Pre-reading questions for The Way to Rainy Mountain. You should only write lists in response to these questions. We will write exploratory responses in class on Tuesday and Weds and Thursday of this week. Before you begin using this guide, read it all the way through, just to orient yourself to the amount of critical thinking I'm asking you to do and to the overall purpose and direction that I'm suggesting you can take with this work.

1. Look at this book--page through it randomly. What do you notice about it that is unusual in terms of layout, design, arrangement, pictures?

2. Before you read the introduction, think about these questions and jot down lists of any ideas that come to your mind:

Travelling: what sort of journeys or trips have you taken that changed you? What was it about the trip that made you change? What motivated you initially to take the trip? What did you learn during the trip that surprised you? How did you feel at the end of the trip?

Grandparents: do you have a special relationship with any of your grandparents or other folder amily member? If so, what are the elements of that relationship that are important to you? What have you learned from your grandparents about your heritage or background? Do you have any particular strong and last images of any of your grandparents? If so, describe them. Do you know the history of your grandparents' lives? What do you know about their lives that you know is/was really important to them?

3. After you have read the introduction, but before you read further into the book, think about these questions and jot down lists of any ideas that come to mind:

Storytelling: what family members are known as good storytellers? what sort of stories do they tell at family gatherings? why do they tell these stories? how does the rest of the family respond to these stories?

History: How have you learned about American history? what are the best ways, in your opinion, to learn about history? why should we bother to learn history?

Religious Beliefs and Rituals: What sort of religious beliefs and rituals are important to you and/or your family? Are there particular religious stories that are most important in your family or to you individually? What images are linked to religious beliefs for you? what objects are associated with religious beliefs for you?

Native American History: What are the main facts that you know about the history of Native Americans? How did you learn this information? What would you like to know about? Why might it be important or useful to learn about the history of Native Americans from their perspectives?

Personal experiences: How do you record important moments in your own experience or history? do you take photographs? do you write in a journal? do you write a blog? do you post or text news bites on Facebook, My Space, or Twitter? Do you send emails to friends and/or family members to let them know what you're doing? What is the most important format of communicating your personal experiences (for you) to friends and family?

4. Preparing for class discussion. After you have read all of The Way to Rainy Mountain once through, scan back through it, page by page, and  make a list of some of the questions that arose for you as you read. Try to write about five questions.  Remember that thinking of questions as you read or afterwards is the best way to enhance your understanding of a book or essay, and this does not mean that you are a stupid reader! Your own questions will help you understand this book more than anything else, and your own responses to your questions will lead you in the best direction for gaining further insight into this work. Writers write in order to provoke their readers into thinking up questions, not to dictate ideas or feelings.

5. Linking this book into the course: what connections come to mind between this book and The National Parks? What are some perspectives from this book that you can carry along with you as you explore more about The National Parks?