-pair-share, having students do their best to answer the question (for first graders, the teacher might also need to ask the Essential Question and then add a specific topic, such as “...when you get stuck on a problem adding two numbers”). As students share out and give their answers, the teacher will then introduce the Understanding, taking note of various strategies shared by the students (such as: “I use unifix cubes” or “I draw a picture,” or “I visualize it in my head”). The teacher then creates an Anchor Chart with the heading “Problem-Solvers Choose the Best Strategy to Help Them Solve Addition Problems,” and then lists the various strategies that students can use. The teacher leaves this anchor chart up in the classroom during the entire unit (and maybe longer) so that students can refer to it.

But maybe you have older students who can create their own graphic organizers. Let’s imagine a social studies classroom about to study Reconstruction in which the Essential Question is: Who gains, loses, or maintains power in a conflict? And the Understanding is: Conflict creates opportunities for changes in power structures. The teacher asks the Essential Question and presents the Understanding to students, who write the Essential Question at the top and the Understanding in the center circle of a Main Idea Web. Off that main circle are three other circles that say: Gained Power, Lost Power, and Maintained Power. During the unit, the teacher continues to circle back to this Essential Question and Understanding, and periodically has students add bubbles to their Main Idea Webs that illustrate examples of people or groups who gained power, lost power, and maintained power during Reconstruction (and potentially adding more bubbles to each providing other relevant details).

2. Student-Created Performances or Products

Another great way to get students up, moving, and being creative is by having them create a performance or product that illustrates the Understanding. For our primary grades example, let’s imagine a kindergarten social studies classroom in which the students are learning about citizenship. The Understanding might be: Rules keep us safe and the Essential Question might be: What rules do we need to stay safe? The teacher does a whole group lesson with students by presenting the Understanding and asking the Essential Question, and then has students role-play various rules, such as how to stand quietly in line, how to keep hands and feet to themselves, how to ask nicely to share, etc..

Older students can also create products that show their understanding of the Understanding. For instance, in a Health class in which the Essential Question is: What makes a food healthy? And the Understanding is: There are many short and long-term health benefits and risks associated with nutritional choices, students might write the question and understanding out on the outside of a food journal, in which they track their own eating for a week and then reflect each day on how healthy their choices were and what they ate could potentially impact their future health.

3. Five Levels of Why

Have you ever tried to play the “Why?” game with a four year old? It’s almost impossible to win. Any time you answer their “why” question, they come back to you with “Why?” again. But it turns out that the world’s four year olds are onto something: this is actually a GREAT technique for really looking at the heart of the matter and digging deeper.

You can either do this formally or informally with students around an Understanding. Students will need a certain amount of background knowledge on the topic, so if it’s a brand new concept, you might want to wait until after instruction has taken place. It can work either with a whole group or with a small group, and you can explicitly teach older students the technique so that they can use it to structure their own small group discussions. It goes something like this:

Let’s say a graphic design teacher introduces the Understanding: Advertising art imitates society and society imitates advertising art. The teacher then asks students: “Why do you think this is?” (Why #1)

Students will give a variety of answers. Let’s say one of them focuses mostly on the second half of the statement and says, “Because a lot ot of graphic design uses famous people in the artwork.”

The teacher then remarks, “Yes, that is often true! Why do you think that is?” (Why #2)

Another student adds, “Because they know that we all want to be like famous people.”

“Why would they think that we all want to be like famous people?” the teacher asks, including the previous statement in the question (Why #3). (Four year olds everywhere would be proud!)

A student might then answer, “Because famous people are glamorous and have things that we all want.”

The teacher might change it up a bit to focus students on the things being advertised rather than the celebrities: “Okay, so why do we want those things?” (Why #4)

Let’s say another student responds, “Because who wouldn’t want to have a big house and a great car and the latest iPhone?”

The teacher could can also use statements to refocus before asking another why. “So, celebrities often seem like they have the perfect lives. Why do you think that is?” (Why #5)

Getting it, a student might say, “Oh! Because art makes it seem like that! They might not actually have perfectly lives, but that’s how they’re portrayed in advertising, and that’s what makes us think that if we just get the latest iPhone, our lives will be perfect, too.”

Note that this is a technique that might take some practice in order for the teacher to learn when to probe more deeply and when to restate a point to better focus the discussion. But regardless, it’s a fun way to have a quick classroom discussion around deeper thoughts that place the emphasis on why the learning is important.

