Capital High School
Essential Questions

• Essential questions organize and set the focus of the lesson.
• Most important!  Essential questions are tools to help teachers gather evidence of learning.
• Essential questions should be posted in the classroom.
• There is only one essential questions in a lesson. There may be several key questions under the essential question, but only one essential question.
• Planning should be by the topic, concept or skill, not by the day. There might be 1-3 lessons per week, but rarely 4 or 5 lessons per week. Therefore, there will not be an essential question everyday.\
• Vary by:
• Scope: Overarching vs. Topical
• Purpose: Uncover vs. Guide
• Type: Techinicall vs. Philosophical
• Sequence lesson essential questions so they "naturally" lead from one to another. Group major themes / concepts of a unit under connecting questions so that there are 2-6 essential questions per unit.
• Allocate time for students to answer these essential questions!