View Student Projects by Term
Students of the “erm-BYAH!-O O O“: Singing Through Life practicum course produce three major ethnographic projects each term. These consist of:
- Lullaby Podcast – a co-produced podcast and accompanying report having to do with the common experience of singing lullabies,
- Solo Singing and Autoethnography – an autoethnographic piece and performance video pertaining to learning and sharing a chosen song in a public setting, and
- Singing and Humanity Blog – a final piece of reflexive writing somehow discussing the role of singing in human life.
PROJECT PROMPTS
- Project #1 – Lullaby Podcast + Blog (25%)
- In assigned pairs or groups of 3, students co-produce a podcast episode and accompanying blog post for publication. The episode centers around the subject of “lullabies,” and provides students with the opportunity to evaluate how this intimate human activity reveals both our cultural differences, on the one hand, and species-wide similarities, on the other. As the subjects interviewed will ideally be the students’ own family members, it also presents a unique opportunity for students to acknowledge the role that singing has played in their own lives since infancy.
- Episodes are to be approximately 35 minutes in length, and must include contributions from each team member. Accompanying blog reports are to be between 1,000 – 2,000 words.
- This assignment is scaffolded, with three major components:
- From the start of the term, students will maintain a Project #1 Doc (5%), co-developed with their group mates and hosted on our course group site, https://knit.ucsd.edu/groups/singing-through-life/docs/. The upkeep of this document includes the development of interview questions, field notes, and the ethnographic evaluation of the interview and podcast-creation experience.
- First drafts (7.5%) of the episode and accompanying blog post are due on Sunday, July 11 by 11:59pm. Students will receive feedback within a week’s time.
- Final drafts (12.5%) are due on Friday, July 23 by 11:59pm.
- In assigned pairs or groups of 3, students co-produce a podcast episode and accompanying blog post for publication. The episode centers around the subject of “lullabies,” and provides students with the opportunity to evaluate how this intimate human activity reveals both our cultural differences, on the one hand, and species-wide similarities, on the other. As the subjects interviewed will ideally be the students’ own family members, it also presents a unique opportunity for students to acknowledge the role that singing has played in their own lives since infancy.
- Project #2 – Solo Singing and Autoethnography (w/ Video) (25%)
- Throughout the course, students will be guided to explore their voices and selves through mastering a song of their choosing. The experiences involved, documented in a field journal, will culminate in a reflexive piece of writing to be published as a blog post, alongside a video produced by each student of their performance of their song. This project centers each individuals’ personal journey- it does not aim to reward “skillful” performances over “unskilled” performances, as such conceptions are rigid and unhelpful to us in this course. That said, this project does require students to embrace vulnerability and share their voices.
- Songs are to be no more than 3 minutes in length (it is acceptable to learn a segment of a larger work), and performance videos must demonstrate thought behind their presentation elements (i.e. lighting, sound, location, performance persona). Accompanying blog posts are to be between 1,000 – 2,000 words.
- This assignment is scaffolded, with three major components:
- From the start of the term, students will maintain a Project #2 Doc (5%), hosted on our course group site. The upkeep of this document includes the development of autoethnographic writing around the significance of singing specific songs, and the evaluation of the learning, sharing, and video-creation experience of solo singing.
- First drafts (7.5%) of the blog post and accompanying video are due on Tuesday, July 20 by 11:59am. Students will receive Peer Review feedback in class.
- Final drafts (12.5%) are due on Sunday, July 25 by 11:59pm.
- Throughout the course, students will be guided to explore their voices and selves through mastering a song of their choosing. The experiences involved, documented in a field journal, will culminate in a reflexive piece of writing to be published as a blog post, alongside a video produced by each student of their performance of their song. This project centers each individuals’ personal journey- it does not aim to reward “skillful” performances over “unskilled” performances, as such conceptions are rigid and unhelpful to us in this course. That said, this project does require students to embrace vulnerability and share their voices.
- Final Reflection – Singing and Humanity Blog (15%)
- The final large assignment for the course is a self-reflective ethnographic essay in the form of a 750-1,500 word blog post, to be published publicly to our KNIT course website. The content and theme of the blog, though personal to each student, is to be about the role of the voice in human life. Students are expected to draw upon course readings, engagement with course community partners, in-class student and public activities, and their reflexive writing on such subjects in developing their essays.
- This assignment is scaffolded. A living document holding students’ observations (4.5%), an assignment proposal (3%), and the completed blog post (7.5%) are the primary components of this assignment.
- From Week 1 onwards, students will maintain a Singing and Humanity Doc (4.5%), hosted on our group site. Topics to be discussed are in-class conversations with community partners, musical interactions with community partners (in their domains, as possible), in-class student and public activities, course materials, related life experiences, and beyond [everything is potential data]. There is a Doc Checkpoint on Sunday, July 18 at 11:59pm, and students should be prepared to share their writing without notice in lecture throughout the term.
- The Assignment Proposal (3%) for the Final Reflection Blog is due on Sunday, July 18 by 11:59pm. It is to be approximately 250 words, and should concisely summarize the intended content of the blog. Students should take care to articulate a primary focus or theme for their post, draft out a thesis (it can be observational in nature, or inquisitive), and list the representative experiences they plan to expand upon in their final writing. Proposals will be discussed with Jasper during individual meetings on Thursday, July 22 in lieu of regular lecture.
- The Final Reflection (7.5%) is due by our final class meeting, at 11:59am Thursday, July 29.
PROJECT RUBRICS