Living Lab Seminar Activity (Final) Topic: • Intercultural Knowledge and Competence
Professor Meagan A. Sylvester
English & African American Studies
Living Lab Winter Project
Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity
Living Lab Seminar Activity (Final)
The featured course is AFR 1311 – African American Music/Caribbean Music
The aim of this activity to encourage students to use the Think-Pair-Share model together with fieldwork to foster the group work approach to examine and analyze the impact of Africa and African retentive cultures on the music of the diaspora, namely The Caribbean, The United States and Latin America.
Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?
The specific learning objective that the activity will speak to is:
Analyze how African cultures have influenced and shaped African American and Caribbean music
Learning Goals are as follows:
Content-Based Learning Outcomes
– Analyze how African culture(s) have influenced and shaped
– African American and Caribbean music;
– Discuss the creative contributions of African American and Caribbean music;
– Analyze African American and Caribbean music in
terms of their rhythmic and stylistic variations;
-Identify some of the major musicians who have made significant and notable contributions to African American and Caribbean music.
General Education Learning Outcomes
– Students will develop critical thinking and writing skills.
– Student will develop an appreciation of music from the Africana world.
Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?
– At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? See details below
– How much classroom time do you devote to it? First 8 weeks of the semester
– How much out-of-class time is expected? 2 weeks
Step 1. Lecture and Introduction to Africa, its colonial past, slavery , transatlantic slave trade history and settlement in The Americas and the Caribbean and the transference of music culture
Step 2. Think – Pair – Share (Part 1 – in the classroom)
Step 3. Visit to: (i) music lab at Brooklyn Academy of Music ( BAM) ; (ii) Visit to the Brooklyn Museum for First Saturdays for Brooklyn Pop Up Market and African Music Performance in Beaux-Arts Court (iii) music studio session at Crystal Sounds Studio, Brooklyn known for producing some of the major stars of Caribbean music.
Step 4. Return to the classroom Think – (Pair – Share (Part 2)
Step 5. Class presentations on learnings
Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?
Preparation for activity:
– Attend lectures
– Read assigned texts
– Complete assignments
– Participate in class discussions
– Watching films and videos on African Music, Caribbean Music and African American Music
– Instructions given to students:
Outline is praepared withcues to note and document durig field visits
– Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?
This is a high stakes assignment
Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?
– How do you assess this activity? and What assessment measures do you use?
Step 4. Return to the classroom Think – Pair – Share (Part 2)
Step 5. Class presentations on learnings
– How did you develop your rubric?
Group Presentation of the Musical Genres listed below:
Hip Hop and Rap
Reggae and DanceHall
Calypso and Soca
Reggaeton
Afro Beat
Students are divided into groups of three or four. Each group has been assigned differing musical genres for which they will prepare a critical assessment of lyrics and sound and comment on the genre’s positives and negatives to the African diaspora musical landscape.
Format: Make a brief ten (10) slide PowerPoint presentation on assigned genre to be followed by analysis and discussion lead off which will include:
Characteristics of the Genre
History
Influence on the world stage
Popularity
Success Factors
Regional Influences and Social Movements
Fusion and Cross-Genre Collaborations
Technology
Ideology and Expression
Commercialization
– Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?
Yes
Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?
– How well did this activity work in your classroom?
This activity worked really well in the classroom. Students were open and engaged in learning about new cultures and musical traditions of the African diaspora.
– Would you repeat it?
Yes
-Why or why not?
Because it was hugely successful
-What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them?
Scheduling of students to attend all three activities. Solved by providing transport oiptions to alleviate challenges to get to the location.
-What, if anything, would you change?
Nothing to change
-What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?
Students were open and engaged in learning about new cultures and musical traditions of the African diaspora.
Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.
This activity will ensure that the General Education rubric of Intercultural Knowledge and Competence is achieved along the lines indicated below:
The intercultural knowledge and competence rubric suggests a systematic way to measure our capacity to identify our own cultural patterns, compare and contrast them with others, and adapt empathically and flexibly to unfamiliar ways of being.
Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab
https://www.canva.com/design/DAG4U7gAlHs/ui8Mz9uz9tfZJoNduDLCZw/edit?utm_content=DAG4U7gAlHs&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton