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Essential Questions for Unit and Lesson Planning, Social Studies and English Language Arts: MRFEssential Question StemsBasic StemTo what extent…?To what degree…?How does one quantify…?How does one qualify…?How do we know…?How do we understand…?Who decides…?Who determines…?How does one start…?What makes good…?What is clear [about, concerning]…?What is the process of…?What is the purpose of…?Why are…?Intermediate StemWhat is the most … way to accomplish …?How do we make meaning of…?How does one begin…?How does one conclude…? Why should we believe [about, concerning, etc.] …?Why should we doubt [about, concerning, etc.] …?Whom should we believe [about, concerning, etc.] …?Whom should we doubt [about, concerning, etc.] …?What is the basis [of] …?Who is [at] the basis [of] …?What are the elements of…?Advanced/Specialized StemsTo what extent does geography affect…?To what extent does the economy affect…?To what extent does wealth affect…?To what extent does poverty affect…?What makes good writing…? Essential Questions for English Language ArtsWhy is it necessary to write “complete” sentences?What does it mean to “comprehend” something?What is the difference between literal and interpretive comprehension?What is a critic?What does it mean to be critical?What does it mean to create?What makes a person creative?What makes a character in a story likeable or not likeable?What is a genre?How many different kinds of writing are there?Continued…How is social networking a good thing? How is it a bad thing?What is a thesis? What is an argument?What is the difference between a thesis and an argument?What is loyalty?What is ethical conduct?What is virtue? What is virtuous behavior?What is language?What is a word? What is a word’s purpose?Why is the English language divided into parts of speech?What is syntax?What is an idiom?What is the difference between denotative and connotative definitions of words?What is the difference between literal and figurative expressions?Who decides the definitions of words?Who writes dictionaries?What is diction?What is rhetoric?What does it mean to be articulate?General Topical QuestionsWhat is religion?What is philosophy?What is the difference between a religion and a philosophy?Why is it necessary to write “complete” sentences?What does it mean to “comprehend” something?What is the difference between literal and interpretive comprehension?What is a critic?What does it mean to be critical?What does it mean to create?What makes a person creative?What makes a character in a story likeable or not likeable?What is a genre?How many varieties of writing are there?How many genres are there?How is social networking a good thing? How is it a bad thing?What is a thesis? What is an argument?What is the difference between a thesis and an argument?What is loyalty?What is ethical conduct?What is virtue? What is virtuous behavior?What is language?What is a word? What is a word’s purpose?Why is the English language divided into parts of speech?What is syntax?What is an idiom?What is the difference between denotative and connotative definitions of words?What is the difference between literal and figurative expressions?Continued…Who decides the definitions of words?Who writes dictionaries?What is diction?What is rhetoric?What does it mean to be articulate?What is wordplay?Essay WritingWhat is an essay?What is a cause?What is a circumstance? What are circumstances?What is an effect? What is an impact?What is the relationship between cause and effect?How does one distinguish between cause and effect?What is an outline? What is the purpose of an outline?What is deliberation?What is analysis?How does one analyze?What is an argument?How does one argue one’s case?How long is a sentence?How long is a paragraph?How long is an essay?ReadingWhat is reading?When we read, what do we do?What is decoding?What is comprehension?What is an argument, or thesis?What are supporting details?How do readers determine what authors mean?What is a metaphor?What is a simile?What is vocabulary?What is an academic or scholarly vocabulary?How do we remember what we read?How can note-taking help us remember what we read?ArgumentationWhat is a quarrel?What is an argument?What is the difference between an argument and a quarrel?What is a thesis?What is a syllogism?What is logic? What is a fallacy?Why is argumentation necessary?How does one postulate a thesis?Continued…How does one argue a case?In what professions would one use argumentation? How or why?Where can one find examples of good argumentation?The Parts of SpeechHow does grammar organize language in a way that makes clear but complicated communication easier to understand?NounsWhat is a noun?What is the relationship between nouns and the other parts of speech?How important is a noun in a sentence?What functions do nouns perform in sentences?What