Welcome to American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music  Online Course for Educators
Presented by Experience Music Project|Science Fiction Museum (EMP|SFM), Seattle, Washington.
Inspired by an exhibition developed in partnership with the University of Washington.

This FREE online course is designed to help educators explore how Latino culture has shaped American popular music since 1940. Like the exhibition by which the course was inspired, this instructional resource is organized around five U.S. cities that have been important hubs of Latino culture and music: New York, Miami, San Antonio, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. During this course, participants will view video oral history segments and films, listen to music and music analysis, and read historical background. The course is appropriate to teachers of social studies and history, music, Spanish and English as a second language.

Exhibition Information

Exhibition Schedule

EMP|SFM Curriculum and Resources

In addition to providing a background for teaching about Latino music, this curriculum offers resources and ideas for creating lesson plans relevant to history/social studies, reading, communications or the arts. Because this course models an approach for teaching about Latino music and musicians, it can also be used by students, museum staff and docents, and others curious about the impact of Latinos on American popular music.

1. How have the musical innovations of Latino youths crossed ethnic and racial boundaries and helped shape American popular music?
2. How have immigration and migration shaped Latino and U.S. popular music?
3. In what ways have Latinos musically expressed their experiences as Americans?

1. Understand and be able to teach about the diversity of Latinos in the United States and their contributions to U.S. popular music.
2. Be able to offer engaging multi-sensory lessons that teach to core standards and skills through intriguing subject matter.
3. Organize stimulating lessons for intermediate through secondary levels with emphasis in music, social studies or Spanish language.
4. Be able to access high-quality resources for intermediate grades through high school, which combine the subject areas of music, social studies and Spanish language.
5. Have tools to help students analyze and synthesize complex ideas that integrate music with geography, history, language and cultural studies.
6. Gain access to - and firsthand experience in using - primary sources such as oral histories, recordings, videos, photos and other artifacts which bring core curricula to life.

This course consists of the following seven modules:

1. Introduction (3 clock hours: 3 hours online)

2. New York City (6 clock hours: 4 hours online, 2 hours independent study)

• Latin jazz: African-American and Afro-Caribbean musical heritages
• The Latin dance craze of the 1950s
• Boogaloo (Bugalú): Latin dance meets R&B
• Salsa: Latino music with an urban point of view
• Hip-hop: from urban youth invention to commercial juggernaut
• Reggaetón: hip-hop with a Caribbean twist

3. Miami (3 clock hours: 1 hour online, 2 hours independent study)

• Latino entertainers of the mid-twentieth century
• The Cuban immigrant community
• Miami as the hub of the Latino music industry

4. San Antonio (4 clock hours: 2 hours online, 2 hours independent study)

• The Corrido and the endurance of Mexican history in Texas
• Conjuntos and Orquestas: Traditional Mexican American music in South Texas
• The West Side Sound: San Antonio's Chicano R&B scene
• Tejano: A soundtrack for the Chicano movement in the Southwest
• Alternate Voices: Women artists in Texas

5. San Francisco (3 clock hours: 1 hour online, 2 hours independent study)

• The West Coast Latin jazz scene
• Latin rock, Santana, and the 1960s counterculture
• Civil rights, ethnic pride and music

6. Los Angeles (5 clock hours: 3 hours online, 2 hours independent study)

• Pachucos: Bicultural style, swing, and language
• The East Side Sound: Los Angeles Latinos in early rock and R&B
• The Chicano Movement, L.A. style
• Women with Attitude: Building, challenging, and pushing musical boundaries
• New Voices: Latinos in West Coast punk and rap

7. Conclusion (3 clock hours: .5 hours online, 2.5 hours independent study)

• Bringing it all together with a lesson plan for your classroom
• Program evaluation
• “Check out process” for obtaining clock hours and a certificate of completion

How the Online Course Works
This course has seven modules: an introduction, five city modules, and a check-out module. You can choose which modules to complete or complete all seven. You can tailor this course to your needs depending on which modules you choose.

• To earn professional development credit, you must complete the introductory module, at least one city module and the check-out module.
• This is a self-paced online course. You can start the modules at any time and proceed through them as your schedule allows.
• Your work is saved each time you log out.
• You can return to this course at any time to obtain teaching resources for your classroom.

This course does not require you to log in for designated meeting times. If you have questions or comments, though, please go to the Contact Us page. Your feedback is very important to us!

Coursework:
You will complete three types of assessments in this course.

• Quick Check Quizzes ask you to reflect on what you’re read, viewed, and heard in each section. Some questions ask you to recall details from what you’ve learned. Others ask you to describe your own experiences relating to a particular topic.
• Activities model classroom exercises that you can complete with students. Key skills include mapping, recording information in graphic organizers, and creating timelines.
• In each module you will complete one of the suggested Culminating Activities in order to get credit for the module. Here you will do original research to extend your learning on one of the module’s key themes and present your findings in a creative way.

Quick Check Quizzes, Activities, and Culminating Activities are a part of the Introduction and city modules. To earn credit for the Check-out module, you will create a lesson plan that incorporates the themes of the course. This lesson plan will be submitted with your request for credit.

To receive professional development credit for a module, you must complete one culminating activity and submit the final product to the Education Coordinator at EMP|SFM. At that time you will also submit your request for credit and the lesson plan you created for the check-out module. You can receive credit for more than one module by completing more than one culminating activity.

Course Completion and Clock Hours:
Educators in Washington State can earn between 9 and 27 clock hours towards professional development requirements through Seattle University. At the end of the course you will download the clock hour forms.

To receive credit, you will submit

• Your clock hour form
• Culminating Activities for each module you completed
• A lesson plan from the check-out module
• A check payable to Seattle University (see below)

There is a fee of $2/hour with a minimum of $20.

If you live outside Washington State and would like to receive credit for completing the course, download “Letter to Administrator” in the check-out module. The letter describes course goals and objectives, the work you have completed and how the course content will support your teaching.

• Look at photos in the Photo Galleries while you listen to sound essays.
• Flash is required to view the interactive timeline and map.
• We recommend that you use Windows Media Player for listening to the Guided Listening units in order to be to able answer questions and look at the Photo Galleries while you listen. If you are on a PC and Windows Media Player does not automatically launch to play MP3s, we recommend that you open Windows Media Player, go to the Tools/Options menu, click on the File Types tab and check the box beside MP3 Audio Files.
• If you are working on a Mac and do not have Windows Media Player installed, download Flip for Mac at the following site in order to play Windows Media files in Quicktime: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/flip4mac.mspx

Help/Contact
If you have any problems registering, please contact us and we will be happy to assist you.
Please note: In order to view the oral history segments throughout the site, you must have Windows Media Player installed on your system. The course development team included course designer Tony Gomez, design associate Carrie Lanza, Webmaster Liam Barksdale, Manager of Interpretation and Educator Resources Jennifer Hammond, and Director of Curatorial Affairs (EMP) Jasen Emmons. The course incorporated research, writing and guided listening modules prepared by University of Washington guest curators Marisol Berríos-Miranda, Shannon Dudley, and Michelle Habell-Pallan and associate curators Rob Carroll and Francisco Orozco for the exhibition American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music.