Derek Schuelein began his career as a teacher at New York City's Jane Addams CTE High School, later at Lindenhurst High School, and finally as a principal at Rye High School. Apart from his professional experience, he also has multiple certifications, including the School Building Leader, Professional Certificate, School District Leader, Professional Certificate and Social Studies 7-12, Permanent Certificate. To know more about him visit his official site http://www.derekschuelein.com/

1. Introduction Essential Questions in
Understanding by Design (UbD) based
unit planning
Derek Schuelein, Ed.D.

2. Goals & Agenda
• By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:
• Explain how the 3 stages of backward design can
be used to plan a unit
• Recognize the characteristics and purpose of
Essential Questions
• Write an authentic Essential Question
• The plan:
• Mini-lesson on UBD and Essential Questions
• Partner/group work writing EQ’s
• Review and share

3. Key Principles of UbD
• Understanding understanding:
• Explain, interpret, apply, shift perspective, empathize, and self-assess
• Learning by doing
• Transfer, Meaning-making, Acquisition (TMA)
• Essential Questions (we’ll get back to these later)
• Backward design
• Focus on transfer

4. The 3 Stages of Backward Design
• Stage 1 – Identify Desired Results
• What do we want the student to understand, and what should they be able
to do with it?
• What are the transfer goals?
• Potential Pitfall Alert - Do not focus exclusively on
content

5. The 3 Stages of Backward Design
• Stage 2 – Determine acceptable evidence
• What performance or products would provide evidence of student
understanding?
• What are the assessment criteria?
• Are all assessments aligned to goals in stage 1?
• Tip – focus on evidence which demonstrates
the ability to transfer.

6. The 3 Stages of Backward Design
• Stage 3 – Plan learning experiences and instruction
• What activities are required in order for students to be able to produce the
evidence described in stage 2, thereby demonstrating mastery of the goals
outlined in stage 1?
• What are the assessment criteria?
• Are all assessments aligned to goals in stage 1?
• Avoid activities that are hands-on but not minds-on
• Tip – Label activities as T.M.A.

7. Essential Questions – “Doorways to understanding”
• A question is “Essential” if it:
• Provokes deep thought and inquiry
• Is timeless in nature (recurring)
• It goes to the heart of a topic in a particular discipline
• It is relevant to the learners (serves as a hook)
• Schuelein’s Shortcuts:
• Does the question have a correct answer?
• Can the question be reasonably addressed in one
paragraph or less?

8. Two Types of Essential Questions
Overarching
• To what extent is US history a
history of progress?
• Who is a true friend?
• Can everything be quantified?
• If a force cannot be directly
seen, how do we know it is
there?
Topical
• How successful was the Civil Rights
movement at expanding liberties?
• How was Frog acting as a friend in the story?
• What is the value of place value?
• What is magnetism?

9. Examples of EQs and Understandings
(From ASCD White Paper, 2012)

10. Let’s Get Essential
• How are form and function related?
• What is the pattern?
• How are form and function related in biology?
• How are we able to prove the Pythagorean theorem?
• Who is a true friend?
• How did Samantha feel when she was alone on the playground?
• How can we identify theme in a story?
• Which strangers can I trust?

11. Writing EQs
• Now it’s your turn:
• Tip – Look back at the “Big Ideas” from your units. What question(s) can
these help me answer?

12. References
• Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005) Understanding by design
(2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
• Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2011) The understanding by design
guide to creating high-quality units. Alexandria, VA: ASCD
• Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. UbD White Paper, retrieved from:
https://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/UbD
_WhitePaper0312.pdf.

13. Questions?