Embedded Files
The Unit Overview contains a snapshot of the main focus of the unit. It can be used to help inform your course scope and sequence to help you make sure all grade level standards are covered throughout the course timeframe.
*Please note that the average length of a unit is between 3 to 6 weeks. Research shows that this is the most effective amount of time for teaching, practicing, assessing, and supporting student mastery of the 2 to 3 grade level focus standards for a unit. If your unit will take more than 6 weeks, you should consider splitting the content into two smaller units to help maintain student interest and stamina.
Essential Questions represent the enduring unit understandings and add relevance and focus to the unit of study. They should resonate with students and help maintain their interest throughout the unit. Answers must go beyond simple yes and no and should require higher-level thinking and processing. The answers shouldn't be easily found through a simple Google search but rather constructed with examples and textual evidence from unit activities and resources.
Essential Questions Should Be...
Open ended
Made explicit to students- post them in the room and refer to them often
Framed to engage students
Written in student-friendly language to help make the questions relevant and accessible
Limited to 2-5 per unit
Used to design the unit learning progression- activities and resources should be selected on the basis of how they help students explore the essential questions
Designing Essential Questions
Use the Know/Show charts for the unit's focus standards to identify the unit big ideas and enduring understandings.
Determine how many Essential Questions you will need to encompass the identified enduring understandings and big ideas (generally you will need 1 to 3 for a shorter unit [1-3 weeks] and 3 to 5 for a longer unit [4-6 weeks].
Frame Essential Questions as how and why wonderings rather than who, what, or where.
Use student-friendly, engaging, and thought-provoking language.
Sequence questions so that they build on the previous.
Post the questions to provide the overall learning focus of the unit.
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