KEYS to Teaching Success: Stating Clear, Meaningful Purposes

      Once you have identified the big idea of your unit, you can compose essential question(s) to guide students toward that big idea. An essential question is a broad, usually open-ended question that elevates students’ learning beyond the topic of the day. Essential questions have complex answers and often ask why or how, thereby sparking students to inquire, investigate, or even design. Essential questions are open-ended and require students to transfer content to the conceptual level or beyond the walls of the classroom. “The questions thus serve as doorways or lenses through which learners can better see and explore the key concepts, themes, theories, issues, and problems that reside within the content” (McTighe & Wiggins, 2013, p. 5). Instead of stating “This is what we’ll learn” or “This is what we’ll do,” the essential questions implicitly ask, “Why is this concept important?” In short, they point students to learning purposes and encourage deep thinking about specific concepts related to the big idea. In this manner, learners are prompted as self-directed to find meaning in a unit’s progression and across several topics. 

      By expressing open-ended, thought-provoking essential questions that require justification and or an explanation, teachers can help students use higher-order thinking.  The idea is to return to the question over time and even from the perspective of different content topics, to continue asking the question to “help learners find meaning in their learning and achieve deeper thought and better quality in their work” (Wiggins, 2013, para. 2). Typically, one or two essential questions may be used throughout an entire unit of study, are brainstormed by a team of teachers, and can be answered by a project or product based assessment. 

• We can think of many open-ended, thought-provoking questions, so what else makes a question essential? According to Wiggins & McTighe (2013), We could think of essential questions as important and timeless, the ones that repeatedly arise in our lives. They apply to themes that can be explored across different content areas to provide different contextual perspectives of time and place. Such questions might be, “Why do people sometimes choose to break the law?” or “Must we first love ourselves before we can love others?” 
• One may think of an essential question as “elemental” or “foundational” for understanding within a discipline (p. 6). Such questions prompt common inquiries and solicit debate. For instance, in English language arts, an essential question might be “When is it appropriate to break the “rules” of standardized English?” Or, in a biology class, an essential question might be, “In what situations should we set boundaries on the practice of genetic research?” 

KEYS Characteristics of Essential Question CC-BY-NC-ND

     From a different perspective, McTighe & Wiggins (2013) identify that some essential questions might be “necessary for personal understanding … a question can be considered essential when it helps students make sense of seemingly isolated facts and skills or important but abstract ideas and strategies” (p. 6). In prior writing, Wiggins & McTighe (2005) identified these questions as “topical” essential questions instead of “overarching” essential questions (p. 114). An example might be, “How can understanding the concept of slope help us interpret and solve real-world problems involving rates of change?” 

     This perspective might be most helpful to new teachers or preservice teachers. As they frame essential questions from the foundational lens, they can align the questions directly to the concepts identified in the standards and therefore to the big idea.

Table 1: Examples of Essential Questions in Various Subject Matter Areas and Grade Levels

Table 2: Alignment of Essential Questions to Standards

Please open the next tab: Learning Targets

     Because essential questions are open-ended, they can also lead students’ thoughts down unrelated paths. A specific lesson purpose helps students stay focused on the skill/concept at hand. To achieve that focus, teachers can also write learning targets.  Educators use many synonyms for this term: learning goals, learning objectives, learning intentions and success criteria. Ainsworth (2015a), specifically describes them as “specific learning outcomes students are to achieve by the end of the unit (p. 10). Built from the nouns and verbs of the state content standards, learning targets communicate a narrower goal, usually for one lesson or one step of a learning process.

     Learning targets express the instructional purposes in a first-person point of view (as in “I can” or “Students will”) to represent the students’ understanding of what’s expected of them. The learning target aligns with the Georgia standard, but often in a more specific way than an essential question. It doesn’t simply convert the essential question into a statement. Instead, the learning target is action oriented: it states very specifically what the student will be able to do as a result of completing a specific lesson. Most importantly, it’s written in terms that students can better relate to. 