4. Give One, Get One

This is another great technique to get students up out of their desks and oxygen flowing into their brains. Even better, it takes little prep on the part of the teacher and doesn’t have to take a lot of classroom time. It works great as a closure activity at the end of a lesson or unit.

After reviewing the Understanding with students, give each student a note card. Have them write down 1 fact from the unit that supports the Understanding. While they write, monitor and provide feedback on any misconceptions. When students are finished, have them stand up. Play music or have them move around the classroom until you give the sign to stop (can be stopping the music, or flicking the lights, or just yelling “Stop!”).

Have students raise their hands, and high five the person closest to them, then put their hands down; the person they have just high-fived will be their partner (this makes it easy for students to see who still needs a partner and navigate toward that person). Students can then each share their Understandings verbally, and the person listening should summarize what they heard and write it on the other side of their notecard. After about one minute, have them thank their partner, turn the music back on, and repeat the process. Repeat until students have 3-5 facts that back up the Understanding.

5. Student-Created Understandings (or: Guess the Understanding)

Lastly, I’ve had some teachers ask: if we have an Understanding in mind, does this mean that students can’t come up with their own Understandings? Students should absolutely be able to come up with their own Understandings; that’s actually at the heart of why we teach. We WANT students to be able to succinctly determine what is important about the learning.

Here’s a way that you might do this. Let’s say that you’re working on a unit on weather and you want your students to understand that “Patterns help us to make predictions.” You might hold off on introducing this Understanding to students at the beginning of the unit, and instead create summaries of your learning each day that you post on the board or on an anchor chart, such as:

1. Clouds can tell us what kind of weather is coming.
2. Different seasons are associated with different types of weather and different types of storms.
3. When the measures on the barometer fall, we know that a low pressure system, and therefore foul weather, may be coming.

After you’ve posted each summary of the day, ask students to look at all three and see what GENERAL Understanding they can come up with based on them. Note that the first few times you do this, you will most likely have to model to students how to come up with a general Understanding. Also note that students may surprise you and come up with an Understanding that’s not at all what you were thinking; as long as it’s accurate, that’s okay!

For instance, using the above, you might have students come to any of the following Understandings:

• Weather affects our daily lives.
• Knowing how to predict the weather can help you make choices.
• Observations help us know what’s coming next.

Any of these are technically true! That shouldn’t stop you from also sharing your Understanding (the one you had planned from the start) to add to the ones that students come up with.

When students make an Understanding, have them test it with each summary to make sure that it actually fits them all. For instance, if a student came up with the Understanding “Technology helps us predict the weather,” when you test it against A, B, and C, it works well for C, but not for the A and B. That doesn’t mean it isn’t still an important understanding, but press the student to see if he or she can generalize even more to find a statement that fits all three summaries.

Do you have another great way to use Understandings in the classroom?  Let us know!

Kate Wolfe Maxlow is the Professional Learning Coordinator for Hampton City Schools. You can reach her at kmaxlow@hampton.k12.va.us.

5 Quick and Easy Techniques For Essential Questions You Can Use Tomorrow

By Kate Wolfe Maxlow

So, you’ve written an awesome Essential Question for your unit.  The next question, then, is: how are you going to use it with students?  Remember, the whole point of Essential Questions is that students get to interact with and explore them; if the teacher keeps the Essential Question to him or herself, there’s almost no point to having it, other than as an interesting philosophical exercise.

Introducing students to Essential Questions doesn’t have to be a strenuous or time-intensive process that requires days of planning, but it should be more than simply posting the Essential Question on the board and reading it aloud to students. When written and used well, the Essential Questions and Understandings can become a framework for the entire unit, helping students to understand the relevance of their learning and make connections.

Therefore, here are some techniques that can be used in almost any classroom to introduce and use the Essential Questions with students.

1. The Think-Pair-Share

The Think-Pair-Share is one of the fastest, easiest ways to get students interacting with the Essential Question in a way that allows everyone to participate. The entire thing can take 10 minutes or less. The teacher introduces a strong Essential Question at the beginning of the unit, then has students turn and talk to partner.  It may be helpful to assign partners ahead of time, and to tell students how long you will give them to discuss the topic (usually 1-5 minutes, depending on the developmental stage of your students and the complexity of the question).  It may also be helpful to model to students how to engage in a Think-Pair-Share if they are not used to interacting with other students, showing them how to take turns in a conversation and build off what their partner said.

