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Framing School-Wide literacy initiatives within the context of the new curriculum.

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What makes a question essential?

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We empower educators to reimagine and redesign learning through impactful pedagogy and meaningful technology use. We achieve this by offering transformative professional learning, fostering vibrant communities, and ensuring that digital tools and experiences are accessible and effective.

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We create practical, timely, affordable professional learning to help educators and instructional leaders provide students with a modern, equitable, and quality education.

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Intentional use of language around 4 practices of the new curriculum. Power and Agency: Investigate complex moral and ethical issues and conflicts. Lens: social, cultural and historical. School-wide engagement.

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Intentional use of language around 4 practices of the new curriculum. Power and Agency: Investigate complex moral and ethical issues and conflicts. Lens: social, cultural and historical. School-wide engagement.

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I found these large posters and thought they fit incredibly well with our discussions around language as power and agency and nurturing critical thinking in students.

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Sample global essential questions to get us thinking...

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Sample global essential questions to get us thinking...

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Editor's note: This is an updated version of our original article on essential questions examples featuring new links to useful EQ tools and more.
So many essential questions examples, so little time. Grant Wiggins once said, "The big-idea questions signal that education is not just about learning the answer, but about learning how to learn. Both he and his colleague Jay McTighe did so much to bring an awareness of how to create meaningful essential questions in education. They knew, as we do now, that the questions we ask our students matter.

In our Essential Questions Guide, we define an essential question as one that leads us to explore the problem and choose from plans and strategies to generate an applicable solution. It's much more than that, though. A good essential question:

inspires a quest for knowledge and discovery

encourages and develops critical thinking processes

leads students to engineer real-world solutions for real-world problems

is all about possibilities

100+ Essential Questions Examples

What we have below is a list of over 100 essential questions examples that we've created and collected over time. They are the kinds of questions which can drive us, haunt us, and move us to search for answers.

All the essential questions are broken down into different categories. So off you go! Explore, ponder, and never stop asking questions.

Social Studies

1. How can one individual's experience reflect the struggles of an entire nation?

2. How does our understanding about the culture of a people help us communicate with them most effectively?

3. How do we overcome prejudice and social bias?

4. Why do we study and examine our past, present, and future?

5. How do you define the term "perfection" in contrast to how it is portrayed in our pop culture media?

6. In a culture full of ideas and images of what we should be, how do we form an identity that remains true and authentic for the individual?

7. Why do we sometimes oppress each other when we gain power?

8. Is there a price to obtaining freedom from oppression? If so, what is it?

9. How do we determine the ideals that should be honoured in a model society and explain why they are the most important?

10. How can we help people struggling in underpriveledged regions of the world lead better lives?

11. How does conflict lead to change across varying levels of society?

12. What are the benefits and consequences of questioning/challenging authority?

13. How does the study of history help us realize that ideas and actions of individuals and groups have consequences and shape events?

14. How can we be sure of what really happened in our past?

English Language Arts

1. What strategies can you use to make writing come alive for a reader?

2. What are the reasons that cultures and individuals create narratives of their experiences?

3. What makes a story effective for its purpose?

4. What moves us to communicate through digital and non-digital media?

5. What makes writing worth reading, and why should we do it?

6. How does what you read influence how you should read it?

7. How does an author create meaning in a text, and what makes that meaning valid?

8. What ways can we express ourselves when we don't know another's language?

9. How can we use story writing and storytelling to help solve everyday problems?

10. How can we use knowledge of the structure of language to write more persuasively?

11. How can you make a convincing case about a problem that inspires people to take action?

12. What are some strategies for building effective oral communication skills?

The Arts

1. How does a song, piece of art, or a dance communicate with us?

2. What is "art" and why do individual cultures place so much value on its continuing evolution?

3. What inner and outer factors influence how we express ourselves artistically?

4. What kinds of responsibilities does an artist have to an audience or a consumer?

5. Do audiences and consumers have any responsibility towards artists? If so, what are they?

6. What are the fundamental differences between a "thoughtful" and a "thoughtless" critique?

7. What do we mean when we refer to music as the universal language?

8. How can we use the arts to inspire positive action?

9. What would the world be like if we weren't able to artistically express ourselves?

10. What can the art forms of other cultures teach us about ourselves and about life?

Mathematics

1. What ways do we use math in everyday life?

2. How can I best represent a pattern using mathematical principles?

3. How could we use mathematics to create a better world?

4. How do pictures, graphs, tables, and data "paint a thousand words?"

5. What ways can mathematical problems conceal as much as they reveal?

6. How do we identify patterns and use them to predict what will happen next?

7. How can we compare the sizes of objects when we can't place them next to each other?

8. When and how has mathematics played pivotal roles throughout our world's history?

9. How do I determine the best strategy to use for tackling a specific mathematical problem?

10. When solving multi-step problems using charts, tables, and graphs, how can you tell if the information you provide is sufficient?

