Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Heritage Of The Spanish Antilles, Daniel Nieves

Open Educational Resources

This course seeks to explore the heritage of the Spanish Caribbean—primarily Cuba, Dominican Republic/Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. We will place particular emphasis on the historical, cultural and ethnic forces that have shaped the character of the people of these islands. As well we will explore the variety of societies and cultures of the Spanish Caribbean in their historical and contemporary setting up to and including the (im)migration experience of Spanish Caribbean people to urban North America.

Reflection Toolkit: Strategies For Facilitating Reflection In The Classroom, Meghmala Tarafdar, Elizabeth Digiorgio, Alison Cimino, Sebastian Murolo, Miseon Kim, Ilse Schrynemakers

Open Educational Resources

This Reflection Toolkit, compiled by the faculty inquiry group (FIG), includes classroom strategies for integrating reflection into one's existing syllabi. The lesson plans highlight how to encourage effective student reflections.The toolkit includes best practices to facilitate reflection in classes across the disciplines in the context of a variety of student-centered activities (including group-work, online learning, and interactive modules).

Reading Mediations: Modeling Online Critical Literacy Strategies, Lisa Hirschfield

Open Educational Resources

Reading Mediations is an interactive, web-based guide for teaching and learning critical online reading skills. Best used with high school or college students, it includes a selection of critical reading tools and verification resources, guided readings, and structured learning activities. It also presents opportunities for independent exploration and critique of the online news and information ecosystem, with live content provided through Twitter and several news websites.

The guiding principle of Reading Mediations is that the epidemic of misinformation, propaganda, and poor journalism online cannot be eradicated by fact-checking tools alone. It must begin with us, the readers. Learning first about …

Historical Thinking Beyond The Classroom [History], Robin Kietlinski

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was designed to be used in global history survey courses, which are primarily taken by students with little prior experience in college-level history, and who will not go on to major in History. It has not yet been used, but it is best suited for use in in SSH 106 (World History from 1500) and/or SSH 110 (East Asian Civilizations)—courses currently not designated with any one of LaGuardia’s core competencies and communication abilities. These are both writing intensive courses, wherein LaGuardia’s Written Communication Ability can be reinforced. They employ a number of primary and secondary sources to help …

Exploring The Uses Of The Liberal Arts Through Beyoncé’S “Formation”, Christine Marks

Open Educational Resources

I first shared this assignment in LaGuardia’s Spring 2017 mini-seminar Introducing Your Discipline in the First Year Seminar. I developed the assignment drawing on both Beyoncé’s 2016 Super Bowl halftime show and her music video “Formation” to initiate a discussion about how the Liberal Arts may inform our readings of popular culture images and performances. Through an analysis of content and form of Beyoncé’s musical performance and the video, students are invited to reflect on the ways in which a Liberal Arts education can contribute to a deeper understanding of the social issues addressed in the work. In our …

Developing Habits Of Mind For Academic Success, Ellen Quish

Open Educational Resources

The low-stakes assignment Habits of Mind for Academic Success was designed to support First Year Seminar for Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities students in developing habits of mind essential for success in college. Using Costa and Kallick’s 16 Habits of Mind (HOMs) as reference, the assignment is staged and starts by prompting students to assess their current use of Habits of Mind and to identify what HOMs would be of value to them as college students. Upon completion of the individual assessment, students are introduced to examples of Habits of Mind in action through a video created for the …

Language Awareness And About Me, David Sibbitt

Open Educational Resources

Objectives of the Assignment:

Showcase students’ skills or interests in languages other than Standard English as part of the About Me statement in the ePortfolio. The assignment addresses many students in a typical FYS classroom at LaGuardia Community College. It encourages:

• Students with a native ability in another language to see it not as a stumbling block to learning but as a resource to develop academically and professionally

• Native English speakers to explore other world languages and cultures, and to consider using their interest professionally

• All students to consider whether they have experience with a dialect or slang, texting language …

Library Treasure Hunt, David Sibbitt

Open Educational Resources

FYS Discipline: Liberal Arts: Social Sciences and Humanities

Objectives of the Assignment:

Introduce students to the Library’s catalog and some of the more useful subscription databases in a practical, hands-on exercise. Included are an introduction to translating database articles, instructions on accessing The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times free of charge, and how to access the databases from home.

Amount of Time to Complete the Assignment:

The assignment is most effective when it follows several previous Library assignments:

• An introduction to the Library’s website in a computer classroom that guides students in exploring the Library’s resources
• A …

Language Awareness And The Library, David Sibbitt

Open Educational Resources

FYS Discipline: Liberal Arts: Social Sciences and Humanities

Objectives of the Assignment:

Introduce students to the Library’s collection of books in languages other than English, to Queens Library and the public library system, and to the Library of Congress call number system for books in the stacks.

Amount of Time to Complete the Assignment:

The assignment is most effective when it follows several previous Library assignments:

• An introduction to the Library’s website in a computer classroom that guides students in exploring the Library’s resources
• A Library Orientation conducted by a librarian
• A Library Treasure Hunt for sources in the card …

Reflection 3 – Finding Your Purpose, Josh Goldblatt

Open Educational Resources

The assignment was used in the Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities First Year Seminar (LIF 101).

The main objectives are:

1. Facilitate student self-examination and exploration of how interests, skills and values can connect to academic and professional goals
2. Build student capacity for reflective planning, including breaking out tasks and self-assessment
3. Build student knowledge of academic and career paths
4. Support students with making a decision on proper major
5. Increase engagement with college offices and staff
6. Build writing skills – including essay organization and development

Relevant student Performance Objectives for course:

1. Locate the multiple resources available at LaGuardia and use these …

Mapping In The Humanities: Gis Lessons For Poets, Historians, And Scientists, Emily W. Fairey

Open Educational Resources

User-friendly Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is the common thread of this collection of presentations, and activities with full lesson plans. The first section of the site contains an overview of cartography, the art of creating maps, and then looks at historical mapping platforms like Hypercities and Donald Rumsey Historical Mapping Project. In the next section Google Earth Desktop Pro is introduced, with lessons and activities on the basics of GE such as pins, paths, and kml files, as well as a more complex activity on "georeferencing" an historic map over Google Earth imagery. The final section deals with ARCGIS Online …

Final Paper [Liberal Arts: Social Science And Humanities], Naomi J. Stubbs

Open Educational Resources

This assignment was created for LIF101 (New Student Seminar for Liberal Arts), which is a baseline course taken by students (typically in their first semester) in Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities (including the options) and Fine Arts. Students in this course have wide-ranging abilities, given that they may be in ESL or have transferred in advanced writing courses. As such, the final assignment needs to serve the goals of the course while not penalizing students for having lower abilities in writing and research. Similarly, the integrative learning rubric has several very different dimensions, and connecting them all in one …

Spa 2201hs Spanish For Heritage Speakers (Syllabus_Fall 2019), David Sánchez-Jiménez

Open Educational Resources

SPA 2201HS Spanish for Heritage Speakers is an intermediate course intended for students who were immersed in or exposed to the language while growing up, but who have received little or no formal instruction in Spanish. Strengthens students’ competence in the oral and written standard varieties of Spanish by building on their previous knowledge to expand their vocabulary, strengthen their command of grammar, and achieve more confidence and fluency in speaking and writing while learning about the diversity of the Hispanic cultures. The skills acquired in this course will help reinforce students’ bilingual abilities and cultural competence.