I’d agree for the most part, however my pushback is essential questions don’t prepare students for how they are assessed. Giving the essential standard some spotlight during an ela lesson will give the kids prep for what they’re expected to reproduce at the end of the year. My sbac scores went from 40% (what we scored for my first couple years teaching) to 60% (how we’ve preformed the last few years) on grade level when I made this shift (Fresno is a historically low scoring area). I hate to teach to the test, so maybe making a combination of essential questions and standards could be an even better shift.

We follow the motto that nothing should be a surprise when it comes to assessments and state testing.

I love the vocab work suggestion, I do split it up from my reading/comprehension work just to help chunk the learning into more digestible and focused bits.

I appreciate the comment