Science

1. What tools can an individual use to judge the difference between illusion and reality?

2. How do we determine what is truly "real" and what is not?

3. How can we predict what life will be like 30 years from now?

4. When can we be sure that estimation is more appropriate than finding an exact answer?

5. How can I represent a large object accurately on paper or in a small model?

6. How can I make larger representations of small objects?

7. When and how do scientific theories change?

8. How can we be sure that the universe beyond our world is truly "infinite"?

9. How do we make predictions for the future and ensure that they have validity?

10. How do we create, test, and validate a scientific model?

11. Why is it important that we recognize universal patterns existing within our world?

Ethics and Morality

1. What is morality and what are the factors that have an impact on its development?

2. Why do we choose to use labels in society, and when can they be harmful?

3. What is the difference between truth and fact?

4. How is our perception of good and evil shaped by our films, books, and video games?

5. If you could choose one rule for the entire world to adhere to, what would it be and why?

6. Is civilization and order necessary to survival? Why or why not?

7. Why is having values and beliefs important and how can we form them independently?

8. Is humanity inherently "good" or inherently "evil?" Why do you feel this way?

9. How do different cultures shape our definitions of good and evil?

10. Why is it crucial to consider the effects of our words and actions on other people?

11. What are the attributes of heroism and how could they change?

Health and Wellness

1. What does it mean to be truly healthy?

2. Why is it necessary for long-term health and wellness to achieve balance in our lives, and how can we achieve it?

3. What would be the short- and long-term effects of all living humans striving to understand each other?

4. How do we define "happiness" for ourselves and how important it is in our lives?

5. Why (and how) does choosing activities we enjoy contribute to our whole-being health?

6. What causes some to thrive while others fail in the face of a challenge?

7. What personal qualities do you have that help you deal with conflict, challenge, and adversity?

8. In what ways does where you live influence how you live?

9. What is the difference between "surviving" and "living"?

10. How does what we eat impact our health in both the short and long term?

11. How does being healthy affect our relationships with others?

12. What is special about how you deal with personal conflicts and change, and how could this help someone else?

13. Why is it so important for us to ensure that our lives have "meaning"?

14. How can we support people who feel alone and are uncertain about themselves due to social and psychological factors?

The Global Community

1. What does the term "global community" mean to you and why is sustaining it important?

2. Are there universal characteristics of belief systems that are common across all cultures? What are they and how can they bring us together?

3. How could we ensure and sustain enough food, water, and clothing for every living person on Earth?

4. How has technology transformed how we see ourselves and others? Is this good or bad?

5. How can small actions eventually change the world?

6. What is your vision of a "perfect society" and how would you describe it?

7. How do we decide if the world as it is today is better or worse than it was in the past?

8. How does what we know about the world affect how we view ourselves?

9. Why does it often seem to take a global disaster or crisis to inspire us to help each other?

10. What personal contributions and changes can we make to help reduce the effects of global warming?

11. How can we ensure our world is preserved for future generations?

Personal Development/Responsibility

1. If you were to leave behind your own legacy for future generations, what would it would be and why?

2. How can we ensure that conflicts lead to constructive change and a positive outcome for everyone involved?

3. What qualities and characteristics make a person "mature" and "responsible"?

4. Why is it important to be grateful?

5. What role(s) do I play in defining my own future?

6. How do we form and shape a personal identity for ourselves?

7. How do our relationships with others change us?

8. How is useful failure beneficial to our personal development?

9. What is the difference between management and leadership, and which is more important?

10. In a culture where we are bombarded with other people trying to define us, how do we make decisions for ourselves?

11. What are the elements of true friendship and how might these change or grow over time?

Additional Reading

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A List of Over 100 Awesome Essential Questions Examples by Subject

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Editor's note: This is an updated version of our original article on essential questions examples featuring new links to useful EQ tools and more. So many essential questions examples, so little time. Grant Wiggins once said, "The big-idea questions signal that education is not just about learning the answer, but about learning how to learn.

