Folks:
My wife subscribes to various newsletters. And although she is a 4th grade teacher, many of the techniques she uses (and reads about) can be applied to other grade levels. The article linked below is about open-ended questions. As I read through it I thought of the parallels with the idea of “essential questions” that we included as part of mapping. I personally have found this variation on the Socratic method very useful. This week, for example, I felt as though I finally connected modern art, music, changes in philosophy and science and culture to the First and Second World Wars, along with anti-colonial movements (such as Gandhi’s); I did so with one overarching question: What led to the collapse of the European world order? With such a question to anchor what can seem like a whirlwind of material, I feel like I conducted my best classes (Monday and Tuesday of this week) in my decade and half of teaching. I felt good and the students seemed engaged, curious, and focused. There was excitement as we compared and contrast the opening scenes of the ballets Swan Lake and Firebird Suite and then leapt into Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Always tying back to the big question, the essential question, student were able to see where the various pieces fit. I cannot wait to pick up the discussion in class on Wednesday. Anyway, I thought others might find this useful.
Essential Questions and Teaching
February 28, 2007 by John Murnane
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/newsletter/19_1nl_1.asp
Do you think this is similar to starting a unit with the big, broad essay question that will be used at the end? For example, right now APUS is working through the Depression and New Deal so I started the section with 3 questions actually: How did the Depression alter the American social fabric, To what extent did the New Deal attempt to establish economic stability and social equality, and How effective were the New Deal programs and how did they alter the role of the federal government. I’m not clear if these are sufficiently open-end (there’s not one answer we’re looking for but instead a conceptual understanding of the ramifications of the period) or too narrow in light of this article. Thus far the kids seem to be picking the questions apart, looking for useful information, and examining a variety of possible approaches to each of these. They’ve also been told that they will need to write an essay on one of these questions (my pick so they need to understand all three). The conversations in class seem to be about understanding what was happening and why, instead of just trying to remember the names and dates. Just to throw another factor, my main focus has been the idea that not everyone loved FDR and the New Deal and why he would have faced so much opposition. Am I on the right track by starting with the questions?