The secret to teaching may be as simple as asking students good questions--and then giving them the opportunity to find the answers. The author shares how he uses essential questions that set the class off on an inquiry. Rather than consuming information that he distributes and then repeating it on a test, students carry out their own investigations and construct their own understandings--through traditional kinds of writing as well as through other forms that express what they have learned and want to communicate. Launching students on an inquiry that matters apprentices them in a way that promotes deep understanding and animated learning. In this article, the author describes essential questions, what makes an essential question effective, and what an inquiry unit looks like. He, then, describes how inquiry gets to the heart of the common core standards.