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Huff Post on why we should allstart a passion project.

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Huff Post on why we should allstart a passion project.

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Is there something you yearn to do? Maybe you haven't told anyone else... but still, you keep thinking about it.

Maybe you dream of publishing a graphic novel
or taking the world of knitting by storm with bespoke mittens.
Maybe you are fascinated by origami
or you've always wanted to learn Italian.

But so far you haven't pursued it because it doesn't seem practical. Or responsible. You've got a list of things to do and if it's not on the list, it's not important. Who has time to be frivolous?
I invite you to start a passion project.
A passion project is a trendy name for doing something that excites and inspires you. You do it for your own satisfaction, not for anybody else's. It piques your curiosity and spurs your energy. It doesn't need a purpose.

If you're already thinking "I don't have time for that", then consider this: passion projects are about fostering your well-being by doing something that lights you up.

Passion projects are about freedom too, because there are no rules about what a passion project should be. The way to begin finding your passion is simple: be curious. Pay attention to what interests you. Your project is something you are drawn to, not something you think your way to. That's why it's a passion project - it elicits a strong emotion. It makes you feel like "Oooh! Yes, THAT!"

If you find yourself describing it with language like "implementing synergistically scalable benefits" you are probably heading in the direction of a resumé-padding project, not a passion project. Check in with your curiosity again.

Are you still resisting your project? Don't judge or censor your ideas with criticisms like "that's silly" or "I can't do that" or "what will people think". It's not about the results, it's about creative action on your terms. You get to devote as much time and energy to it as you want. Remember, the main benefit of doing a passion project is this: it feels good. It nourishes your spirit. Do not underestimate the power of generating positive feelings - this is what happiness is made of.

A passion project may provide other benefits like learning new skills, meeting new people, contributing to a current career or developing a new one. These bonuses are like icing on the cake. But even if they don't happen, the inspiration, sense of satisfaction and meaning the project provides will carry over into other areas of your life in beneficial ways.

University of Pennsylvania professor Adam Grant writes about pursuing creative interests: "Relative to typical scientists, Nobel Prize winners are 22 times more likely to perform as actors, dancers or magicians; 12 times more likely to write poetry, plays or novels; seven times more likely to dabble in arts and crafts; and twice as likely to play an instrument or compose music."

Play with your curiosity and let yourself explore something new. You never know where your "Oooh! Yes, THAT!" will take you.

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Is there something you yearn to do? Maybe you haven't told anyone else... but still, you keep thinking about it. Maybe you dream of publishing a graphic novel or taking the world of knitting by storm with bespoke mittens. Maybe you are fascinated by origami or you've always wanted to learn Italian.

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What the Heck Is Inquiry-Based Learning?

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Teachers use inquiry-based learning to combat the “dunno” -- a chronic problem in student engagement. Check out these four steps for creating inquiry-based curriculum.

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Working together to brainstorm rights and responsibilities students have at home and at school. Connecting this to our discussion around Remembrance Day and how our lives inCanada might have been different had our brave veterans not served.

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Working together to brainstorm rights and responsibilities students have at home and at school. Connecting this to our discussion around Remembrance Day and how our lives inCanada might have been different had our brave veterans not served.

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Regardless of the subject, good teaching is good teaching. One new piece of tech does not change all that we know about instruction. As we develop curriculum and practices in technology we use strategies and tools we know work for students. We scaffold their learning and provide support when needed. Just like we do in reading, writing, math and content we make anchor charts for technology that guide students along the way.

Here are a few anchor charts my students and I developed during technology minilessons.

This anchor chart lists resources or strategies my students use when researching.

Here, an anchor chart displays frequently used iPad commands.

Modes for taking our inquiry circles public.

An introductory anchor chart to blogging.

Guidelines for posting comments.

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Regardless of the subject, good teaching is good teaching. One new piece of tech does not change all that we know about instruction. As we develop curriculum and practices in technology we use strategies and tools we know work for students. We scaffold their learning and provide support when needed.

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Embedding technology and giving student voice

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Embedding technology and giving student voice

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Chatterpix is awesome.

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The new ELA curriculum seeks to provide equity for all learners.

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Going deeper in grade 1. Writing to brighten the holiday for vulnerable seniors.

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SAMR

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Listen to this post as a podcast:
Sponsored by Kiddom

Around October of every year, while teachers are waist-deep in curriculum, kids are thinking about what they're going to be for Halloween, and retail stores are already gathering steam for Christmas, I'm thinking about one thing: technology.

