What have you sounded like to them?

Soundscapes Research Project1 20 Points
(TPE 1.1, 1.3, 1.5, 4.8, 5.3, 6.2)
Create a soundscape that addresses the question: What does accessible and equity education sound
like? For this project you can either choose to represent a specific concept (e.g., microaggressions,
intersectionality) or accessible and equitable education in a broad context. This project includes two
parts: a 2-3 minute soundscape and a 4-5 page paper (roughly 1250 words) that includes 7-10 citations
and describes both your process and explanation of your soundscape. You will also be required to
complete a self-assessment and include it with your paper submission. See assignment description for
more details.
Soundscape Project 20 points1
“Sounds do not follow well-trodden scholarly tropes and metaphors. There is no gaze to be had,
no scholarly vision to be described. Instead, we are in the world of sound, a constant overinundated with omnidirectional, omnipresent information that overwhelms our receptors,
reverberating as much above and below our audibility as sounds travel through and off of
ourselves, turning each of us into nodes that are echoing ecos, contributing to non-essentializing,
interrelated sonic ecologies.” (Gershon & Applebaum, 2018, p. 361-62).
TPE 2.1: Promote students’ social-emotional growth, development, and individual responsibility
using positive interventions and supports, restorative justice, and conflict resolution practices to
foster a caring community where each student is treated fairly and respectfully by adults and
peers.
TPE 4.3: Design and implement instruction and assessment that reflects the interconnectedness
of academic content areas and related student skills development in literacy, mathematics,
science, and other disciplines across the curriculum, as applicable to the subject area of
instruction.
TPE 6.2: Recognize their own values and implicit and explicit biases, the ways in which these
values and implicit and explicit biases may positively and negatively affect teaching and
learning, and work to mitigate any negative impact on the teaching and learning of students.
They exhibit positive dispositions of caring, support, acceptance, and fairness toward all students
and families, as well as toward their colleagues.
Overview
1 A special thank you to Dr. Boni Fernandes Wozolek for her assistance in the creation of this task/document.
Learning/knowing/be(come)ing involves a variety of modalities. Sound is all around us and
plays an—often overlooked—important role in how people connect to the (social) world around
them. In this task you will be addressing the following question: What does accessible/equitable
education sound like? Either answer this question directly or highlight a specific concept from
class this semester (e.g., damage v. desire narrative, CRT, microaggressions).
A soundscape is a recording of multiple contexts that include a variety of sounds (e.g., loud, soft,
inside, outside). It gives you the opportunity to think differently and hear someone’s
argument/perspective.
As you work on the creation of your soundscape, please keep the readings and conversations
from this course in the foreground of your thinking. This project is also intended on heightening
your individual awareness of how you (re)act to different sounds and how they factor into the
expression/formation of your identity and the identity of others.
Some considerations to be mindful of when creating your soundscape:
1. What people, places, events, communities, and stories have shaped your learning? What
have they sounded like to you? What have you sounded like to them?
2. You may record any place that you feel like learning occurs but be sure to consider the
ethics of recording and consent from all sounds that are collected where it’s clear who is
speaking.
3. Your soundscape will include between 8-10 sounds and more than 1 location. Remember
to think deeply about your decisions and consider the following: What sounds did you
include? What did you exclude? What sounds got more time to be heard?
Task
The criteria of this assignment are as follows:
• Create a soundscape that is 2-3 minutes and that includes 8-10 sounds from more
than 1 location.
• Along with your project (which can be submitted as a link at the top of your paper),
please submit a paper (4-5 pages) that explains the direction you took with your
project, an explanation of sounds, and a reflection on how this project contributed to
your learnings from this semester. Please include a reference section with 7-10
citations.
• Include the self-assessment below at the end of your paper.
Soundscape Self-Assessment
Name:
Please highlight/circle the grade you believe your work deserves and provide a rationale for
your self-assessed grade.
** I reserve the right to modify this grade based upon assignment criteria**
Excellent – Outstanding: 20 19 18
• I represented at least 8-10 sounds from more than 1 in extremely creative ways.
• I took risks to take my thinking in directions not previously explored.
• I thought about my thinking—I was very aware of what I was thinking and feeling, and
was able to develop insightful thoughts and representations.
• I persisted with even difficult lines of thinking, feeling, and expression and represented
my understandings in ways that deepened my own understanding of hearing/listening
within the context of access equity.
• I represented my soundscape in ways that also illuminated some of the ways that sound
impacts the creation/expression of my own identity and the ways these continue to
shape me.
• My paper provides a detailed explanation of the creation of my soundscape, including a
rationale for the (auditorily) decisions I made. My paper also includes a reflective portion
that provides insight as the significance of the (learning) moments I choose to for my
soundscape.
• My paper has 7-10 citations and a proper reference section.
Good – Very Good: 17 16 15
• I represented at least 5 sounds in mostly creative ways.
• I took many risks with my thinking.
• I thought about my thinking—I was mostly aware of what I was thinking and feeling, and
was able to develop insightful thoughts and representations.
• I mostly persisted with even difficult lines of thinking and feeling and represented my
understandings in ways that deepened my own understanding of hearing/listening within
the context of access equity.
• I represented my soundscape in ways that also illuminated some of the ways that sound
impacts the creation/expression of my own identity and the ways these continue to
shape me.
• My paper provides details about the creation of my soundscape and includes some insight as
to why I choose to include certain sounds.
• My paper has 4-6 citations and a proper reference section.
Satisfactory – Good: 14 13
• I represented some sounds relating to learning, access and equity.
• I took some risks with my thinking.
• At times, I thought about my thinking—I was mostly aware of what I was thinking and
feeling, and was able to develop some insightful thoughts and representations.
• I sometimes persisted with difficult lines of thinking and feeling and represented my
understandings in ways that contributed to my understanding of hearing/listening within
the context of access equity.
• I represented my soundscape in ways expressed a few ways that sound impacts the
creation/expression of my own identity.
• My 2-page paper explains the sounds I included but fails to provide any insight as to the
implications of my decisions or how their inclusion relates to material covered in this course.
• My paper includes 3 citations and is missing a reference section.
Minimal pass – Poor: 12 11 10
• I included 1-2 sounds in my soundscape.
• I was not able to take risks with my thinking.
• I was not able to engage in much thinking about my thinking.
• I was not able to work through difficult lines of thinking and feeling.
• I found it hard to develop my understanding of how listening/sound impacts my own learning
and the learning of others.
• My 1-page paper discusses the basics of my soundscape and provides no insight into the
process of sounds selected.
• My paper is missing.