Learning at New York Academy is about more than writing in workbooks and memorizing facts. It is about engaging each student in learning and teaching them skills that have lasting value beyond the classroom.
Enduring understandings are statements summarizing important ideas and core processes that are central to a discipline. This knowledge has value outside the classroom and is something students will draw from again and again in their lives. These statements synthesize what students should understand—not just know or do—as a result of studying a particular content area. Enduring understandings are transferable and teach students to apply their knowledge to their lives rather than being forgettable facts and figures. They are big ideas that can be applied in a variety of ways to solve problems.
Essential questions require students to think deeply and process what they have learned. They cannot be answered with finality in a single lesson or a brief sentence, and definitely not with a simple yes or no—and that’s the point. Their aim is to stimulate thought, to provoke inquiry, and to spark more questions, including thoughtful student questions, not just pat answers. They are provocative and generative. They stimulate excitement in our students and engage them in the content they are learning. In this way our students begin to drive their own learning in a way that doesn’t stop when they leave school at the end of they day. Don’t be surprised if your student comes home with thoughtful questions for you!