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Possible Probing Questions These questions are the very basic question that can act to spark discussions within
your classes. They are only guidelines, and are organized consecutively through the
lessons. The final section in each lesson category here contains questions which can be
used to summarize at the end, testing for comprehension! Lesson 1: What is the main topic in the article? What supporting material should you look for in the article? How can you check your information to ensure that you have not left your main topic? What elements come together to form the best working group of peers? Can you identify one specific piece of information that applies to every Native group? If not, chat does this tell us about Native cultures? Summarize: What is one important element from each Native Group studied in this section? Why is any of this important? What does all of this information tell us about Native cultures in Canada? Lesson 2: What parts of life would be important to Native cultures? What parts of life are important to our culture? What information was important in supporting your opinion? Summarize the information. Based on what you know, what role did your topic play in the society? How did your topic fit into the society? What similarities do our cultures share? What are some elements that are very different between our cultures? Summarize: Why was it important to study the smaller aspects of Native culture? Is that culture radically different from ours or are there similarities? What are some
of the similarities? Lesson 3: What are some key words in this passage? What words describe those key words? Interpret a possible meaning from this passage? How would you do this? What questions are left unanswered? What do you think a Totem Pole would be used for? Do you think Native societies would go to all of the work in creating a Totem Pole if it was not important? What do each section of a Totem Pole look like? Why would so many of the sculptures on the poles look like animals? Are Native cultures close to the environment? How do you know this? Totems are sacred to Native cultures. What do we have in our culture that can be considered sacred? What does this tell us about the spirituality of Native cultures? Summarize: Why is it important, especially in Native Studies, to learn to interpret information? How do Native cultures pass on their history to future generations? Why do Native cultures have the Totem Pole? Lesson 4: What are the main elements in music? What do you hear when you listen to music (any type)? What categories does that information fall into? What is the purpose of these elements? Describe the musical elements used in the Native Music. Do those elements effectively support the song type? Why would these be such large contrasts in the sound of different songs? What are the differences between two contrasting pieces of "our" music? Summarize: What is the overall purpose of music? What similarities do our music and Native music share? Are all Native musics the same? How can you account for the differences? Lesson 5: What is the driving force within the music? Is there one dominant instrument? What is it? The rhythms are different from one song to the next. Why might this be? What is the function of different sounds in the harmonies between contrasting songs? Can the same thoughts and ideas apply with rhythm? Summarize: Why are rhythms so dominant and so important in Native Music? Tell me one song type, and then say the rhythm to me. Lesson 6: What can a melodic line do? Does it stay the same always or does is change? How does it change? After testing our generalizations, do you believe that we have accurately summarized the action of the melodic line in Native music? Why? Summarize: Describe the melodic line in Native music? Why do you think that they stay so close to the traditional melodic construction? Lesson 7: What key words are used in describing the drum? What do those words describe to us? How important are instruments in our society? What function do the instruments serve in our society? What information would be useful in helping us to understand Native Instruments? How can you organize the instruments? Summarize: What purpose do instruments serve in Native music? Is that purpose any different from the purpose of instruments in the music you listen to daily? What elements can you look to in organizing instruments? Lesson 8: Pick out some important parts of this photograph. Why are those parts important? What information do they provide? What does all of this tell us about the role of Native music? Summarize: Why is interpretation important? What information did we acquire today by using interpretation? How do you make your interpretations valid? What is the role of Native Music? Where is it performed? For which reasons do they perform music? |
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