is a singular noun? (Or: What does singular mean?)What is plural noun? (Or: What does plural mean?)What is a common noun?What is a proper noun?What is a concrete noun?What is a plural noun?What is the relationship between nouns and the other parts of speech?What is subject-verb agreement?What is the difference between a singular and a plural noun, especially in subject-verb agreement?What is a collective or mass noun, especially in subject-verb agreement?What is a compound noun?How are compound nouns formed and punctuated?How can writers use nouns to strengthen their writing?Can nouns be used as adjectives? Under what circumstances?What is the relationship between nouns and the other parts of speech?What are predicates?What is a noun phrase?How do verbs become nouns?What is a gerund?How do pronouns replace nouns?What is pronoun/antecedent noun agreement?VerbsWhat is a verb?What is the relationship between verbs and the other parts of speech?What are linking verbs?What are being verbs?What is an action verb?What is a helping or auxiliary verb?What are the principal parts of a verb?What is a regular verb?What is an irregular verb?What is a transitive verb?What is an intransitive verb?What are the tenses of verbs?What are the simplest tenses of verbs? What does tense describe in verbs?Continued…What is subject-verb agreement?How do writers use verbs to strengthen their writing?What is the difference between a strong verb and a weak verb?How can we use verbs in such a way that the eliminate the need for adjectives and adverbs in a sentence?What is case?What case of pronouns follow verbs?What is the “number” of a verb?What is a verbal?What is a gerund?What is a participle?What are the “tenses” of participles?AdjectivesWhat is an adjective?What is the relationship between adjectives and the other parts of speech?What is an intensifier?What is a qualifier?What is an article?What the definite article?What is an indefinite article?How do we use adjectives to make comparisons?What are the degrees of adjectives?What is the positive degree of adjectives?What is the comparative degree of adjectives?What is the superlative degree of adjectives?When it comes to adjectives in prose, how much is too much?How writers use adjectives to strengthen their writing?What is the difference between then and than?What is a cardinal number?What is an ordinal number?What is the difference between a cardinal and an ordinal number?What is a numerical adjective? How are numerical adjectives used in sentences?Can adjectives modify other adjectives?When do adjectives become detrimental to clear writing?What is a descriptive or limiting adjective?What is an attribute?When is it necessary to use an adjective in a sentence?AdverbsWhat is an adverb?What is the difference between an adjective and an adverb?What is the work of adverbs in sentences?How do adverbs work with, or modify, verbs?How do writers most wisely use adverbs?When do writers know they have overused adverbs in a sentence?Where in sentences are adverbs best used?How do adverbs describe time?Continued…How do adverbs tell us when an action occurred?What is the difference between then and than?How do writers use adverbs to modify entire sentences?What is an adverbial phrase?How do writers use adverbial phrases to modify entire sentences?Can adverbs modify other adverbs?What is a conjunctive adverb?PronounsWhat is a pronoun?What is the function of pronouns in sentences? What do pronouns replace in sentences?What is case?What are the cases of pronouns?What is the nominative case of pronouns? What is the function in sentences of the nominative case of pronouns?How is the nominative case of pronouns formed?What is the objective case of pronouns?What is the function in sentences of the objective case of pronouns?How is the objective case of pronouns formed?What is the possessive case of pronouns?What is the function in sentences of the possessive case of pronouns?How is the possessive case of pronouns formed?How do writers know when to use pronouns in sentences?How do writers know which case of pronouns to use in sentences? Can writers use pronouns as the subjects of sentences?What is an antecedent?What is pronoun/antecedent agreement?How do writers assure that pronouns and their antecedents align and agree? What is pronoun/verb agreement?What, in good writing, is the balance between nouns and pronouns?What does it mean to interrogate someone?What is interrogation?What is an interrogative pronoun? How many interrogative pronouns are there?How do writers use interrogative pronouns in sentences?How many interrogative pronouns are there?What does indefinite mean?What is an indefinite pronoun?How are indefinite pronouns used in sentences?What do indefinite pronouns say in sentences?Why do we need to use indefinite pronouns in sentences? What, outside of signifying members of a person’s family, does relative