Developing Your Unit Content Map with Essential Questions How can I help students see how ideas fit together? What are the key concepts? How do I stimulate inquiry learning? By Sherah B. Carr, Ph.D. Revised from MRESA Best Practices Modules

CONTENT MAPS: Why are they so important? Communication device Conceptualize a unit Enable consistent curriculum pacing and planning Highlight important vocabulary Enable students to "see" the knowledge gained over time and their learning

Content Mapping Key Points Content maps help students see mental schemas of information Content maps show how ideas fit together Use kid friendly terms and writing Include key vocabulary for the unit Post in your room or give students a copy For young children or ESOL you can simplify with main ideas and pictures.

Concept Unit Topic: Subject: Topic: Grade Level: Unit Essential Question: Lesson essential question(s) Key Vocabulary:

Content Map of Unit Examples / Steps (Optional) Unit Topic / Name Unit Essential Question Key Components / Issues / Concepts / Skills

Concept: There are different kinds of shapes Concept: You can write and read shape words. Concept: You can sort shapes. Unit Topic: Shapes Subject: Mathematics/Language Arts Topic: ShapesGrade Level: K Unit Essential Question: How do you know the shapes around you? Concept: Shapes are alike and different Where can you find shapes? What are the names of the shapes you see? How can you know a circle? square, triangle, rectangle, oval and diamond How can you read and write shape words? How can you make a story about shapes? How can you sort shapes by kind? by color? by size? Key vocabulary: shape, circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval, diamond, sort Concept: Shapes are all around us. How are shapes alike and different? How can you use different shapes to create a shape city?

What do I know about shapes? KindsWords Drawing Using Circle Square Rectangle Triangle Oval Sorting

Content Map How do I solve story problems quickly and accurately using multiplication? Multiplication Meaning & Models Mental Math Process Times Multiply One digit ApplicationRelationships Repeated Addition Arrays Symbols Creating & Solving Story Problems Estimating Addition Division – fact families Patterns Fact Mastery 10s, 100s Compute Property

Sample Content Map 3 rd Grade Math: Multiplication Key Learning: Multiplication is a more efficient way of adding. Essential Question: How do we use multiplication? Meaning LEQ(s): 1. How can arrays help you understand multiplication? 2. How is multiplication repeated addition? 3. How can you use skip counting to find a product? LEQ(s): 1. How do you multiply factors to get a product? 2. What patterns can help you remember the multiplication facts? 3. How can we find errors in multiplying? Real-Life Application Process LEQ(s): 1. Where is multiplication used in real-life? Vocabulary: large lots budgeting finding area shopping Industry Vocabulary: arrays repeated product digit value Vocabulary: factors product reversing lattice method patterns errors Instructional Tools: Graph Paper Multiplication Charts Calculator Real Life Problems (finding area) Sequence Chart of Steps

Content Map: Third Grade – Earth Science - Rocks and Soil Key Learning(s): Understand what the earth is made of and how rocks and soil play a major role in our lives. Unit Essential Question(s): What is our earth made of? Concepts: Character- istics of Minerals Igneous, Metamorphic, and Sedimentary Rock CycleHardness of Rocks Characteristics of soil Characteristics of fossils Un-Covering fossils Lesson Essential Questions: What are minerals and how do we classify them? What are the 3 types of rocks and how do I identify them? What is the cycle of a rock? How do we find the hardness of a rock or mineral? What are the three types of soil and how are they different? What are fossils? What is a paleontologist? Vocabulary: Luster Hardness Texture Igneous Metamorphic Sedimentary CycleMohs Scale Mineralologist Sand Loam Clay Extinct Fossil paleontologist

What is a seed?How does a seed become a plant? What are the parts of a plant? What does a plant need to live? Unit Topic: Seeds and Plants Subject: ScienceTopic:PlantsGrade Level: 2 Unit Essential Question: What do we know about seeds and plants? How do people benefit from plants? Have shell Can travel Can vary in size and shape Need soil and water and light to grow Plant life cycle Plant growing experiment Identifying parts – root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit/seed The job of each part Comparing parts on different plants Soil, water, air, light Plant growth experiment Photo- synthesis Ways we use plants Plant parts we eat Other uses: fibers, medicine, paper, fuel, crafts, furniture, etc. Key vocabulary: seed, plant, soil, light, water, life cycle, stem, leaf, flower, petal, fruit, photosynthesis, hypothesis, experiment

Resources Georgia Performance Standards Carroll County Schools Content Maps culum.asp culum.asp

Essential Question What is the power of essential questions for our students?

of the utmost importance : BASIC, NECESSARY, CRITICALBASIC NECESSARY so important as to be indispensable: FUNDAMENTAL, VITAL, CARDINAL FUNDAMENTALVITALCARDINAL Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition

Essential Questions…. Have no easy right answer; they are meant to be discussed. Provoke and sustain student inquiry Raise other important questions Are framed in kid language Are simple! Understanding By Design, McTighe and Wiggins

Essential Questions…. Are objectives in the form of a question Are posted in the classroom Set the focus of the lesson Clarify what we want students to know at the end Learning Focused Schools, Max Thompson

Essential Questions Promote deep enduring understanding Can not be answered with a yes or no, or even one sentence Are engaging and thought provoking Generally do not begin with WHAT (How or Why are better choices) Heidi Hayes Jacobs

Do these EQs invite the student to search for an answer through critical thinking ???? How does a lack of natural resources affect a nation? How do we use symbols in mathematics? What are examples of scarcity in the Americas, Europe and Oceania? What are the symbols for equality and inequality? Why do you need to recognize an odd, even, prime and composite number? What are even, prime and composite numbers?

Is open-ended Calls for understanding Requires critical thinking Provides incentive for learning Promotes high student engagement Provides a way to measure interim progress

Is short answer Calls for definition Is closed-ended Seems shallow Focused on what is not essential Is too general Asks for a memorized list

Try to think the box when writing Essential Questions Inventions = Mother Necessity Simple Machines = Work Maps and Globes = Directions/Locations Graphs = 1 Picture is worth 1,000 words Meiosis & Mitosis = Life Cycle outside

Standard: General Science (Kindergarten) Recognizes individual uniqueness What makes you special?

Standard: Social Studies (Second) 9. Explain how money is used to facilitate trade and that people spend or save some or all of their available resources How do we use money? Why do people spend and save money? How does your spending money help your community?

Kid friendly language? EQ: What are numbers and how do we use them? EQ: Why is estimation not an exact number and when do we use it? EQ: How is fiction used to organize and tell a story effectively. EQ: How do we recognize a fraction?

1 st Grade EQ: What is a noun? 2 nd Grade EQ: How are nouns and pronouns similar and different? 4 th grade EQ: How do readers and writers use nouns ? 5 th grade EQ: How can nouns help you with comprehension and understand vocabulary ?

Lesson EQs Unit EQ: In nature, only the strong survive- what do we mean by strong? How do some insects survive so well? What is the value of predator /prey relationships? What environmental characteristics would determine survival a species? How does nature control its own population growth?

ESOL How do things change?

SUMMARIZE What are the main things to remember about content maps and essential questions?