FNMI Integrated Lesson Plan

Katie Feehan, Jordon Graschuk, Hana Rogstad

EDUC 3603 – F
January 30, 2019

Lesson Title/Focus: Class Length: Subject: Grade:

Percussion – Cree Round Dance Song 30 minutes Music 2-5

PROGRAM OF STUDY OUTCOMES

GLE:
● Awareness and appreciation of a variety of music, including music of the many
cultures represented in Canada
● Insight into music through meaningful musical activities
SLE:
● Concept: Expression
○ 3. Music may express our feelings
○ 6. Music reflects our feelings about holidays, seasons, our country and cultural
heritage.
● Skill: Listening
○ 8. Follow a story told by music.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson students will be able to:
1. Describe how music may express our feelings through playing drums (Remembering).
2. Discuss how the drumming featured in the Round Dance song reflects our feelings
about Cree culture (Understanding).
3. Demonstrate their ability to follow a story told in The Drum Calls Softly (Applying).

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

● The Drum Calls Softly Audio

o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9RztWuWkd0
● Chairs
● Hand Drums and Djembe drums
● Chairs
● Talking stick

PREPARATION AND LOGISTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

● Set up “The Drum Calls Softly” Youtube Video

● Set up chairs into a circle around the class prior to students arrival (if possible).
● Write on the board the Guiding Questions for the Story

PROCEDURE
Introduction Time
 ● Have the students enter and sit in a circle on chairs. 2 min
● Hello class welcome to music class and lets take this time to
acknowledge that the land we are on is the Treaty 7 Territory and the
traditional territory of the Blackfoot, Piikani, Siksika, Stoney Nakoda and
Tsuut’ina First Nations.
● We are also learning about Cree music so we need to acknowledge
Cree nations Traditional territory is found in Northern Alberta. It is
important to recognize territory because it shows respect for Aboriginal
people.
● Recap: Last Music class we read the book “The Song within My Heart”.
Which introduced Cree culture and that music is part of their societies’
politics and social structure. We also learned that a Pow wow is a social
gathering held in the Cree communities that has them singing, dancing
and drumming.
● Pre-assessment questioning: “What did the young Cree boy find out
about the importance of the drums in a pow pow?” Answer: They are a
way of telling the story in their changes of rhythm and constant beating.
● Today we will be listening to a Cree round dance and story and see
how the drum beat affects the story and our feelings.
Body Time

Listen to the 1. Introduce The Drum Calls Softly: 6

story: ● Explain that this story is a fiction book written by min
author David Bouchard who identifies as Metis. He
writes many stories on First Nation culture and
collaborates with other First Nation artists.
● This audio story is accompanied by Steve Wood, who
is the Northern Cree leader, and others singing and
drumming in a round dance.
2. Guiding Questions
● Show and read the guiding questions to the students
● Remind students to keep these guiding questions in
mind as they listen to the story.
● What is the importance of cycles in the story?
Potential Answers: Day and night, cycles of the moon,
the seasons, etc.
● What interactions did the reader have with nature?
Was is importance, positive? Potential Answers:
The Tipi is near the creek, giving thanks to mother
earth, The water speaks in circles of life.
● From the story what can you learn about round
dances? Potential Answers: Social, From evening to
morning time, drums played in the center and dancer
circle around them.
3. Set the Atmosphere and Remind Respectful listening
● Turn down the lights and encourage the students to
relax and put their full attention to listen to the story.
● The students can either close their eyes or look at the
 illustrations that go along with the story.
● Remind the students that we listen and take in the
music, story and thoughts and to not disrespect the
music and story.
4. Play: “The Drum Calls Softly” (Until 4:58)