mean?What is a relative pronoun?How many relative pronouns are there?How are relative pronouns used in sentences?What does it mean to demonstrate? What does demonstrative mean?What are demonstrative pronouns?How are demonstrative pronouns used in sentences?Continued…What do demonstrative pronouns demonstrate?What are numbers when dealing with demonstrative pronouns?What does it mean to reciprocate?What is reciprocity?What is a reciprocal pronoun?How many reciprocal pronouns are there?How do we use reciprocal pronouns in sentences?What is reflexivity?What is a reflexive pronoun?How are reflexive pronouns used in sentences?What is an intensifier? What does it mean to intensify something?What is an intensive pronoun?How many intensive pronouns are there?How do we use intensive pronouns in sentences?PrepositionsWhat is a preposition? How are prepositions used in sentences?What is the function of prepositions in the English language?How do prepositions link nouns and pronouns?How do prepositions, as their name suggests, show position?What effect do prepositions have on pronouns?What case of pronouns follows prepositions?What effect do prepositions have on other parts of speech in sentences?How common is the use of prepositions in sentences?How do prepositions show relationships between nouns?What other parts of speech besides nouns work with prepositions? What are the most commonly used prepositions in English?Why is it a good idea to avoid ending sentences with prepositions?What is the difference between using prepositions in speech and in prose?What is a phrase?What is a prepositional phrase?How are prepositional phrases formed?How are prepositional phrases used in sentences?Why do writers use prepositional phrases in sentences?What is a compound preposition?How do compound prepositions function in sentences?ConjunctionsWhat is a conjunction? How do conjunctions function in sentences?What is the difference between then and than?Can subjects of sentences be joined with conjunctions?How so subject nouns in sentences joined conjunctions affect verb number?What is a coordinating conjunction?What is a subordinating conjunction?How do we use conjunctions with dependent or subordinate clauses?Which conjunctions do we use with dependent or subordinate clauses?Continued…What is a correlative conjunction?Why can’t correlative conjunctions stand alone?What is a conjunctive adverb?SentencesWhat is a sentence?What is a declarative sentence?What is an interrogative sentence?What is an imperative sentence? What are the fundamental elements of a sentence? What is the subject of a sentence? What is the predicate of a sentence?What is a grammatically complete sentence?What is a run-on sentence?What is a sentence fragment?What is a compound sentence?How do writers vary the structure of sentences?How do writers vary the length of sentences?What is a clause?What is a phrase?What is voice in a sentence?Social StudiesEssential Questions for Social Studies (Teacher-Authored MRF)What is a leader? What is leadership?Where do leaders get their power? (To whom are leaders accountable?)What are the limits on a leader’s power?Why is it necessary to limit a leader’s power?What is a court?What is justice?Who is responsible for fairness in society?How is social networking a good thing? How is it a bad thing?What is a society?What is a community?What is a union? Why do people form and/or join unions?What is “race”? What is ethnicity?What is loyalty?What is a political party? Why do we have political parties?What is a “state”? When we use the word “state,” what do we mean?What is opposition? How do we oppose something?What is patriotism?What is ethical conduct?What is virtue? What is virtuous behavior?What is competition?Continued…Is there such a thing as “fair” competition? What is a legislature? What is the function of a legislature?What does it mean to legislate? What is a legislator? What is partiality? How can one be, or avoid being, partial?What is impartiality?How can one be, or avoid being, impartial?What is integrity? How does one gain integrity? How does one gain—or lose—integrity?What is poverty?What is division of labor?What is social class?What is industry?What is economic activity? Why do people emigrate and immigrate?What is war?Are there different kinds of war?Why do wars start?What is diplomacy?What archaeology?What is sociology?What is economics?What is geography?How does geography influence the way—and where—people live.What is political science?What is a country?What is a nation? What is a nation-state?What is “race”?How many different races are there?What is ethnicity?What is technology?How do new technologies change societies and culture?What is law?Why do we need laws?What is the difference between law and justice?What is a legislature?What is legislation?What is culture?What are the elements of culture?What is population? What happens