History has always been fascinating to me. Throughout my years as a middle school and high school student I remember taking part in debates, mock trials, demonstrating a person of the past's role, responsibility and actions in a time period, and writing letters to George Washington. I've learned that history is more than just reading, memorizing and reciprocating what you've read. It is a way in which students can take stance in an argument and use specific evidence to support their interpretation. The idea is that we learn about history through primary sources and secondary sources and each of these sources have their own interpretations and biases of the writers. Therefore, I look forward to reading the editorials and articles within this class, sharing our ideas and thoughts with one another as well as making sense of what the issues and arguments the authors are raising.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
My first post: Expectations of History 200!
Hi everyone! I'm Crystal and this is my fifth year here at Rhode Island College! I am going to be student teaching this Spring and I can't wait! After graduating high school I went to the University of Rhode Island and transferred here in the Spring of 2008. Fortunately, I've waited almost four years to take this course because of its frightening reputation. Every time I registered for it I ended up dropping it and taking only four to five classes instead. I had been told been on many occasions to stay away and that there is an extensive amount of reading, writing and assignments. I anticipate that there will be a lot of work in this class and I hope that I gain as much as I can from its experience. Although the A is an overall goal as well as the four credits and chocolate, I hope that I can learn how to be a historian and what exactly that entails. In my future career as a teacher it is said that one must make the commitment to becoming a lifelong learner. Therefore, in the same way as a historian I believe that my analysis, critical thinking, and writing skills will improve in its practice within this course. Writing is a process that I feel never ends it can be revised multiple times, and a final piece doesn't just appear in thin air. It takes brainstorming, notes, developing pieces of work and overtime all of the work comes together. In my own experiences as a student I have seen many teachers and professors repeatedly assign five, ten, and fifteen page papers, and show an example of a finished copy as a means of expectations without showing the actual writing process. For this reason, I look forward to keeping a research log and having the assignments through the semester which show how the writing process takes place and allows students to take the time to analyze, research and organize a piece of historical writing.
History has always been fascinating to me. Throughout my years as a middle school and high school student I remember taking part in debates, mock trials, demonstrating a person of the past's role, responsibility and actions in a time period, and writing letters to George Washington. I've learned that history is more than just reading, memorizing and reciprocating what you've read. It is a way in which students can take stance in an argument and use specific evidence to support their interpretation. The idea is that we learn about history through primary sources and secondary sources and each of these sources have their own interpretations and biases of the writers. Therefore, I look forward to reading the editorials and articles within this class, sharing our ideas and thoughts with one another as well as making sense of what the issues and arguments the authors are raising.
History has always been fascinating to me. Throughout my years as a middle school and high school student I remember taking part in debates, mock trials, demonstrating a person of the past's role, responsibility and actions in a time period, and writing letters to George Washington. I've learned that history is more than just reading, memorizing and reciprocating what you've read. It is a way in which students can take stance in an argument and use specific evidence to support their interpretation. The idea is that we learn about history through primary sources and secondary sources and each of these sources have their own interpretations and biases of the writers. Therefore, I look forward to reading the editorials and articles within this class, sharing our ideas and thoughts with one another as well as making sense of what the issues and arguments the authors are raising.
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Yes, this class is all about the Process of writing - and we'll do it in steps and together.
ReplyDeleteAnd you've got it right about historians - we love to argue!