Ender’s Game Essential
Questions
Pick a Theme
You should have picked a theme from one of the following:
• Good/evil
• Heroes/villains
• Bullying
• Pick a theme that you
would like to write your
• War
argument essay about.
• Truth/lies
Write it on the line
• Love/hate
underneath “Possible
• Leadership
Theme from Ender’s Game”
• Empathy
Personal and Real World Connections
• These three boxes are for you to connect the
novel to real world experiences.
• These can be from the
news/history/personal/movies/tv shows/etc.
Personal and Real World Connections I made while reading this novel.
Personal and Real World cont.
• Write down both the part of the book AND
the connection it reminded you of.
• THESE SHOULD BE RELATED TO THE THEME
YOU PICKED.
• For example: If you picked the theme “War.”
– “The Russian civil war in Ender’s Game reminded
me of America’s Civil War.”
Here is what it
reminded me of
Here is the example from
the novel.
Personal and Real World Cont.
Personal and Real World Connections I made while reading this novel.
The Russian civil
war in Ender’s
Game reminded
me of America’s
Civil War
Think of three connections you made that relate
to the theme you picked. (8 minutes)
BIG QUESTIONS
• For the bottom three boxes, you need to look
at those three real world connections and
think of questions that relate to them and
your theme.
• Come up with three separate questions.
BIG QUESTIONS cont.
For example:
The Russian civil
war in Ender’s
Game reminded
me of America’s
Civil War
• If I look at my example
about the civil war, I can
look at it and think
about what caused that
war or what was the
outcome.
• An outcome is that
slavery ended. It solved
a problem. You can then
form a question based
on that.
• Real World Connection
The Russian civil
war in Ender’s
Game reminded
me of America’s
Civil War
• BIG QUESTIONS
Does war solve
problems?
• This question is both
arguable, and important
to argue about.
BIG QUESTIONS
Some BIG QUESTIONS that are REAL WORLD and reflect on the theme I have chosen for the story.
Does war solve
problems?
Write a question for each of your real world
connections. (8 minutes)
My Essential Question
• Look at the three questions you just came up
with.
• First, are any of theme specific to the book?
– Example: Is Ender a good leader?
• If so, you CANNOT use that question. The
reason is because you will not find ANY real
world examples to support that, as Ender was
not a real person (sorry to burst anyone’s
bubble)
My Essential Question Cont.
• Second, is it arguable? Is it important to argue
about?
• If not, then it is not a good essential question.
• Use your notes on the other side of the page
to make sure it is a good essential question.
My Essential Question Cont.
• Finally, select one that fills all the
requirements. If none do, then you may want
to revise some of your questions.
• If they all fill the requirements, pick the one
that interests you the most. Write it on the
line underneath “My Essential Question is”
My Essential Question Cont.
• Congratulations! You now have a topic AND a
TITLE for your paper.
• Write it again on the outline passed out to
you.
• Turn this in to the basket for Mrs. Cox to check
off. Remember your question so you will be
able to start doing research on your topic.
Lab Time Today
• You will be going to the Lab today to start your
research. (Sit in your assigned computers)
• You will need the green paper you received
from Mrs. Bramall on Wednesday.
• Open a google doc and you will copy and
paste the web addresses of all the websites
you MAY want to use into that document. Try
to find at least 5. You may not use all of these
but it is always good to have several options.