How to Design a Novel Unit Using Essential Questions

It’s easy for a teacher to ask text-based questions related to the behavior of a character in a novel.  I typically read a passage out loud and then ask a question about the character’s decision in that moment and how it’s connected to other moments in the story. It’s also easy for students to answer text-based questions because they collect quotes during class discussions and use their notes to respond. 

Essential questions, on the other hand, require opening up the discussion to include current events, history, or ideas.  If we ask more open-ended, philosophical questions, students could consider a variety of sources to answer a meaningful question that applies to more than just the text in question.  Essential questions also allow students to consider their personal experiences in addition to the experiences of a protagonist.  The text becomes just one way to answer a larger, more complicated question that can be answered with additional research and sources or a simple journal response.

If students have to answer an essential question instead of a text-based question for an essay, they have to expand their understanding of the topic and connect literature to the world at large.

Here are some examples of text-based questions (TBQ) and essential questions (EQ):

Family in The Namesake

TBQ: How does Gogol make decisions based on his family's traditions and expectations?

EQ:  How can family traditions and expectations influence a person’s behavior?

Love in To the Lighthouse

TBQ: How does Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay express their love for each other?  Does Lily love Mrs. Ramsay? 

EQ: What does it mean to love someone?  How is love a spiritual concept?

Technology in Exit West

TBQ: What does technology symbolize in the novel?  How does it impact the relationship of the characters?

EQ: How can technology bring people closer and also divide them?  How can modern media depict reality but also distort reality? 

Faith in The Kite Runner

TBQ:  How and why does Amir’s faith develop – his belief in religion, morals, God, himself, and others? 

EQ:  What does it mean to have faith in something or someone?  Why do people stop practicing religion and why might someone start practicing a religion?

Place in Great Expectations

TBQ: How do places in the novel symbolize the emotional state of the character? How does the place in the passage represent the identity of a character or reveal the development of a character? 

EQ:  How can growing up and living in one place impact one’s development?

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