Both the process and the product of identifying your essential questions is  valuable.

The process of identifying Essential Questions forces you to explicitly identify what matters in your course and more importantly, why it matters. These points of inquiry, like the big ideas and enduring understandings are personal to you. They reflect not only your voice, but your unique insights. They lead students to make the connections you design for them.  Brainstorm 10 essential questions for your course using the above criteria. This is hard work. Give yourself some time. Think big picture. Why does your content matter? Who cares about the information you teach and why? What important life questions does your content shed light on? What questions are worth returning to while exploring your  content?

The product of your labors, your essential questions, can be asked of your students explicitly, or they may guide your design from behind the curtain. The decision is yours. Some cohorts of students understand implicitly the fundamental reasons why a topic is relevant while exploring content. In other cases, student inquiry is greatly facilitated by asking previously unasked challenging questions. Either way, each essential question can guide the form and structure of a learning module or unit. The important thing is that your  questions be sufficiently engaging so that they bear returning to with each new layer of material and new student understandings.