Selecting Essential Questions
Next week, we will begin a new unit in which we will be reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding. As part of this unit, you will be choosing an "essential question" that will guide your reading of this text. According to What's the Big Idea by Jim Burke, an essential question is a big, open-ended question about life that you really want to explore. Click here to visit the What's the Big Idea? companion site and read more about essential questions (click the "Companion Resources" tab). Essential questions do not have easy answers, and they are not simple factual questions about the book. Your essential question should be broad enough, and interesting enough, that you can spend the next three weeks of our unit exploring it.
You are new to the concept of essential questions, so I will provide some help . Your web assignment this week is to use the poll in the right sidebar of this page to vote on which essential question you think you might like to use for this unit. If you would like to investigate a question that does not appear on the survey, you may select "I would like to write my own essential question" when you vote. If you choose this option, you must e-mail a draft of your question to me. Your vote is due by noon on Sunday, November 10th. If you choose to write your own question, you must e-mail your draft to me by noon on Monday, November 11th. We will discuss the poll results in class on Tuesday.
You are new to the concept of essential questions, so I will provide some help . Your web assignment this week is to use the poll in the right sidebar of this page to vote on which essential question you think you might like to use for this unit. If you would like to investigate a question that does not appear on the survey, you may select "I would like to write my own essential question" when you vote. If you choose this option, you must e-mail a draft of your question to me. Your vote is due by noon on Sunday, November 10th. If you choose to write your own question, you must e-mail your draft to me by noon on Monday, November 11th. We will discuss the poll results in class on Tuesday.
