AVID Weekly WICOR

An effective way to increase critical thinking and long-term retention of your lessons is to utilize essential questions. EQs answer the two essential questions that students have, “What are we doing today?” and “Why do I have to learn that?”

Sometimes simply turning your standard or objective into a question can be your EQ; for example, if the lesson standard is solving linear equations, then your EQ may be, “How do I solve linear equations?” In this case, there is a clear right/wrong answer to the EQ. Turning your standard into a question instead of leaving it in a declarative form, increases critical thinking because when we are asked to formulate an answer to a question, engagement and focus naturally increase.

• What are the BIG ideas I want students to remember?
  
• Do the EQs expand students’ critical thinking and make connections to larger concepts?
  
• Are they flexible enough so students of differing skill levels can answer them with appropriate depth?

Most importantly, including EQs in your instruction emphasizes that your lesson/unit/course is not about memorizing facts and regurgitating them on a test; your class is valuable because it respects and encourages student inquiry and it increases engagement and critical thinking. Of course, if you start class with an EQ, be sure to end it by answering and discussing the possible answers.

"There is a BIG difference between information and knowledge, for information to become knowledge, THINKING must occur." Harvey, Goudvis