6.4 Essential Question Review

Throughout the course, you will encounter assignments called Essential Questions. The goal of these assignments is to get you thinking about challenging questions that may have challenging answers. Essential questions are thought-provoking questions that will make you explore different ways of thinking about and responding with depth to an idea. In fact, while you might arrive at one answer for an Essential question now, that answer may change or vary as your life changes and you continue to grow as a person.


When you think about an Essential Question, don’t just think about what is the “right” or “wrong” answer to the question. Think about how they might be answered through ideas you’ve seen in this course or others, your work experiences, the media you view, and even other aspects of your life outside of school.


   A question is essential when it . . .

  • makes you realize substantial concepts or look into bigger ideas about your subject that you may not have thought about before

  • provokes deep thought, lively discussions, interest or curiosity, new understandings, and maybe even creates more questions!

  • requires you to carefully consider and weigh your options for discussion and support and justify your ideas and answers with evidence

  • stimulates your thinking towards rethinking of big ideas, considerations of assumptions you have perhaps made, and consideration of prior lessons

  • sparks meaningful connections with your personal experiences and past learning reoccurs naturally in your mind, giving opportunities for you to transfer ideas to other situations or subjects



   When answering Essential Questions, keep the following practices in 

   mind:

  • you are required to write in complete sentences, and your answer will include 1-3 well developed paragraphs

  • your response should have one or two or three ideas involved, as it is a more complicated and lengthy written response
  • you must provide detailed supportive evidence for the ideas you discuss in your response (see below)

  • supportive evidence can be texts you’ve read in the course (novels, poems, short stories, etc.), regular media that you read, view or listen to on a daily basis (TV, Newspapers, magazines, etc.), life experiences (anecdotes), or texts or materials from other courses

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Time to Read!

Read the Answering Essential Questions tutorial before progressing to the next assignment.