5. After the story is over, turn on the lights.

First 1. Small Discussions 8
Discussion: ● Have the students talk first with their elbow buddies min
about the guided questions that are on the board. (~2
minutes)
● While they are talking walk around the room and help
students who are struggling to come up with ideas.
2. Class Discussion
● Introduce the talking stick in the circle. Explain that the
talking stick is used in many indigenous nations and
when someone is holding the talking stick they are
feeling allowed to express their thoughts and feeling.
Only the person with the talking stick may speak.
Everyone else must listen respectfully.
● As a class, discuss these guiding questions by passing
the talking stick to students who want to answer.
Play Along: 1. Hand out Hand drums and Djembe Drums 8
● Get students to carefully grab either a hand drum or a min
djembe drum and set it front of their chair.
● There is no instruction to play yet so there should not
be any playing.
● Ask: “How were the drummers and dancers set up in
the story?” Answer: drummers in the middle, dancers
in the outer circle. However, we won't be dancing this
lesson, just drumming, so we are in a circle to
represent the circle and connectedness.
● Disclose that we do not have traditional Cree Hand
drums that are usually played for the round dance.
Cree hand drums typically are made with a birch wood
frame and deer hide head.
● Even without the real drums we can still get the feeling
of the beating drum.
2. Play Along with Song
● Explain this time they will play along with the beat
played in the story. Also paying attention how the beat
affects their and the readers’ feelings. When the drum
is not playing then they can rest their hands on their
laps.
● Dim the lights and play “The Drum Calls Softly” and a
Minute on the round dance music. End the video at
6:00.
3. Small Discussions
 ● In elbow buddies talk about how of it felt to play along.
● How does the drumbeat make you feel? Potential
Answers:Energetic, connected to peers, connected to
heartbeat, etc..
● Did you connect with the story more while playing
along?
● When the whole class was playing along how did
you feel about the connection between eachother?
● What is the role of the drum in the story? Potential
Answers: in charge of telling the story, calls everyone
in, joins everyone together, etc..
● Then have a couple students share their feelings with
the talking stick.
Final 1. Class Discussion 8
Discussion: ● Ask concluding questions, one at a time, to get the min
students to connect the round dance with feelings and
Cree Culture.
● Key questions:
● What significances does drum playing have in
Cree Culture?
● What stories are the drums telling?
● What feelings could come from a round dance?
Conclusion Time

● Thank the students for their responses and participating respectfully

throughout the lesson. 5
● Have the students put away the hand drums and djembes min
● Stack the chairs
● Exit “Slip”: As the students are leaving the classroom have them tell you
something they have learned about Cree culture, drumming or how drumming
made them feel.

Assessment
● The assessment will be done through observation the responses to the guided
questions in small groups and in class discussions.
● Exit Slip

Rationale:
Our main objective with this lesson plan for the integration of FNMI content in a
music class is to teach FNMI musical content through their culture, rather than teaching
about the culture. The ways in which we set out to achieve this goal are through content and
methodology. For content, we chose the Cree round dance as a medium for this
representation of culture. The round dance accompaniment “consists of a group of singers
striking hand drums in unison. The dancers join hands to for a large circle, symbolically
indicating the equality of all people in this circle” (native-dance.ca, 2019). By nature, this art
form of the Cree people is performed to be symbolic of their oneness. This opens the
opportunity for a dialogue regarding the cultural values and beliefs in an immersive and
respectful environment.
Our methodology in this lesson, in regards to teaching through the culture, is to try to
emulate the feeling and set of these round dances. The first step towards this is to accent
the circle. Rather than sitting the students down in their rows and teaching about how the
Cree might perform this, it is important that we replicate with authenticity. Another tenet of
Indigenous culture is the importance of oral story in their culture. Therefore, an appropriate
introduction to this activity is to listen respectfully to a story. As well, it was crucial to choose
literature from FNMI authors, who can assist us in understanding through their culture. This
helps us validate the positionality of the material, and limit the presence of our implicit
Western bias. Finally, we teach this lesson through the feeling of the beats, the story being
told, and the intimacy of the symbolic circle. Rather than saying, “you will hit the drum every
quarter note,” quarter notes being a Western music construct, we learn the beat through the
experience. The music curriculum is often rife with learner expectations (outcomes) rooted
deeply in Western music history with little room for interpretation, but there are some that
may be adapted effectively. The outcomes we have chosen require little analysis to see the
opportunities for integration. With the proper, conscientious approach, we may use these to
teach through the culture and provide a respectful implementation in the classroom.

Source (for rationale):

Cree Round Dances. (n.d.). Retrieved January 30, 2019 from http://native-
dance.ca/en/renewal/cree-round-dances/?
fbclid=IwAR0Az5HHG2TsgIhOGPJLc495y4QSHXk9d9k_YRe4dGLZslZXtzb_oixeOCo