module 4-6 /AN
| As we will learn throughout the course, Hip Hop culture entails much more than simply rap music. As identified by the Afrika Bambaataa, one of the three founding fathers of Hip Hop, the culture consists of 5 interrelated elements: 1) rapping (emceeing), 2) DJing, 3) B-boying/B-girling (breakdancing), 4) graffiti, and 5) “knowledge”. To this day we often hear the words Hip Hop used as an adjective to describe one’s style, sense of fashion, language, and even overall attitude. Comedians such as Katt Williams and Eddie Murphy have been described as “Hip Hop”. The NBA has been described as “Hip Hop”. Films, theatrical pieces, and paintings have fallen under this umbrella. Even Barack Obama has been labeled as “our first Hip Hop president”. Your assignment consists of a two-part essay. The first goal of the essay is to analyze what it means to be “Hip Hop”. What shared qualities or aesthetics do all of these various things share that qualify them as “Hip Hop”? Is it their appearances, political sensibilities, social status, treatment by society, paths to success, a combination of things, or none of the above? In short, I want you to dissect what qualities someone or something must possess in order to appropriately be deemed Hip Hop. The second goal of the essay is to take your conclusions from Part I and then choose a specific individual, organization, film, artistic creation etc. and convincingly outline why it too shares the Hip Hop aesthetic. The essay will be graded on out of 25 total points, which is 25% of your overall grade. At the end of every module or week (modules are all one week long), you will be required to submit a minimum of 300 NEW words of your rough draft. This can be very rough and can even be in the form of a detailed outline. The goal of this is to make sure you are at least consciously considering the assignment and getting pen to paper. Often times the best ideas are nothing more than finely tuned sculptures of once jumbled thoughts. I just want you to continually be contemplating, processing, and writing. As long as you submit at least 300 words of new thoughts and writing each week you will get full credit for the week (one point). Therefore, 5 out of the total 25 points can be earned simply from submitting new rough work by the completion of each of the first five modules (weeks). By Thursday of the sixth and final module, the complete finished product will be due and this will be where the remaining 20 points can be earned. Due Dates for the six total submissions can be found on Course Schedule Document found within the Course Content tab (all due by 11:59PM). 1) 1st 300 NEW words of outline (1 point) – Due at end of first module+ Plus 2 discussion posts GUIDELINES: In this course there are several different categories of graded assignments. Discussions play the primary role final grade determination (60%). Outlined below are the discussion guidelines, expectations, and grading rubric. Class Discussions: In each module you will have the assignment to respond to a “critical-thinking question”. Your responsibilities are two-fold. Your first job is to facilitate the discussion by adding a well-conceived, thought-provoking, original response. Secondly, you must post an insightful response to a fellow student’s comment. These discussions are the primary learning activity, as well as the main graded activity in this course. You will receive a grade for these discussions at the conclusion of each module, based upon the quality and quantity of your participation. The rubric used for evaluating all discussions is presented in the table below. Discussion Rubric: At the conclusion of each module, I evaluate your contribution to each reading discussion holistically* and assign a number grade which corresponds to my subjective evaluation of the teaching / learning value your submissions have added to the discussion. In addition to my subjective evaluation of how much teaching / learning value you have contributed to the discussion, I also use the following objective criteria: Your initial posts in each discussion must be submitted within 48 hours after the module begins. Each module starts at midnight (Eastern Standard Time), and you have two full days to submit your initial posts. You are required to participate in each discussion a minimum of two separate times on different days distributed evenly throughout the module. It is not acceptable to “clump” both of your posts together on the last day. In particular, it is not fair to other students who will then have no time to respond to your initial posts. I count your posts – so quantity is a factor. Two or three really good posts to a discussion will not earn a high grade – you need to do more than that. However, quality is a key component as well. For instance, just two insightful, lengthy posts will be rewarded more than ten responses consisting of no more than “I agree”. The more high quality posts you submit, the better you will do on the discussion. Four or five high quality posts will always earn maximum points. As I mentioned before, the quality of your submissions is a major factor. I read each post, and evaluate the quality of both the subject line and the message. MESSAGE The message is accurate, original, relevant, teaches us something new, and is well written. The best comments add substantial teaching presence to the course and stimulate additional thought about the issue under discussion. SUBJECT The subject field must be a complete sentence (with a subject, a verb, and a predicate) and must convey the main point of the message. The reader should be able to clearly understand the main point of the message just by reading the subject. *Holistic Grading: The discussions in this course replace the traditional exams, quizzes, or essays you may be used to. I determine how much you have learned by evaluating the quality and quantity of your discussion submissions. Holistic grading means I look at the quality and quantity of your participation “on the whole” rather than grade each discussion post separately. The quality of both the subject field and the message field are evaluated. The most significant single factor I look for is the teaching / learning value of the information you have added to the discussion. In general, the more you teach us in the discussion, the higher your grade will be. *You will notice that both the subject field and the message field are evaluated. Please see the following Discussion Rubrics: Quality Guidelines For Discussion Posts: Initial Comment Response to Fellow Student Subject Student captures in the subject line the main point of his/her original question. Participant responds to the original question with an equally engaging subject line (written in a complete sentence) that demonstrates the main point of the message. Message Student raises an original question that promotes critical thinking and engagement with the reading assignment(s). Participant creates messages that will move the ensuing discussion in a different but relevant direction while covering key issues in the reading assignment(s). Messages are also written on a college-level and in an appropriate style and grammar. Grading Rubric For Discussion Posts: Objective/Criteria Performance Indicators Weak Satisfactory Strong Discussion Posts (1 points) (3 points) (5 points) out of 5 I have to upload this assignment in two parts so for this part just module 4-6 |
