Listening:

• Listen and make notes to prep for the listening quiz (LQ2) (for Thursday).

Reading:

• Complete the readings, making notes in anticipation of a short reading quiz/in-class written exercise.

Writing — due on Tuesday!:

1. Bibliography is due!

2. Expand the following McLuhan quote with at least one additional pairing, and then either expand or comment upon the last two sentences in a 21st-century-perspective-expanding way (however you interpret that!):

“The telephone: speech without walls.

The phonograph: music hall without walls.

The photograph: museum without walls.

The electric light: space without walls.

The movie, radio, and TV: classroom without walls.

Man the food-gatherer reappears incongruously as information-gatherer. In this role, electronic man is no less a nomad than his paleolithic ancestors.”

Final class meeting Imagined FAQs:

How do I submit my podcast?

Try uploading it as an attachment for a comment to this blog post.  If that doesn’t work, try emailing it to me.  If that doesn’t work, upload it to some place you can access before class on Thursday (like Google Drive) OR bring it on a thumb drive so you can transfer it to the computer.  In short, we all want to listen to it together in class on Thursday during our podcast showcase extravaganza!

Do I need to resubmit the draft of my script?

Yes.  You can email that to me, or you can bring a hard copy with you on Thursday.  Your updated script should reflect the comments you received back on the draft.  It should include citations for the research you undertook to complete your project.  (Use footnotes, Chicago-style format — if you have never done that, the “insert footnotes” feature on your word processing program does it automatically.  DO allow the program to automatically number them for you — it will save you potential nightmares).  The script need not exactly match the final audio recording, but it IS your master plan and should reflect that.

When did you say our final exam will be?

By popular demand, we decided the final exam will be submitted electronically, via email, to me, by the last day of exams.  You remember!  More information on that will be forthcoming on Thursday.

Are there other assignments due on Thursday?

Yes, there are two short readings posted under “Week 15” on the course website.  We will work with the ideas and issues raised by those in class on Thursday, so you need to read them in order to be prepared.

Listening:

• Listen and make notes to prep for the listening quiz (LQ6).

Reading:

• Complete the readings in the usual fashion.

Writing:

• Mini-eval sums?  Given that the readings cover 7 general topics, write a short reaction/pithy observation about each one (1-2 sentences).  One potentially useful approach might be to answer the following question 7 times: what insight does this material give you about the 1960s?   [Note that you are free to include the musical examples into these reflections.]

How’s that draft coming?

Listening:

• Listen and make notes to prep for the listening quiz (LQ5).

Reading:

• Complete the readings, making notes along the way.  [I do recommend, by the way, that you write in your book.]  Be prepared to “say something smart” (that is, contribute 1 or more pithy observations or thoughts to discussion of the readings).

Writing:

• See the course schedule: 2 evaluative summaries related to podcast project and a “thick description” of a musical example) due today. 

Listening:

• Listen and make notes to prep for the listening quiz (LQ4).

Reading:

• Complete the readings, making notes along the way.  [I do recommend, by the way, that you write in your book.]

Writing:

• Identify 3 aspects of the reading that connect in some way to an idea, development, trend, person already encountered in course material (class material, readings, listenings, your own research, etc.).  [This is open-ended, but I am looking for you to make connections.  We will talk about these.]
• I recommend that you complete 1 of the 2 evaluative summaries related to podcast project are due next week (along with a “thick description” of a musical example). 

Listening:

• Listen and make notes to prep for the listening quiz (LQ3).

Reading:

• Complete the readings, making notes in anticipation of a short reading quiz/in-class written exercise.

Writing:

• Updated Bibliography (responding to written feedback from returned papers) AND a minimum of 2 evaluative summaries related to podcast project are due today.

Listening:

• Listen to Music Group 3 and make notes.

(NOTE that the listening quiz (LQ3) for this set will occur at our Week 6 meeting, so you have more time with these; you will need it in order to fine tune your ears to distinguish some of these country blues examples in particular).

Reading:

• Complete the readings, making notes in anticipation of our class discussion.

Writing:

1. Evaluative Summary of the excerpt from Karl Hagstrom Miller’s book Segregating Sound.

2. Evaluative Summary of one source from your own bibliography.

NOTE: an “evaluative summary” is exactly what it sounds — an opportunity to summarize the main ideas in a reading, and then to reflect/evaluate/respond to them as it relates to our course material and/or your project.

Other:

Identify an audio selection that is relevant to your podcast project.  Ideally, you should bring in an mp3 file of that musical example.  (If you are not sure how to do that, then bring in the example in some other digital form: either a CD, or a YouTube file, for instance.)  Email me if you need more coaching!

Listening:

• Listen and make notes to prep for the listening quiz (LQ1).

Reading:

• Complete the readings, making notes in anticipation of a short reading quiz/in-class written exercise.

Writing:

• Draft a short 1- page (no more than 2-page) proposal for a final podcast project.  It is okay if you explore more than one idea, and if the writing takes on a reflective, journal-style tone.  The aim is to get you thinking through ideas in a way that leads to a workable and exciting topic.