Whenever I sit down to write these final blog posts, I can never believe that another quarter has already gone by. You all make me realize why I love my job! I have enjoyed getting to know all of you, and I hope you can say you learned something from this class.
So for our last blog post, I would like to get your thoughts and feedback on the class. What did you like or dislike? What could I do to make the class better? Answers are due no later than Thursday, March 25th, 2010. After that, the blog will be down until the next quarter resumes. I wish you all much success and happiness in the future. Perhaps I will have you again in another course, if so, I look forward to it. Please stay in touch, enjoy the break and have a Happy Easter!
I think overall the class is great I like the discussions and the freedom we have to express our selves I didn't like that is was in the morning for me because i don't function as well with the talking part but if i had to pick any class for a Saturday morning it would have been this one. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteIt was great to hear a teacher say "Have your own opinions and question information that is presented to you". I've never had a teacher support that, it's usually the opposite where if you question what is being taught then they get defensive...so thanks for giving us those freedoms. Towards the middle to end the information got a little on the memorization side, where you had to memorize systems and is hard to learn those in depth systems when we're not exposed to them everyday. It'd be cool if you did more small projects like the final project rather than the quizzes, not sure if quizzes are a requirement for the school though. Because then rather than having to memorize 2 chapters worth of info for a quiz, we maybe could research into a specific subject each week and do a mini project on it....I found research into something helps way more in knowing the info for sure. This was definitely a class where I felt most comfortable sharing opinions.
ReplyDelete-Grant Monson Friday 6pm class
I personally enjoyed this class alot. Also having a teacher who is engaged and excited about the topic helps. I also enjoyed when you told personal stories that related to the topic but it was relevant to our age group so we could understand an issue. I really enjoyed the final project as well, i was nervous when you said it was a presentation but allowing us to use our paper and having questions for us to go by helped alot and made it more of an enjoyable process and less stressful.
ReplyDeleteTatjana McCart
Saturday Morning Class
I wasn't very excited when I put this class on my schedule because I wasn't really sure what to expect. In the end though, I absolutely loved it and Stephanie James is officially the best teacher ever!!! :) I enjoyed the open discussions and the whole class over all. It was fun.
ReplyDeleteMichelle Sykes
I really enjoyed the way you engaged us as students and an audience. Through personal stories and history, we were able to grasp the difficult concepts. I also enjoyed the encouragement you gave towards our opinions. Thanks for allowing us to express ourselves and learn while doing it.
ReplyDeleteSarah Cason
Friday Night
I rather enjoyed my stay in the class, I definitely learned much more about politics and how the government works. However the only thing I didn't particulery in enjoy doing was writing all of the notes, I myself learn better when presented with visual aid rather then words. But all in all the class was wonderful.
ReplyDeleteHoward Jones
Friday Night
I'll be honest, I was dreading this class. I thought it would be dull and boring especially for a Friday night. But this class pleasantly surprised me. I think you have done a great job with teaching it. You made politics and government easy to understand. I appreciated that you allowed us to give input and share our thoughts and views. Thanks for your hard work!
ReplyDelete~Kyndall Keck Friday night
I always anticipate taking social/political courses because I know I'll have a platform to project my opinion, and hopefully offer an alternative perspective on some issues. This was no exception. It isn't often that one comes across an instructor who is both anti bs and unbiased to an extent. I think you maintained a balanced viewpoint throughout the semester. I would have liked to discuss the blog prompts in class to some extent, but I understand why we haven't, given time restraints. You seem to be very understanding that we're just art students with a limited comprehension level. Just kidding...ehhh. Anyway, I enjoyed your class. It was never bland, and I learned a lot. Thanks
ReplyDeleteAnna Wilson
ReplyDeleteFriday Night
One thing i really enjoyed about the class was watching the movies and being able to discuss real life issues that affect everyone. This allowed me to better understand current political issues. There isn't really anything I can say I didn't like, but my least favorite was the essay questions on the tests. :) I wouldn't change anything.
Kati Melcho
ReplyDeleteFriday Night
I learned a lot from the class. I do really well when it comes to learning through debate. This is why I love class discussions because, not only is it a very effective way of learning, but it also opens up new ideas and challenges someone's point of views and gets them thinking. Overall, it was an excellent class. I also loved the lack of quizzes. I am not a very good test taker because I get nervous and forget everything, so that was very helpful towards my grade. Should you change anything? NO! It is a very well put together class and I can't believe it is week 11 either. Thank you for being an excellent teacher and showing us such a well put together class. :)
I love this class and the class was always fun.
ReplyDeletebefore I didnt care for politics and I still dont, but this class made it fun and made me have a better perspective of politics.
I have learned a lot in this class...I am the worst with history and politics and such, never got into it because I couldn't follow it. My high school teachers just made us read out of the book-which was to complicated for me to understand and follow-you on the other hand helped us out-and sorta "dumbed" it down for us to understand. Or at least I felt that way. You told us the important things to know as a class and for quiz's but also told us some things we need to know, just to be an educated person. This class made me learn about history/politics and thats a good thing, because I never had a successful teacher in high school. Your doing great! I know alot of kids hate powerpoint, but yours were short and had pictures and sometimes videos so it made it ok...i loved the class. Thought it was very good. : )
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I didn't like about the class was it was to long. 3 hours i think is enough. Other than that i really enjoyed the class. I did learn alot about government, more than i learned in high school. Instead of learning only the democratic way, I also learned about the other side. Your a cool ass teacher! You did a great job teaching this old dog new things. Keep in touch!
