One of the biggest ideas in this week’s reading assignment was essential questions. Until now, I never really thought about them as important, but I have definitely been converted! Students should always question what they are being taught, because there is always a bias present. Questions like, “from whose viewpoint are we seeing or reading?” and “what’s the evidence, and how reliable is it?” should be asked regularly by every person, especially students! How many people studied the Holocaust from Germany’s point of view? My guess is not many. Every historical war or event is told/taught by one side but there is always another perspective. Students need to learn to be critical about the information they receive, and this is a skill that will help them throughout life.
To take the idea of essential questions a little further, I think teaching students to question everything will help them gain a critical lens, but it will also make critical writing more accessible. Many students have trouble coming up with the abstract idea of a thesis or essential question for research papers, but if we teachers make it second nature to spark questions and challenge ideas, critical writing may become easier for students. It is one thing to have an opinion, but another thing entirely to be able to formally produce a thesis-driven paper with evidence to support your opinion. An assessment for essential question – related themes could be a culminating debate, discussion or essay where students can look at all the research they have collected, choose a stance, and present their ideas to the class.
As teachers, we are NOT looking for a regurgitation of our own thoughts, but a well-developed idea formed by our students on their own. Like we discussed last class, its about teaching the skills more than the content. Our students need to be able to write, argue and debate using support from a variety of sources both in and out of school.
Here is an interesting video that I found about essential questions in the classroom its only about 2 minutes long, but it solidifies the idea of essential questions and why they are important in the classroom!
Follow this link to the video :)
Let me know what you think!
Follow this link to the video :)
Let me know what you think!
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI agree that essential question are important and something that I have never thought about before. As a history major the point you made out the events being written by one side is very important. The winners write the history so it is very important for the students to question who is writing the information because it could change the over all information. This is one of the most important aspects of researching in history because if a students only gets one side of the story than their ideas will be bias toward that one side.
I watched the video and you were right it did really sum up the essential questions idea in the chapters. It was great that you posted it because reading about it and then seeing it in practice on the video was helpful.
Hey Jessica,
ReplyDeleteYou've got a point with the Holocaust question. Having students learn with the use of different sources is the way to go. Different perspectives are more important than one sided ways. It has the students be open minded and evaluate what they are learning.
Thanks for the video. I like the part about the students taking what they've learned into their everyday lives. The teacher explained it well.
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteIf this type of design strategy will help develop our students writing skills, I am on board. I like how you said it will make them critical, and I remember reading in module F about how it is not just about asking questions, but what KINDS of questions you ask, which is something you brought up when you gave the examples on perspective.