week: June 1st - June 5th
This is the final blog entry of my American History class in my sophomore year. As such I would like to reflect on my performance throughout the year of the entire course. When I first began attending this class I was quite unhappy about almost every aspect of the class; the teacher, the material, and the teaching style of the material. I struggled the first quarter of the class with getting used to the new skills required for success in the course. My largest obstacle was the completely new method of analyzing history (i.e OPVLs, analytic papers, and the lectures with notes during class). However, through all of my discontent and frustration I realize that this class has been the most beneficial out of all of my classes of this year because this class taught me so much more than just the history of the United States. American History taught me new study skills, analytic skills, time management, perseverance when I fail. Even though this class has been one of my more difficult courses I am grateful that it was a challenging class because it really pushed me to give effort in order to improve and gave me confidence at trying new things even if they seem terrible or difficult. My time spent in American Studies class has given me a new way of looking at all historic events as well as the ability to apply that knowledge to the future.
"When at first you don't succeed, try, try again." - William Edward Hickson
"The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand." - Vince Lombardi
"The road to success is not easy to navigate, but with hard work, drive, and passion, it is possible to achieve the American Dream." - Tommy Hilfiger
Monday, June 1, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Semester 2 blog 3: Research
Week: 5/ /15 - 5/ /15
Research is the base of understanding and knowledge. Researching a topic is what gives a person the facts and how they learn about that said topic. For every person the way that they go about doing their research is different. Personally, I always being more broad with general information and then move to more specific and narrowed information. I do this so that I begin with basically a summary of the topic or event which then assists me in finding the detailed, relevant information once I have a solid direction of action that I plan on taking in my process. With my research for the video project I used google searches of the name of my event finding websites that gave me a basic, short run down of the event; I used sources like History.com and Wiki to find key phases and things that came up frequently and then searched those phrases and names for the specific facts and information. The reason I like to conduct my research this way is because it helps me stay on my topic and allows me to keep all my research in order and organized mentally and in my overall project that I will ultimately create using the research that I completed. This is important, especially with history when things must be kept in chronological order and fall into what is gong on at the same time of that event (globally or domestically). What do you find to be the best method(s) of conducting research? Does it help to complete the research in a certain way? Are there any times when you might have to change the way to research any given topic differently from what you usually do?
Research is the base of understanding and knowledge. Researching a topic is what gives a person the facts and how they learn about that said topic. For every person the way that they go about doing their research is different. Personally, I always being more broad with general information and then move to more specific and narrowed information. I do this so that I begin with basically a summary of the topic or event which then assists me in finding the detailed, relevant information once I have a solid direction of action that I plan on taking in my process. With my research for the video project I used google searches of the name of my event finding websites that gave me a basic, short run down of the event; I used sources like History.com and Wiki to find key phases and things that came up frequently and then searched those phrases and names for the specific facts and information. The reason I like to conduct my research this way is because it helps me stay on my topic and allows me to keep all my research in order and organized mentally and in my overall project that I will ultimately create using the research that I completed. This is important, especially with history when things must be kept in chronological order and fall into what is gong on at the same time of that event (globally or domestically). What do you find to be the best method(s) of conducting research? Does it help to complete the research in a certain way? Are there any times when you might have to change the way to research any given topic differently from what you usually do?
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Semester 2 blog 2: Wars, Wars, Wars, and more.... Wars
Date of week: April 20, 2015
The focus of the class has shifted to discussing numerous conflicts that the United States became involved with as it rose to be considered a world power. We studied WWI, WWII, and the Cold War. Throughout this topic I have constantly been pondering the reasons that justify starting or entering a war. I have come to a conclusion that the means that justify war for the U.S. was and is when freedom and liberty are in jeopardy and oppression arises. We see the United States enter the Cold War with the intentions to assist the places destroyed by the post-WWII and, to more importantly, stop the spread of communism in Europe. The U.S. fears that the Soviet Union could gain enough power to potentially threaten the place of the only other world power, the U.S., and impede a communist government/system on other countries. In WWI and WWII the United States was less concerned about oppression but more focused on self-defense and obligation from allies; however there was still a factor of trying to bring the nations of the world together and lessen the amounts of conflict. Do you think that the United States has a right or an obligation to keep peace between the nations and get involved when freedom is compromised?
The focus of the class has shifted to discussing numerous conflicts that the United States became involved with as it rose to be considered a world power. We studied WWI, WWII, and the Cold War. Throughout this topic I have constantly been pondering the reasons that justify starting or entering a war. I have come to a conclusion that the means that justify war for the U.S. was and is when freedom and liberty are in jeopardy and oppression arises. We see the United States enter the Cold War with the intentions to assist the places destroyed by the post-WWII and, to more importantly, stop the spread of communism in Europe. The U.S. fears that the Soviet Union could gain enough power to potentially threaten the place of the only other world power, the U.S., and impede a communist government/system on other countries. In WWI and WWII the United States was less concerned about oppression but more focused on self-defense and obligation from allies; however there was still a factor of trying to bring the nations of the world together and lessen the amounts of conflict. Do you think that the United States has a right or an obligation to keep peace between the nations and get involved when freedom is compromised?
Saturday, March 7, 2015
blog 1 (semester 2): 1920's
Date of week: March 1-6
The time after The Great War was marked with anti-radical and anti-immigrant atmosphere. The question of Civil Rights is very prominent in the 1920's. Who gets rights and how much they get are the main questions. Who gets to be American? Immigration during this time is a highly debated topic; for cultural and economic reasons. People are again taking the attitude of "Americanization" towards the immigrants and in racial minorities in general. There is a large anti- German vibe throughout the nation in rue of WWI which also drove prohibition because beer drinking was down. Another significant element is the prosperity in the country with most of Europe recovering from the war. For Americans this time was a time of business. This aspect is reflected in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Morality is down and cold hard business is up. The U.S. has a period of prosperity and people are still in love with the so called "American Dream" consisting of materialization and self gain, however on October 29, 1929 The Great Depression hits America hard and the nation plunges into an economic crisis. The stock market crashed and people lost jobs, life savings, and opportunities. Negative effects were numerous as suffering spread like a wild fire throughout the nation but there was at least hope lifting from the ashes; with so much loss people began looking toward freedom. A definition of a new concept of freedom arose centered around respect for civil liberty and cultural tolerance.
The time after The Great War was marked with anti-radical and anti-immigrant atmosphere. The question of Civil Rights is very prominent in the 1920's. Who gets rights and how much they get are the main questions. Who gets to be American? Immigration during this time is a highly debated topic; for cultural and economic reasons. People are again taking the attitude of "Americanization" towards the immigrants and in racial minorities in general. There is a large anti- German vibe throughout the nation in rue of WWI which also drove prohibition because beer drinking was down. Another significant element is the prosperity in the country with most of Europe recovering from the war. For Americans this time was a time of business. This aspect is reflected in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Morality is down and cold hard business is up. The U.S. has a period of prosperity and people are still in love with the so called "American Dream" consisting of materialization and self gain, however on October 29, 1929 The Great Depression hits America hard and the nation plunges into an economic crisis. The stock market crashed and people lost jobs, life savings, and opportunities. Negative effects were numerous as suffering spread like a wild fire throughout the nation but there was at least hope lifting from the ashes; with so much loss people began looking toward freedom. A definition of a new concept of freedom arose centered around respect for civil liberty and cultural tolerance.
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