During the Think-Pair-Share, the teacher should monitor the various conversations, providing feedback and encouragement where necessary. Think-Pair-Shares work especially well if there is then a whole class debrief in some capacity.  This can be as simple as having various pairs share what they talked about or having some partners sum up what their partners said. For older students, you can also have them write down some of their initial thoughts on sticky notes, then have the entire class review them and look for common themes.

Think-Pair-Share can also be used to revisit the Essential Question at the beginning and the end of the unit.

2. Journaling

For students who are able to write, teachers can introduce the Essential Question and have students journal their responses.  This might work best for questions that could lead to more controversial discussions (such as, “Why do people fall in love?”) The teacher presents the Essential Question and then has students do a free write on the topic for 3-10 minutes (depending on the age of the students and the complexity of the question).  The teacher should monitor as students write, and review the journal entries briefly once they are complete.

Afterward, the teacher can also choose to do a Whole Class share out, or use a Think-Pair-Share to have students share their ideas with a classmate.

If using journaling, it is helpful to have students return to their first journal entry and update their thoughts partway through the unit.  A helpful strategy can be to have students write in one color during their initial response, then leave a page or more for updates.  During the updates, they can write in a different color.  The teacher can simply give students 5-10 minutes at the end of class a couple of times during the unit to have students update their journals with new information based on what they’re learning (this works really well as a closure activity or even as “exit ticket”).  At the end of the unit, students then compare their initial responses to their updated responses, and reflect on how their thoughts

3. K-W-L

The K-W-L is a teacher favorite for introducing a unit and works well with Essential Questions because it should also be revisited multiple times throughout a unit.  K-W-L stands for Know, Want to Know, Learned.  In the beginning of the unit, the teacher might introduce an Essential Question such as “How do you know what is true?” along with the learning intention: “We are learning about the scientific method.”  Students are then asked to combine both the Essential Question and the topic to not only say what they know about the scientific method, but how they use it to know what is true.  This can be completed independently by students, in pairs, or (especially for younger students) as a whole group with the teacher writing and modeling.

After students complete what they already know (or think they know; sometimes the KWL reveals misconception), then the teacher leads students through filling out the “Want to Know” section.

4. Questions From Questions

One of the hallmarks of Essential Questions is that they should spark more questions.  To that end, one great technique is to introduce the Essential Question to students, and before allowing them to respond, have them brainstorm 1-3 other questions that they would want to explore before answering the Essential Question itself.

For instance, let’s say that you’re using the Essential Question “How do you know when you have enough?” to study addition and subtraction in mathematics.  Questions that might naturally spring from this are: In the given scenario, is it better to have too a little too much, or not quite enough? How easy is it to get “more” if I don’t have enough the first time around?  Will an estimate be accurate enough, or do I need an exact answer to determine if I will have enough? What are the consequences of not having enough, or of having too much?

Note that the first time around, and potentially subsequently for younger students, the teacher might need to model this strategy for students.  Once modeled, older and/or more sophisticated students will be able to come up with their own questions and write them down (either independently or in groups), which will allow the class to review/compare and contrast each other’s questions.

5. Classroom Advance Organizer

Advance organizers are a great strategy for introducing a unit (the K-W-L) is actually an example.  In this case, the teacher can introduce an Essential Question and pair it with an appropriate thinking map on a large bulletin board.  For instance, for the Essential Question “What do humans owe the Earth?” the teacher might choose to use a Circle Map to start, giving students post-it notes and having them write down quick answers on those post-it notes (alternatively, the teacher might have students work in groups of 4-5, and use chart paper or bulletin board paper for each group).

The teacher and students then post their sticky notes onto the class (or small group) organizer.  As the unit progresses, the teacher and students will come back to the class graphic organizer at strategic points throughout the unit, and the teacher might give students another sticky note (preferably in a different color) and have them add to their understanding or update their own or a classmate’s sticky note.

The teacher and students might, throughout the course of the unit, also decide that an alternative structure for the graphic organizer is needed.  For instance, they might see themes emerge, and therefore move from a circle map to a T-bar or a chart that better categorizes the responses.

