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Thankfully our district went through and created an essential question and 3 to 5 big ideas for each unit. I like them, but almost feel like I need to keep them as the overall learning expectation. Then add in more granular learning targets. We utilized this in our Algebra 2 curriculum last year.
For instance, one of my favorite big idea questions we have students answer is:
How do I incorporate complex numbers into my understanding of quadratics?
The essential question for the unit is:
How are quadratics modeled in real-life?
When I keep my focus zoomed out at these questions, I am a better teacher. However, we did use learning targets that sometimes would align well under a singular big idea question, but often the learning target would overlap in these questions. For me, the big ideas/essential question is the why we are doing the math. The learning targets are more procedural skills.
I am not this is correct thinking, but that is where I am at this moment.
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