Essential Questions

Is it possible to find the balance between trivial and impossibly difficult questions? As a matter of fact, it is. With a bit of thought and clear goals we should be able to frame what are called Essential Questions. But, why are Essential Questions so important in education? Well, these are the kind of questions which allow us to stay focused on “big ideas”, to take our students knowledge and shape it into engaging and effective work.

Now, how can we discriminate between questions that are really essential and others that are not?  First, essential questions cannot be answered briefly and they do not have a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ response. The purpose of these questions is to stimulate thought, to provoke inquiry, and what is more, to generate more questions. These are the type of questions which we should definitely pose when planning our lessons. However, I cannot stop thinking of a much more practical use for essential questions: reading comprehension.

I have the fortune of working at a school where the English program is base mostly upon reading. Thus, it is necessary for us teachers to be constantly thinking of appropriate questions whose purpose is not precisely to just recall what the texts say. On the contrary, students must be able to judge and to make connections between what they read and what they observe in the world around them. Through essential questions, we enable our students to discover the real richness of the texts they read.  

Gaining Clarity in our Goals

There are three key concepts that appear on this chapter that deserve special attention when dealing with goals, these are understandings, knowledge, and skills. The first has to do with the results we want to achieve in terms of making our students perceive the purpose of learning what we teach them. The second refers to the concepts and facts that students are expected to gain during the learning process. Finally, skills are the techniques or procedures students are supposed to learn.

As teachers we are certainly aware of the importance of these three aspects. However, not all of these are included in our planning. It is very common that we base our plans on the contents included in the course book we use and, consequently, we simply forget to incorporate the purpose and the skills involved. The question is, then, do we pay attention to these aspects in the classroom, during the lessons? My perception is that if we are not able to include them in our syllabus, it is very difficult that we actually do.

This fact leads us to a major problem in education: assumptions. It is usually assumed that students know the purpose for learning, and that they possess the necessary skills for their educational development. But why do we expect that if they have never been taught to do so? We know our educational system is full of flaws, so I think it is time to stop assuming, and to start ACTING, no matter how difficult that can be at the beginning. If we do so, the learning process will be successful and we will be feel the satisfaction from knowing that things are done in the right way.