That's because every January I put out a fresh version of The Teacher's Guide to Tech, my uber-fabulous directory of tech tools. All year long, I take notes on new tools I hear about from teachers I talk to, in conversations on Twitter, and by paying really close attention at conferences. Then, from October through early January, I start figuring out which ones are going to make it into the guide. This year I added 60 new tools, and I'm so excited to share them with you.

As I have done every year since 2015, I'm going to shine a spotlight on six of the tools I added to this year's guide: They're not all brand-new, but I think each one could make a real difference in the way your students learn or the things they produce. One of them is super trendy right now, but it deserves the attention. One of them takes you into the past in a way that can be breathtaking. Three can be used in a dozen different ways and in all subject areas. And one-I would bet money on this-you're going to want to try right away.

And so, without further ado, let's begin.
flipgrid.com
OK, so this one I have to get out of the way first. Even though I don't think Flipgrid actually needs any more attention than it's gotten lately, there's just no way I'm writing a post about up-and-coming tech tools without including it. For me, this has been hands-down the most talked about tech tool of the past year, and for good reason.

So what is Flipgrid? It's an app where someone, usually a teacher, poses a question or prompt, and students respond to it with short videos. Once they've finished their video, they can leave responses to other students' videos.

This tool would be a great way to get students talking about any topic, reflect on a book or film, or ask questions about something you're exploring in class.

At a time when we are all getting less and less comfortable with face-to-face communication, preferring instead to talk through text, Flipgrid gives us a way to bring our real voices, our actual faces, our true, less-edited selves back into play.
insertlearning.com
With this tool, you can basically take any page on the Internet and turn it into a lesson. Suppose you find a great article from The Guardian that you'd like students to read, but you'd also like to ask them a few questions about it, add a bit of commentary of your own, and insert a related video. With InsertLearning, you can do all of that right on the article.

InsertLearning, formerly called DocentEDU, is an extension you add to your Chrome browser. Once it's there, turning any web page into a lesson can be done in minutes. You start with a web page of any kind, then highlight text, add notes, and embed your own questions-either multiple-choice or open-ended-that students answer right on the page. You can also embed other content like YouTube videos, ThingLink images, flashcards from Quizlet, mind maps from Coggle, even videos you record straight from your webcam.

Once an InsertLearning lesson is created, you assign it to classes of students with a special code or through Google Classroom, and student responses are sent to a teacher dashboard, where you can grade them right inside the app. You can also share lessons with other teachers, so they can copy and edit them for their own use.

I think we're getting beyond the point where we count on one platform to do everything for us. Instead, teachers are probably better off using different tools depending on what best fits the learning goals at any given time. A tool like InsertLearning would be a fantastic addition to your collection of resources for creating engaging, dynamic lessons.
bookcreator.com
Book Creator is a beautiful, flexible tool that allows students of any age or skill level to create, publish, and share online books.

Creating books using this tool can be as simple or complex as you make it. Students who prefer more structure can choose a comic book layout and insert Google images straight from the app into locked panels. Those who want more flexibility can choose a completely blank page and upload their own artwork. Students can customize the font, add shapes and stickers, hyperlink the text to other online resources, and import audio and video files.

When the book is ready to be published, the pages turn like a real book, and the audio and video play right inside the app.

This tool would also be wonderful for teacher use. You can create books and place them into either a private library-just for you-or create a public library that your students can join by using a code. Within the shared library, anyone can create books to be shared among the other members.

Book Creator really could work for any age level and in any content area: Students can create books to show how a key science concept impacts their daily lives, explore a social justice issue throughout history, study examples of math principles at work in the real world, or craft an original, illustrated story. A book could chronicle a student's journey through a genius hour project, showcase a student's artwork or photography in a portfolio, or record class memories after going on a field trip.

If you've gotten stuck in a never-ending cycle of worksheets and multiple-choice tests, introducing a tool like Book Creator could open up some incredible possibilities for students to demonstrate and share their learning.
newseumed.org
Social studies and history teachers, you're going to love this one.

Produced by Newseum, a news museum located in Washington, D.C., NewseumED houses an incredible online collection of primary sources, news artifacts, and lessons that help teachers teach media literacy, civics, and all aspects of the First Amendment, giving you and your students an up-close look at history.

So if you're looking for how a German newspaper covered Jesse Owens' win at the 1936 Olympics, you can find that. The front cover of Life magazine capturing the very beginning of a 1965 march for civil rights in Selma, Alabama? They have that. An image of Abe Lincoln without a beard? Check.

