Does Essential Question Help Foster The Purpose Of Citizenship

During my time at Perrysburg Junior High, I noticed many complex issues being taught that defines what a “proper” citizen should be. Earlier in the semester, we learned the three types of citizens. Those being: personal responsible, participatory, and justice-oriented (Patterson et al, 2012). Mr. Kruger taught his class how a bill is ratified between the house and senate and how checks and balances impacts bills. Also, the class is learning about the civil war and how slavery was the cause of conflict. Mr. Kruger’s predominately Caucasian, middle class students are on track of becoming responsible and even maybe participatory citizens. While overserving the classroom when learning about bills and slavery, I asked myself: does essential questions

Yes! An appropriate essential question should include the content that achieves citizenship. A good essential question needs to be provocative. Students should be able to argue the question from different perspectives. At the same time, those students need to suspend judgment upon others. A great essential question is: “Was the civil rights movement successful?” (Bower et al, 2010) First, the students will need to know about the civil rights movements. What was the cause? Who were the crucial leaders? What legislation was produced because of the movement? With this question alone, students will have learned about one of America’s underlying weaknesses. The teacher could compare the civil rights movement to both the civil war and modern day America. In Mr. Kruger’s eight grade class, students are now learning about slavery and the civil war. On the first day of the chapter, a short video was shown to engage the students while exposing the difficulties of slavery. With essential questions, students are being tested over content that will achieve citizenship. When citizens are properly informed, one is most likely to be considered a responsible citizen. Responsible citizens are not ignorant and will not repeat history. It is also likely that a student who is knowledgeable about slavery and the civil rights movement may join a local march about African American rights and vote to better life of others. Essential