Essential Question Workshop: 12th Grade Lit [S3 E59]

Episode 56 Welcome to Season 3- Let's Get Brave!.png

Listen to the full episode below:

Grab your pen and paper because you may want to take notes on the magic that happens in today’s episode. We’re doing a LIVE essential question workshop, which we haven’t done since last year (by the way, doesn’t last year feel like a decade ago?). 

The point of this workshop is for Marie to plan and prepare essential questions for an upcoming 12th grade literature course. The end goal is to help students begin to find ways to recognize all the various parts of themselves through characters in texts. 

Lucky for all of us, Amanda is absolutely incredible at writing and thinking through essential questions. Together we’ll talk through the themes we want to cover and the outcomes we want students to have as we craft an engaging and thought-provoking question.

The essential questions writing process is SO much more enjoyable when you can go through it with someone else. It truly is a process and you have to say the bad ideas out loud before you can get to the good ones! As you begin to create your own EQs this year, just keep in mind that students thrive on predictability and routine. In other words, keep it simple!

Topics Covered:

  • Collaborating with someone you trust is key when it comes to breakthroughs in your teaching

  • 3 components that need to overlap into an essential question: texts, themes, and skills

  • Considering current events while creating essential questions

  • Increasing student buy-in by provoking curiosity and interest

Want more on EQs from Amanda? Check out her EQ Adventure Packs!

Resources and Related Episodes:

More about Brave New Teaching:

Join hosts Amanda Cardenas (Mud & Ink Teaching) and Marie Morris (The Caffeinated Classroom) in discussions about being brave, trying new things, and all things teaching! As seasoned classroom teachers, Amanda and Marie bring their experience, insight, energy, and oh, so many opinions and ideas... It's time for all teachers to take their classroom and teaching practice into their own hands!

Tune in on your favorite podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.



Amanda Cardenas