Journey Summary
This session explores the many ways questions are used for different purposes throughout a lesson. The main focus is on Curriculum-Framing Questions (CFQs) that include Essential, Unit, and Content questions. These questions are created and used to drive instructional planning that promotes higher-order thinking skills and strengthens the learning experience. You will have the opportunity to create questions for instructional units you are planning in your classroom.
Curriculum-framing Questions
Essential Question
- How can I create more effective questions?
Unit Questions
- How do I utilize different types of questions throughout the learning process?
- How do I frame a curricular unit with questions that promote critical thinking, relevance and transferability?
Content Questions
- What are essential questions?
- What are unit questions?
- What are content questions?
Introduction
Humans are naturally created with a curiosity and a desire to know more. With the right questions, curiosity can catalyze students into a quest to know more. Curriculum-framing questions create relevant and meaningful learning to support the student-directed pursuit of answers. Therefore, teachers need to ask themselves: “How could I design instruction so that questions frame and guide meaningful student learning?” This approach ensures that our teaching endeavors are not just about disseminating information but actively engaging students in an exploration driven by their own desire to know more.
Theory Behind Practice
All eMINTS materials are grounded in research-based best practices in K-12 education.
Digging Deeper
Agenda
- Opener: This or That?
- Concept Sort
- Essential Questions
- Unit and Content Questions
- Creating Curriculum Framing Questions (CFQs)
- Closer: Pause and Reflect
Classroom Visit w/Students
Coordinate a time for your facilitator to visit when you are introducing/integrating/reviewing your CFQs. Predetermine what kind of feedback you desire for your instruction, and communicate your plan with your facilitator.
Classroom Visit w/out Students
If needed, ask your facilitator to review essential, unit, and content questions. Consider if any portion of your K-U-D scaffold needs feedback. If you need help narrowing down your questions or brainstorming ways to incorporate your CFQs into the unit/lesson, consult with your facilitator about your options.
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