The site gives you several ways to search for content-by state, century, theme, topics, type of resource, and so on. Once you find something you'd like your students to use-a map, a newspaper, a quiz-you can share it with them using a URL that lasts for two weeks but can be renewed an unlimited number of times.

If you find a lesson you'd like to teach, handouts are there for you to download, print, or copy, and everything has been aligned to NCSS, NCHS, NCTE, and Common Core Standards.

When I first saw this site, I thought about way back when the Internet first became a thing that regular people used. We used to talk about how theoretically, you could go online and find just about any document you could think of; like, the whole Library of Congress would be on there. Except back around 1994 when I tried to find stuff, it ended up not being that easy. When I look at a site like NewseumED, that vision is starting to look more like a reality now.

At a time when the concept of "truth" has become pretty shaky, having access to primary sources has never been more important. NewseumED deserves a place on every history teacher's list of go-to resources.
autodraw.com
OK, I have to admit: This one I included just because it's so frickin' cool. Someone showed it to me on Twitter one day and I freaked out. I do think it has some educational value, and I'll get to that in a minute, but first let me just tell you about it.

AutoDraw is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to guess what you're trying to draw. You start with a blank screen, begin sketching something, and AutoDraw gives you a strip of professionally illustrated images to choose from, based on what the tool thinks you're trying to draw.

Every time you add more detail to your own sketch, AutoDraw's guesses change. When you see an image that matches what you're going for, you can choose it, then add color, resize it, or basically manipulate it however you want. If you choose to, you can turn OFF the automatic feature and just sketch without any assistance, but seriously, that feature is a thing to behold.

When your masterpiece is complete, you can automatically download it as a PNG file, share it on Twitter or Facebook, or grab a unique URL and share it that way.

So here's where I see some educational value beyond this tool just being neat-o: Images help us remember things. I've talked on this site about the value of dual coding, visualization, and nonlinguistic representation. A tool like AutoDraw fits in there: If you want students to add doodles to their notes, and they get frustrated with their own drawing skills, this tool can help. If you like to add icons or illustrations to your classroom materials, but you don't have the time to create your own or look all over the Internet for pre-made ones, this tool can help.

Beyond that, if you have early finishers in class or need something fresh for preferred activity time, giving students ten minutes to play around on AutoDraw would be great. And if students need illustrations for projects, videos, or books, AutoDraw can help them create those.

Also? Really cool.
sway.com
First we had PowerPoint. Then Prezi came along and shook things up quite a bit. Then a little over two years ago, Microsoft quietly introduced Sway, a unique platform that gives you dynamic, almost cinematic presentations that have the feel of a modern website.

You start by selecting a template, a topic, or a document you already have on your computer-or start from scratch. You work within a storyline, getting all your information typed in, images and videos inserted, forms added, and content embedded. The program is set up so that you can add content from the app without having to toggle between tabs. This includes Creative Commons images, so you don't have to worry about copyright laws.

Once your storyline is complete, you can design your Sway: Choose from a number of styles or use the Remix button until the preview of your work looks exactly how you want it. You can choose for your Sway to scroll up and down, left to right, or be presented in slides just like PowerPoint.

Sway would be another nice option for presenting your own content or offering students a different way to share their learning or produce creative projects of their own.

All the tools, all in one place.

If you're not yet familiar with the Teacher's Guide to Tech, let me introduce you: It's my encyclopedia of educational technology, a 329-page PDF you can keep on your home computer, work computer, or any device that will read a PDF.

The whole purpose of the guide is to make it fast and easy for you to navigate the world of ed tech. Once you start using it, you won't believe how much you'll learn, or how FAST you'll learn it!

Where to Get It

Single-User Licenses:
If you just want a copy for yourself, you can get a copy atTeachers Pay Teachers or on Teachable.

Multi-User Licenses:
To get the guide for your team, school, or even district, you can save a lot by getting multi-user licenses. Although these are available onTeachers Pay Teachers, I am offering deeper discounts for multiple licenses on Teachable.
Purchase on Teachable Purchase on TpT

Learn something new every week.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll also get access to my members-only library of free downloadable resources, including my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, which has helped thousands of teachers spend less time grading!

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One of them is super trendy. One takes you into the past. Three can be used in a dozen different ways. And one you're going to want to try right away. Come see.

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Framing School-Wide literacy initiatives within the context of the new curriculum.