Table 3: Learning Targets Aligning with Table 2 Standards

     The examples in Table 3 illustrate that a learning target is a “student-friendly [representation]...of what you intend students to learn or accomplish in a given lesson,” (Moss & Brookhart, 2012, p. 9). At the same time, it should communicate “a strong performance of understanding” (p. 31). In other words, the learning target should identify one of many possible ways students can show evidence that they have learned a skill or concept. 

     Take a look at the social studies learning target in Table 3. To show their understanding of a concept, students must explain. By explaining–in speech or written form–Ruby Bridges’ impact on today’s public school policies, then the students have achieved the learning target–and partially met Standard SS1G1.d. In other lessons, students might explain the impact of other historical figures (for instance, Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s impact on civil rights or Wong Tsu’s impact on U.S. military aviation), and by explaining their knowledge, they would also partially meet Standard SS1G1.d.

Please open the next tab: Learning Progressions

     In order to connect the learning target to the main idea, students must master a “carefully sequenced set of building blocks” that help them increase their skill level and depth of knowledge (Popham, 2007, p. 83). Educators call these sequenced activities learning progressions. Your school will likely have outlined its specific expectations for daily and weekly planning as well as their expectations for posting curriculum in the classroom. These curriculum documents may have as little as three standards or as many as twenty within one unit of study. Often a pacing guide recommends the amount of time to spend on a unit of study or individual standards. These documents, as well as information about students’ prior and background knowledge, will help you plan rigorous learning progressions to meet students’ learning needs.

     Here’s an example: Building from the work of Wiggins and McTighe’s (2005) backward design model, a physical education teacher breaks down a complex skill of playing basketball into small parts, such as the different types of shots and the different team formations. These learning progressions scaffold student learning across several days of instruction with specific, small parts arriving at the predetermined goal articulated in the standard. The teacher’s use of success “criteria breaks up the long journey from where the learners are to where they need to be into smaller steps, making it more manageable” (Wiliam, 2018, p. 70). 

     This progression is further enhanced when the success criteria are built in clear, student-friendly language–written, spoken, and nonverbal. Students respond to teachers’ instruction at different levels of understanding, which are influenced by their prior learning and cultural backgrounds. Without clear, explicit communication, students will wonder why they’re completing the lesson’s activities, so the learning progressions should be grounded in clear, precise language using the nouns and verbs inherent in the standards. Often, using two forms of communication (spoken instructions with a diagram and written instructions with a video) helps you communicate more clearly.

     Learning progressions are grounded in the unit’s ordered and sequential learning targets and contain specific, measurable success criteria. During those learning progressions, teachers often use quick checks or formative assessments to gauge student mastery. 

     Success criteria are the “performance descriptors that spell out how students will show they have achieved the learning intentions” (Ainsworth, 2015a, p. 11). The focus of the success criteria lies in the students’ ability to demonstrate their learning sequentially, increasing the levels of thinking. Success criteria typically include action-oriented verbs reflecting what students will do, and those actions should be aligned directly with the formative assessment (Ainsworth, 2015b, p. 48). Using success criteria helps students break down complex tasks into specific parts, such as the steps of conducting a lab experiment, the stages of writing an argumentative essay, or using numbers and a representation to solve a real-world math problem. 

     To illustrate the relationships between learning targets and success criteria, let’s return to Wiliam’s example of a physical education teacher and basketball game. A teacher may have a unit on basketball with a learning target, such as “I can use at least four types of shots in a setting of a 3 by 3 game.” For some students, this learning target is a part of their language, culture, and activity. But others may have never held a ball. To further articulate the learning progression, success criteria can be articulated such as those in the following list:

• Identify types of shots in basketball by name and form.
• Use proper form for various basketball shots.
• Use different shots in various locations on a court.
• Practice different shots in a practice situation with a partner. 

These specific success criteria clarify what’s expected of students in order to succeed in the lesson and instructional unit. 

