Two-Column Notes

Date:
10/19/1
6

Page #

Name:
Tod Emerson

MR Title(s): EQs from BLA

MR Source(s):
Bower, B., Lobdell, J., and Owens, S. (2010). Essential questions. Bring learning
alive! Methods to transform
middle and high school social studies. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers Curriculum
Institute, pp. 226-228.
The Text Says
I Say
Notes (key concepts, direct quotes, etc.)
My notes, commentary

P 226

P 227

Class/Subject:
EDTL 2760

Determining a relevant and engaging

question to pose to students at the
beginning of a unit sounds deceptively
simple. Even though it is just a single
question, it is what defines the focus of
your entire unit.

I agree with this passage about how this single

question defines the focus of the entire unit.
The question will decides how engaged the
students are throughout the lesson. If the
question is not very engaging then it could
cause not as much learning as there could have
been.

The very wording of the essential question

should provoke students to reflect and
want to start responding. A cautious
question will not entice students to argue,
whereas a bold question sustains
discussion over several weeks.

This quote makes a very good point about how

the question needs to provoke conversation for
weeks and not just for a single class period. If
the question is bold enough then it will
provide ammunition for students to talk about
one side or the other.

Craft the essential question so that it can

I like this quote because it clarifies what an

essential question should do. I think it is

P 227

be broken down into smaller, more

manageable parts. These parts, or
sections, should allow students to reflect
on the question, explore it from different
angles, and gather evidence for their
answer.

important for an essential question to be

dynamic enough for students to look at it from
different views. This is important because it
helps the students analyze other things in life
from multiple different views.

Connections to previous MR:

When it comes to analyzing the strength of the essential questions that are listed on the course
calendar, it is important to reference this article we read for this blog post. I think most of our questions
are strong essential questions. Most of them are very dynamic questions that do not have a simple
answers. Like, What is social studies, and why do we teach it? or What kind of democracy is best for
social studies?. These are questions that have some debate to them and weeks of discussion with
different viewpoints. On the other hand, a question that could be improved on is the question Why Kids
Dont Like Social Studies?. This question can be improved because through our quick research we
know why students do not like social studies, but rather the question could be How to get students
more interested in social studies?. These are my views on the strength of the essential questions in our
course calendar.
I think this reading can make connections to previous readings because the essential question can help
us get more interested in Social studies so they can see the importance of it. Additionally, an essential
question will also aid how democratic the class is as more students will be more likely to communicate
if they feel like there viewpoint is important. Lastly, essential questions help facilitate what social
studies is and why we teach it. If our goal is to build better well informed citizens then our essential
questions need to help students build the critical thinking skills to see multiple point of views.