Do you have other quick and easy ways to incorporate Essential Questions into your classroom?  We would love to hear them!  

Kate Wolfe Maxlow is the Professional Learning Coordinator for Hampton City Schools. She can be reached at kmaxlow@hampton.k12.va.us.

Essential Questions and Understandings: Frequently Asked Questions

By Kate Wolfe Maxlow

As many of our teachers in Hampton City Schools roll out Essential Questions and Understandings, we’ve had several great questions asked regarding specific implementation concerns.  We are therefore happy to present some of our Frequently Asked Questions and their answers.

1. What is the difference between a Learning Intention and an Understanding?

Glad you asked!  Confusing the Learning Intention and the Understanding is a common issue in classrooms, and I can see why.  It’s easy to think that by “Understanding,” we mean “What do you want students to understand?” That’s not quite the way it’s defined in Understanding by Design, however.

Instead, we are using the term “Understanding” to mean a big idea statement about the topic that points to why the topic is important.  In other words: if students take away no other key ideas from the learning, what are the 1-3 key ideas that you want them to know at the end?

Still confused? Let’s imagine that students are doing an Economics and Personal Finance Lesson on comparison shopping.

The Understanding that we want students to walk away with is: “Comparison shopping provides information to help consumers obtain the best quality for the best price.”

This is a big idea—a complete sentence and thought that helps students navigate their way through real life.

Meanwhile, the learning intention and success criteria could be:

Learning Intention:  The students will be able to describe the steps for making a savvy purchasing decisions. (1 day)

Sample Success Criteria: Students will use comparison shopping skills to compare two products to determine the best option for purchase.   

See the difference?  The Understanding is the big idea and the Learning Intention and Success Criteria are what students should DO with the big idea.

(Note: thanks to our amazing curriculum writers at Hampton City Schools for these example Understandings, Learning Intentions, and Success Criteria!)

2. Do you have to use Essential Questions and Understandings every day? If not, how often? How many should I use at one time?

Essential Questions and Understandings do NOT have to be addressed during every lesson.  Essential Questions and Understandings are written at the unit level, which means that a teacher should use them with students multiple times during a unit—but depending on your content, you may or may not use them every day.

A good rule of thumb is that, at a minimum, essential questions should be introduced at the beginning of the unit, revisited once or more throughout, and then reviewed again at the end of the unit.

Regarding how many Essential Questions and Understandings you use at one time, it will again depend on the topic and the questions.  For instance, you may have two questions that work really well together (such as, “What makes a great leader?” and “Who has power in conflict?”) that you can build a lesson around in tandem.  For others, though, especially when units contain more disparate topics, you will most likely want to introduce them separately.

3. When I use Essential Questions and Understandings with students, how long should I be spending on them?

You will want to consider the Essential Question and Understanding, how much background information students have with it, and how many times you’ve used it previously.  For instance, in an English classroom where the skills spiral around multiple times during the course of one year, and we have done inferencing in a previous unit in which we asked the Essential Question “How can I use what I know to figure out what I don’t know?” and now we are spiraling back to the same Essential Question, we may not need to spend quite the time on the Essential Question that we did the first time.

How long you spend on an Essential Question will depend on what you do with it.  At a minimum, it’s probably good to spend at least 5 minutes introducing the Essential Questions to students and having them respond to it in some fashion, whether it’s verbally, in writing, or another way.

4. Can you use Essential Questions and Understandings in the primary grades/with students working well below grade levels?

This is a question that I hear frequently, and the answer is an enthusiastic yes!  Of course, there are a couple of caveats:

1. Sometimes you will find that you have to change the language involved in certain Essential Questions; and
2. Understand that the answers students will provide will probably be very literal--but that’s okay!  Remember, the point of Essential Questions is that we can ask them over and over throughout our lives and our answers grow and change with our experiences.

Let’s look at an example using the Essential Question “How do you know your answer is correct?” This question is a great one that can be used in almost any discipline across multiple grade levels. For very young students or students working below grade level, you might need to change the verbiage slightly to something like, “How do you know you’re right?” And be ready to receive some answers that might be a bit off-topic, but the important thing is that you’re introducing the concept of metacognition, or thinking about how we think.