Please open the next tab: Guiding Questions

     To anchor students in prior knowledge or background knowledge, teachers often begin learning progressions with key vocabulary and guiding questions. These teaching openers allow students to access previously learned facts or skills and build mental connections to new terms or information. Some teachers also provide specific guiding questions that elicit responses aligning with the lesson’s success criteria. Guiding questions should be open-ended, meaning that they cannot be answered with “yes” or “no”. They solicit written, spoken, or performed responses where students demonstrate learning of the objective and standard. Guiding questions are content-specific and can change from day to day. During inquiry or self-directed learning, students may pose one to two questions to anchor their own learning and investigation. 

     Guiding questions provide specific markers for reflection and assessment that are aligned with the day’s learning intention and/or success criteria. They are more specific to self-assessment and allow students to articulate their progression of learning. 

     Refer to the examples in Tables 2 and 3, specifically how essential questions prompt students to think beyond daily instruction toward the unit’s broader picture. Conversely, in Table 4 below, specific guiding questions enable students to focus on specific content topics and goals. 

Table 4: Guiding Questions in Different Subjects and Grade Levels

Please open the next tab: Discussing Purposes with Students

     Even when we post questions, learning targets, and success criteria in student-friendly terms, we haven’t guaranteed students understand those purposes. Often teachers will announce to a class the day’s objective before moving forward with the lesson. Sometimes teachers will read the objectives or learning targets, or even make students recite them. Having students recite information they don’t understand makes little sense.

     Michael McDowell (2020) says that “building student clarity is a constant pursuit” (para. 3), and part of achieving that clarity is helping students understand why they are learning what they are learning. In fact, McDowell finds that “simply sending a clear message to people doesn’t ensure that they are clear on [that] message.” Instead, “clarity…is interactive and built through multiple engagements” (para. 8).  By using clear essential questions and learning targets, Shannon Finnegan (2019) enables her students to learn the goal for each day, reflect on their learning at the end of each lesson, and reflect on how those learning purposes supported their learning: “on the whole, my students felt the learning targets (and self-checks they are part of) help them to feel prepared and successful in my class” (para. 11). Essential questions, learning targets, success criteria, and guiding questions might at first seem like “educational buzzwords” or superficial forms of teaching evidence, but they are actually “powerful tools for effective planning,” which can “empower students to keep track of their own learning” and “feel successful” at the end of a unit. 

Read the following learning purposes in the table below and compose an essential question, learning target(s), guiding question(s), and success criteria for each one. There are many ways to complete this activity correctly, so after completing it, share your ideas with your peers, a classroom supervisor, or a supervising professor. You might discuss the differences and similarities in your work and discuss other ways to design lessons and units.

After reading The Snowy Day, first-grade students should select a page and compose an appropriate text to correspond with that page. This purpose aligns with ELAGSE1RL2: Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

• Essential Question(s):
• Learning Target(s):
• Guiding Question(s):
• Success Criteria:

Second-grade students should use the break-apart strategy to solve several two-step addition/subtraction problems within 100. This should align with 2.NR.2.3: Solve problems involving the addition and subtraction of two-digit numbers using part-whole strategies.

• Essential Question(s):
• Learning Target(s):
• Guiding Question(s):
• Success Criteria:

After visiting the Ralph Buice Observatory at Fernbank Science Center, students should be able to use Oreo cookies to model the phases of the moon. This should align with S6E2: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the effects of the relative positions of the sun, earth, and moon.

• Essential Question(s):
• Learning Target(s):
• Guiding Question(s):
• Success Criteria:

Eighth-grade social studies students should be able to label a map of coastal Georgia illustrating Mary Musgrove’s impact on colonial Georgia’s economy. This should align with SS8H2b: Analyze the relationship between James Oglethorpe, Tomochichi, and Mary Musgrove in establishing the city of Savannah at Yamacraw Bluff.

• Essential Question(s):
• Learning Target(s):
• Guiding Question(s):
• Success Criteria:

Ninth and tenth-grade health students will research marketing strategies by the tobacco industry (as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control) and summarize the primary advertising channels and targeted audiences. This should align with HEHS.3.a: Students will critique the validity of health information, products, and services.

• Essential Question(s):
• Learning Target(s):
• Guiding Question(s):
• Success Criteria: