Two-Column Notes

Date:
Name:
10/19/16 Erin Bramley

Class/Subject:
EDTL 2760: Introduction to Teaching Social
Studies

Topic or Chapter
Essential Questions from Bring Learning Alive! Method to Transform Middle and High School
Social Studies
Bower, B., Lobdell, J., and Owens, S. (2010). Essential questions. Bring learning alive!
Methods to transform middle and high school social studies. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers
Curriculum Institute, pp. 226-228.
Page #

pg. 226

The Text Says

I Say

Notes (key concepts, direct quotes, etc.)

My notes, commentary

Prior to crafting an essential question, it is

imperative that you have already
determined your unit topic, narrowed its
scope and emphasis to reflect key
standards and learning outcomes, and
gathered resources you might include. The
essential question, then, will help you
determine which lessons and content
should be included in the unit, and will also
determine the focus of your assignment.

The essential question, in my opinion, should

also align to the dreaded WHY question: WHY
are we learning this?. The essential question
focuses a lesson in the way an introduction and
conclusion focus an essay; you cannot
successfully write these without knowing what
you are planning on writing in the essay. The
same can be said for lesson planning.

pg. 226

The Essential Questions need to provide an

opportunity for students to move deeper in
their understanding of the topic, to
synthesize the information rather than
state facts

I think this is one of the more important

components of crafting essential questions. In
my field placement, students are asked to take
notes in a two column template, as they apply
to the lecture/discussion outline presented by
the instructor. In each new topic (roman
numeral) the students are asked to create a
question that the following notes will help them
understand. This is a slightly different activity
than Essential Questions, but it helps students
understand what they need to know, what they
want to know, and how to answer those
questions. Later on in the unit, some of those
questions are used as extended response
options on assessments.

pg. 227

The very wording of the essential question

should provoke students to reflect and want
to start responding. A cautious questions
will not entice students to argue, whereas a
bold question sustains discussion over
several weeks.

This is all about motivating student engagement

and learning. The more a class is engaged, the
more the teacher will build relationships with
the students. When this happens, the teacher
can create Essential Questions that are unique
to the class, topic, and learning objectives of the
course.

pg. 227

Essential Questions need to be arguable

from multiple perspectives and should be
able to break down into teachable sections.

I agree with the need for these questions to be

viewed from different angles. This could allow
for differentiation, multicultural diversity, and
inquiry based learning all in one activity.
Granted, the teacher still needs to be able to
cover all of these components of the Essential
Question, so there needs to be a balance
between these two concepts.

Connections: How strong are the Essential Questions of our course according to the criteria discussed in
Essential Questions?
The essential questions for this course are divided into three sections. The first, Foundations, asks,
What is Social Studies? and Why do we teach it? The next section is for Social Studies Content.
The essential question for this section is What does one need to know to teach social studies?
Finally, the last section deals with Social Studies Pedagogy with the essential question, How can we
design instruction that sticks? I think all of these essential questions are strong areas of focus for
the three components of the course. Specifically, the first two questions, What is Social Studies?
and Why do we teach it? are prime examples of Essential Questions based off the criteria in the
reading. Both are broad questions, but they can and were easily broken down into teachable
sections. The class was able to hold lively discussion and explore multiple perspectives of Social
Studies. And, because the topic is important to future Social Studies educators, the questions were
meaningful and engaging. Since we have not worked much with the remaining questions, it is hard
to determine the success of the Essential Questions. I believe the remaining questions follow many
of the criteria I listed before. I can see each of these questions being put into action for future
lessons in this course.