Addressing of Essential Questions
Essential questions are issues in the content that compel the student to consider, to reflect, and to articulate responses. They require the student to analyze the content and make connections within a universal and personal scope. The following are suggested essential questions the students should be able to consider after reading Moving to Higher Ground. The classroom teacher may wish to add or eliminate questions based on student needs and interests or time allotment. Below are a few examples.
Writing and Language: What impact does a writer’s style have on the reader’s understanding of a text? How does the “language” of individual art forms (music, painting, literature, etc.) convey universal truths? How does the rhetorical skill of “listening” affect personal and social relationships?
Music and the Arts: What role does art play in world cultures? In your country’s culture? In your personal culture? How is jazz a metaphor for democracy?
Social and Philosophical: What is the value of trans-generation respect and understanding? How and why does today’s music differ from that of your parents and grandparents? Do you believe that mankind is both “grand” and “absurd”?