Storyline Filter – Episodes and Key Questions – Storyline® Resources for Teachers

2. Episodes and Key Questions

Guiding Questions

Do coherent episodes frame the story structure? (setting, characters, daily rhythms/rules, incidents, and culmination)
Do they provide a logical progression and narrative sequence that learners can understand and embrace?
Do they keep the story moving and the learning rich?
Are they are a natural part of the story?

Are the key questions big and broad for a rich and wide array of student responses?
Are the key questions used to determine what students know and what they need to know?
Do they honor studentsʼ prior knowledge?
Do they support students in constructing their own models first?
Are the key questions motivating and meaningful?
Do the key questions support the story, providing a narrative thread throughout?
Do they allow students to effectively use their imaginations?
Do they encourage students to speculate, hypothesize, reflect, and ask further questions, using their higher level thinking skills?
Do they give students a sense of purpose?
Do they reach to the key concepts that are being taught?
Do the key questions fit the curriculum into the story in natural way?