in societies and cultures when their populations grow?What is an idea?What happens when new ideas enter a society?Continued…What is royalty?What is nobility?What is a noble?What is an aristocracy?What is an aristocrat?How do aristocrats affect a society?What is wealth?How is wealth accumulated?Who control wealth? How and why?How does trade help wealth to accumulate?What is religion?What is paganism?What social and/or political phenomenon does religion cause?What is class?What is class structure?What is class antagonism?What is class warfare?What is a revolution?What is an empire?What is imperialism?What is a colony?What is colonialism?How do colonialism and imperialism impoverish nations?Why do people resist colonialism and imperialism?How do colonialism and imperialism cause armed conflict and revolution?What is a tribe?What is family?What is a nation?What is nationality?What is nationalism?What is the problem with nationalism?Essential Questions for United States HistoryWhere do leaders get their power? (To whom are leaders accountable?)What are the limits on a leader’s power?Why is it necessary to limit a leader’s power?What is a court?What is justice?Who is responsible for fairness in society?What is a political party? Why do we have political parties?What is a “state”? When we use the word “state,” what do we mean?What is opposition? How do we oppose something?What is patriotism?What is ethical conduct?What is virtue? What is virtuous behavior?Continued…What is competition?Is there such a thing as “fair” competition? What is a legislature? What is the function of a legislature?What does it mean to legislate? What is a legislator? What is partiality? How can one be, or avoid being, partial?What is impartiality?How can one be, or avoid being, impartial?What is integrity? How does one gain integrity? How does one gain—or lose—integrity?Why do people emigrate and immigrate?How many different races are there?What is law?Why do we need laws?What is the difference between law and justice?What is a legislature?What is legislation?What happens in societies and cultures when their populations grow?What is an idea?What happens when new ideas enter a society?How do aristocrats affect a society?What is mercantilism?What is a tariff?How did mercantilism contribute to causes of the American Revolution?What does “native” mean?Who were the Native Americans?What is Protestantism?What impact did Protestantism have on the political and social mentality of American colonists?What is the Enlightenment? How did the Enlightenment contribute to the movement of American independence?Who is John Locke?What is a treatise, particularly in the minds of American colonists?What is a revolution?What caused the American Revolution?What is a confederation?What were the Articles of Confederation?What was the purpose of the Articles of Confederation?What were the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?What is a constitution?Why did the United States need a constitution?What concerns drove the deliberations that gave shape to the United States Constitution?What is an amendment?Why was the United States Constitution amended?What are civil liberties?What is a civil society?What are rights?What are privileges?What is separation of powers?What is the executive branch?What are the responsibilities of the executive branch?What the limits of power in the executive branch?What is the legislative branch?What are the responsibilities of the legislative branch?What are the limits of power of the legislative branch?What is the judicial branch?What are the responsibilities of the judicial branch?What are the limits of the authority of the judicial branch?What is compromise?Why is compromise so important in a parliamentary and representative democracy?Procedural KnowledgeEssential Questions for Procedural Knowledge Focus (Teacher-Authored MRF)What does it mean to “comprehend” something?What is teaching? For what are teachers responsible?What is learning? For what are learners responsible?What does it mean to “synthesize”?What is reading? Why should we read?What is writing? Why should we write?What is prior knowledge? How do we use prior knowledge?How do people remember things?How is social networking a good thing? How is it a bad thing?What is memory? How do we remember things?What is thinking?What is a concept?What is “content”?What is studying? How does one study?What is skepticism? How can we be more skeptical?What is ethical conduct?What is virtue? What is virtuous behavior?What does it mean to be “educated?What is partiality? How can one be, or avoid being, partial?What is impartiality? How can one be, or avoid being, impartial?What is resilience? How can people be more resilient?What is persistence? How can people be more persistent?What is perseverance? How does one persevere? ................
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