ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
What is an Essential Question? As a TGC participant, I was asked to develop my own before traveling to Russia. I struggled with this. I was told the question should be something that crosses cultures. It should not be something easily answered, but something to ponder and be able to write about during your trip! Of course, I was familiar with Essential Questions. Our curriculum in Maryland is often built around them. Yet, narrowing it down to one idea, meant to help deepen my travel experience was daunting.
I found the following description and discussion of essential questions wonderful and insightful.
http://www.authenticeducation.org/ae_bigideas/article.lasso?artid=53
Here is my Essential Question Essay:
Tony Jackson, in a talk about the Asia Society’s collaboration with 20 schools across America, asks the question “How do we define success?” I found it an important question particularly as we try to gain a global perspective. How do schools in the United States define success and is it profoundly different than how schools in Russia might define success? This became my essential question. I thought about it as I traveled through schools in Moscow and Yekaterinburg, Russia.
Success at my school is alluded to in our mission statement. We “help students navigate their chosen path to careers and college”. So a successful student is one who has the necessary skills to have a choice about their future. This was one facet of success. Would the Russian school system agree with this idea? How does the average Russian citizen define success in their life?
My own experiences with other cultures has given me the wisdom to hold off on jumping too quickly to conclusions. I knew that any assumptions I might make about Russia based on a two week visit were bound to be simplistic. And as the article above makes clear, an essential question is often meant to be pondered for a lifetime.
Forming the question ahead of time did help me focus on certain conversations I had in Russia. I listened with more care, I weighed evidence which tilted my view one way or another. Listening to school administrators and teachers I found that we shared very similar definitions of success in education. Unfortunately, it was often defined by passing and excelling on a standardized test. My American colleagues and I felt that the Russian education system, while incredibly efficient in helping students memorize vast quantities of facts, did not as often exploit opportunities to teach critical thinking skills. Our system of education could improve on this, as well. There are many other tangential questions that I can pose here. Does our larger society encourage and value critical thinking and do we see this ability as a sign of success? We certainly like to think that our free press allows us to be critical thinkers.
During a conversation with a Russian woman, the curator of an art museum, the topic of Russian society came up. She shared her opinion of what many Russian's viewed as success, stating that too many Russians viewed success as simply looking chic and
sporting a great haircut. I certainly did see many gorgeously coiffed women and men wearing fashionable, well-tailored outfits. Their access to a variety of high quality consumer goods is a relatively new experience. Any Russians in their mid-thirties or older will have a memory of limited goods in stores and long lines waiting to acquire them. Is the fact that they now have this consumer freedom a sign of success? Don't we in the United States equate larger houses and newer cars with success?
I think I might define my own personal success as leaving the world a little better than when I arrived. Viewing the world through this lens has me evaluating communities and individuals very differently than another might. So contemplating an essential question is a very personal, ever-evolving process. I still refer back to it as I continue my relationship with my Russian host teacher, as I craft lessons for my students from all over the world and as I interact with my closest friends and family.
Creating an essential question before extensive travel or a comprehensive project encourages reflection and critical thinking, exactly the skills we are hoping to impart to our students. My question stayed with me even as I traveled this summer through Mexico and Appalachia. I hope I continue to reflect on it for lifetime.
I found the following description and discussion of essential questions wonderful and insightful.
http://www.authenticeducation.org/ae_bigideas/article.lasso?artid=53
Here is my Essential Question Essay:
Tony Jackson, in a talk about the Asia Society’s collaboration with 20 schools across America, asks the question “How do we define success?” I found it an important question particularly as we try to gain a global perspective. How do schools in the United States define success and is it profoundly different than how schools in Russia might define success? This became my essential question. I thought about it as I traveled through schools in Moscow and Yekaterinburg, Russia.
Success at my school is alluded to in our mission statement. We “help students navigate their chosen path to careers and college”. So a successful student is one who has the necessary skills to have a choice about their future. This was one facet of success. Would the Russian school system agree with this idea? How does the average Russian citizen define success in their life?
My own experiences with other cultures has given me the wisdom to hold off on jumping too quickly to conclusions. I knew that any assumptions I might make about Russia based on a two week visit were bound to be simplistic. And as the article above makes clear, an essential question is often meant to be pondered for a lifetime.
Forming the question ahead of time did help me focus on certain conversations I had in Russia. I listened with more care, I weighed evidence which tilted my view one way or another. Listening to school administrators and teachers I found that we shared very similar definitions of success in education. Unfortunately, it was often defined by passing and excelling on a standardized test. My American colleagues and I felt that the Russian education system, while incredibly efficient in helping students memorize vast quantities of facts, did not as often exploit opportunities to teach critical thinking skills. Our system of education could improve on this, as well. There are many other tangential questions that I can pose here. Does our larger society encourage and value critical thinking and do we see this ability as a sign of success? We certainly like to think that our free press allows us to be critical thinkers.
During a conversation with a Russian woman, the curator of an art museum, the topic of Russian society came up. She shared her opinion of what many Russian's viewed as success, stating that too many Russians viewed success as simply looking chic and
sporting a great haircut. I certainly did see many gorgeously coiffed women and men wearing fashionable, well-tailored outfits. Their access to a variety of high quality consumer goods is a relatively new experience. Any Russians in their mid-thirties or older will have a memory of limited goods in stores and long lines waiting to acquire them. Is the fact that they now have this consumer freedom a sign of success? Don't we in the United States equate larger houses and newer cars with success?
I think I might define my own personal success as leaving the world a little better than when I arrived. Viewing the world through this lens has me evaluating communities and individuals very differently than another might. So contemplating an essential question is a very personal, ever-evolving process. I still refer back to it as I continue my relationship with my Russian host teacher, as I craft lessons for my students from all over the world and as I interact with my closest friends and family.
Creating an essential question before extensive travel or a comprehensive project encourages reflection and critical thinking, exactly the skills we are hoping to impart to our students. My question stayed with me even as I traveled this summer through Mexico and Appalachia. I hope I continue to reflect on it for lifetime.