Want another example?  How about the tried and true Essential Question: “Is war ever justified?” If you’re using this question with a preschooler, kindergartener, or an older student working below grade level, chances are good that 1) they may not have a good grasp on the concept of “war,” and 2) they might not know what “justified” means. Therefore, you’re going to want to change it to fit their experiences.  You might ask instead, “Is it ever okay to fight with someone?” Keep in mind that their answers may vary, and you’re not really looking for correct/incorrect answers at this point, as much as you are introducing them to the idea of thinking about things on a slightly deeper level.

5. How do you craft Essential Questions/Understandings when the information in your content area just seems so concrete?

I always try to go back to: WHY do students need to know this material?  At some point, someone decided that it was an important piece of information or skill for students. Sometimes you have to move away from the trees and take a look at the forest, so to speak.

For instance, let’s say that you’re teaching a lesson on the cotton gin.  “Why was the cotton gin an important invention?” is not a strong example of an Essential Question.  Instead, maybe focus on the bigger topic: inventions.  A better, more thought-provoking Essential Question might therefore be:  “Who does technology help?  Who does technology hurt?” and the Understanding might be “Advances in technology can enrich and ease the lives of some while negatively impacting others.”

6. How do you use Essential Questions to assess mastery?

The answer to this question lies with the fact that Essential Questions are meant to help students think critically.  While they can also measure content knowledge, based upon the coherency of the arguments and the evidence cited by the student in supporting those arguments, it’s important to keep in mind that for purely assessing whether students have concrete knowledge or can apply basic skills, you might want to use multiple choice tests instead.

If you are going to use Essential Questions to assess mastery, you’ll probably want to do so as either a project or an essay in which students craft an answer to the Essential Question that they support with evidence from their learning.  And you’ll need a rubric to grade it.

But also keep in mind that the point of Essential Questions is that our answers can and should change as we acquire new information and experiences.  Therefore, with a true Essential Question, the work is never completely “done” and there is never a single, final correct answer.

As a for instance of how these can be used to assess mastery, I remember a final that I took in an undergrad World War II class.  There were several short answer questions, but only one essay that simply read: Should the United States have entered World War II when it did? (which is very much a more topical version of the Essential Question: When is war justified?)

Now, keep in mind that if you’re going to ask a question this big, you’ll want to prepare your students for it ahead of time (several of my classmates were upset because they had no idea they would have such a big question on the test, and had instead been drilling and killing for rote memorization). Let’s say you’re a history teacher and you want to use the “Should the United States have entered World War II when it did?” question on your assessment. I would strongly recommend first giving students the Essential Question “When is war justified?” question multiple times during the unit and modeling to them how to attack such a big question with a thesis and evidence.

7. Do Essential Questions and Understandings have to align with your Learning Intention and Success Criteria?

The short answer is...kind of (helpful, right?)

The reason it's not a "yes" or "no" is because Essential Questions and Understandings are usually based on the big ideas of an entire unit, whereas Learning Intentions and Success Criteria are based on more discrete knowledge and skills that students have to learn throughout the course of the unit.

So, for instance, a Health & Wellness Essential Question might be: “What does it mean to be considerate to others?” The Understanding would be: “It is important to exhibit consideration and cooperation with classmates and teachers in physical education class.”

Now, that's just one part of the unit and there might be multiple Learning Intentions and Success Criteria, some that focus on consideration and some that do not.

So, on a given day during the unit, you might have the following Learning Intention and Success Criteria:

Learning Intention:

• Student apply the skills of chasing, fleeing and dodging within various tag games.

Success Criteria:

• I can flee and dodge without colliding into another player.
• I can change directions without running into another player.
• I can find open space when being chased.

While there isn't necessarily a direct correlation, you can see that in order to meet Success Criteria, students DO have to be considerate to one another.  Therefore, the teacher might start with the Essential Question: What does it mean to be considerate?, and give students a chance to answer. The teacher might then introduce the Learning Intention and then ask, "Okay, so what does it mean to be considerate while playing tag?"  Students could then give more specific answers before the teacher reveals the Success Criteria for the day (which will most likely be very similar to the answers that the students gave).

Essential Questions and Understandings don't have to be addressed every day and during each lesson, as long as they are visited multiple times through the unit.

What other questions do you have?  Drop me an email using the contact information below!

Kate Maxlow is the Professional Learning Coordinator for Hampton City Schools, Virginia. She can be reached at kmaxlow@hampton.k12.va.us.