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
I feel you completely! In the beginning of the year, I pretty much hated the class, but throughout the year I started to like it more. I think the new style of teaching in comparison to last year was what made me feel this way. I do think that understanding history is one of the hardest subjects for me personally and I hope to grasp onto it more as I approach my junior and senior year.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you a lot. At the beginning of the year, I did not understand the purpose of American studies at all, and I hated the way it was taught. However as time went on, I began to like it and actually understand OPVLs. I think that this has definitely been a great class because it has taught us many different things, beyond just what happened in American history.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I felt as if I cam into sophomore year with very little idea on how to analyze history. This year I learned a tremendous amount of skills that helped me learn to be a historian. From OPVL's to To what extent essays. I never really reflected on this year until Mr.Hoffman told us that we went from doing OPVL's in 25 minutes to doing them in 3 minutes, that within itself is a great achievement that we should all take some time to celebrate. I am so pleased with what we have learned and how we have learned it, this year was a different but amazing experience.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, I've changed my teaching approaches quite a bit in response to the feedback from all of you, and I've learned immensely. It is a distinct privilege to work with this team.
ReplyDeleteMy experience was very similar to Annaliese's. I've learned more than I could imagine this year. What I thought I knew about OPVLs just showed me how ignorant I was when it came to analyzing sources. I am truly grateful for all I have learned this year and the people I have been able to work with.
ReplyDeleteI think that this year was the one year where I actually enjoyed coming to history class. I've always struggled with history, I just didn't like how we would learn it in chunks as if the unit we just finished talking about was completely irrelevant. But this year, not only did I start being able to retain the information better, but I've also learned to appreciate and enjoy history. In my freshman year I would always say I was never going to take HL history, and now I consider that to be one of the classes I have to take HL for.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and wanted to share my opinion that i felt the same way beginning of sophomore year i was conduced and did not know what was going on but now i feel good about and i actually love it cause i can share my opinion openly.
ReplyDeleteI must say I pretty much agree with everything you've said. I really didn't like this class for the first while, mostly because I wasn't used to NOT doing well, but I do think I may have learned a thing or two in my time here. This has been a long journey that has taught me the art of not expecting to do well, instead learning and practicing and working hard until I do well. I've got some mixed feelings about leaving this class and 10th grade in general. I keep thinking "I've got so long before I'm a grown up and start making choices and stuff" but now... It's like I'm almost there. And I don't know how ready I am.
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