ReplyDeleteStephanie,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your class. Even though there was the neo-nazis that wount let us have any yummy treats in the class. I mean really it is Saturday morning and we need snacks. I think that the study guides have been very helpful. I am having a little bit of a problem not being able to study for this weekends test when I had to make my own guide. :(.
As I have said before I have never enjoyed the topic of politics but your class has alowed me to voice my opinion and to question what is really going on.
Thanks again,
Dave Sat morning
I think the class was overall very successful, I just think maybe assigning a midterm project, such as a paper to go along with the final project could be more beneficial and allow people to gain better knowledge of their topics. Maybe I'm just use to having more papers and work along with my gen ed classes at AI. But if what's going on in class as it is, is very successful then keep going with it!
ReplyDeleteNicole Welty - Friday Night
I think this class was absolutely fantastic. You are honestly one of my favorite instructors here at Ai! I was moderately interested in politics before this class, but you have helped fuel that fire more than before. I find myself getting much more involved, and being able to passionately discuss political issues and express my beliefs in an intelligent manner. Many of the Gen. Ed. classes at Ai are not to be taken seriously most of the time. I was ecstatic to learn that you were genuinely concerned with us learning important things (as you worded it) "to be an informed member of society." :) I think there are entirely too many people that have absolutely no knowledge about basic systems of our country, and it's really sad. Honestly, I really have no complaints about the class. The final projects were awesome (not too overwhelming, but adequate) and your lectures were done at a pace that was perfect for note-taking to be prepared for the quizzes. Keep up the great work, everyone that I've talked to absolutely loves you! (even if they don't love politics)
ReplyDeleteCarina Street
Friday Night Class
Well I really injoyed the class,my favorite things would be when you would tell your personal storys. I also injoyed how we had almost an open fourm class. We all had our own opinions and we were able to share them with each other. All and all I thought you were a great teacher, you have great energy and I appreciate that. The only thing I would have changed is my attended more class, I fell off at the end for personal reasons but none the less thank you for a good quarter and to the class thank you for all that you shared... RICO OUT....
ReplyDeleteI loved this class. I thought it was very informational. I learned a lot in this class. I never reall had an interest in political issues. I also enjoyed the way that you broke everthing down in which we where able to understand it better. I think I would not have taken this class if you were not teaching it! You are my favorite teacher. Not having to take a bunch of big test was the best.
ReplyDeleteRadine Smith
Saturday Morning
I reallly enjoyed this class. To tell you the truth, when this quarter started I was not thrilled at all to take a politics class. Up until this class, nothing could have sounded as boring to me as a historical and political class on Friday nights. I can honestly say that now I have way more of an interest in politics and have found my self watching CSPAN just to see what acually goes on. This class allowed me to realize that I do have opinions and I do have an interest in politics. Thanks for allowing me to realize this. I don't think there is anything else you could have done. You made the class interesting and did a really good job in explaining the topics in which we could understand. Thanks for a great quarter, and see you next time. Have a great break. On a side note: So glad the health care passed. Change is good.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn Carden Friday night
I feel that I learned so much from your class and I wouldn't change anything. I don't think that I any other general education class has taught me more than this class. I think it was the style that you choose. I know that I started the quarter off rough but towards the end I was able to get in it. I really enjoyed the discussion part of class and being able to learn from that helped me on the quiz's and tests. Overall, I liked the finals the best because I got to do a presentation on health care something I was passionate about instead of being stuck with a topic that I wasn't. Thank you for a great quarter and hope to have another class with you.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Northam Friday night
[late response]
ReplyDeletePersonally I enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, and the welcome discussions about topics people usually shy away from talking about.
it was nice to debate. it was nice to discuss. it was interesting to hear people get fired up about stuff on a groggy saturday morning.
Demian Stevens
Saturday AM
I loved how the class was wide open and really just gelled. I also liked the debates that we had. The topics we spoke about were great to get the blood flowing that early in the morning. I was always excited to come to class.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the class and the discussions in particular. The only thing I would change would be to specify on the syllabus how to sign up for the blog; it took me a good 15 minutes before I realized I could just use my Gmail account.
ReplyDeleteWoops. For above.
ReplyDeleteMichael Moore
Saturday AM
Aaron Ford Saturday Morning
ReplyDeleteI certainly did engoy this class. I really got a lot out of our class discussions, and It was nice to have such a diverse group of people with many different viewpoints. That helps us realise that we are all different, and we all have some issues that apply deeply to some and not to others.
It was a nice change to think about other things than just computer graphics. Sometimes spending so much time on only one thing can get dreary.
Is really liked the class. Before when you asked what we thought about politics. And I said I didn't really care about politics. Well through out this class I realized I actually did care about it and there was more to it. Rather than lies. You taught us how to look past the lies that some the media put there and look for our own understanding on the matter at hand. I can't promise that I'll get on the blog again but maybe one Friday morning I'll wake up and relize o crap I forgot the blog and then realize I don't have to do it anymore but I might just do it anyways. But the class was great even for a Saturday morning class. Thanks for a great quarter.
ReplyDeleteZazzetti
Saturday morning class