Each quarter my last blog post is always a request to my students asking for their thoughts and feedback about the class. However, this quarter, I would be remiss if I didn't devote a portion of the blog to the earthquake and tsunami disaster that struck Japan on March 11th, 2011. The pictures from the news reports have showed utter horror and devastation. Currently the death toll is 4,000, but officials expect it to rise dramatically once the cleanup effort begins. The nuclear power plant that was damaged in the explosion is still at imminent risk of a meltdown that would lead to the worst nuclear catastrophe the world has seen since Chernobyl in 1986. I plan to blog at a later date on the risks on nuclear power. For now, my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this disaster. If you would like to make a donation, please go to http://www.redcross.org/.
On that sad note, I will say it has been a pleasure having you all in class this quarter. I enjoy hearing your opinions and getting to know you. I wish all of you much success in the future and hope you stay in touch. Feel free to continue to check the blog and post whenever you want. For our last blog post, I would like to know "What did you like or dislike about the class? What could I do to make it better?" Answers are due no later than Tuesday, March 22, 2010. After that, the blog will be down until class resumes next quarter. For all of you who will be graduating shortly - congratulations! For everyone else - Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Erin Go Bragh!
My idea of what this class was going to be like was completely different form what it actually was. I expected all the normal boring historical information that we would never really need to know in real life. I loved how you used only information that is needed in our every day lives. I felt way more rounded when you would talk about the hot topics going on in politics today. I know quit a bit of people that were in politics or just involved, and have learned bits and pieces from them, but you were so much more informative. I never knew that I had an opinion on many issues but when you introduced all the sides of an issue I found myself dead set on what I believe is right, which is really cool. I honestly think you did a great job teaching this class and making it fun.
ReplyDeleteI would just like to say that I really appreciate you making historical and political issues an extremely enjoyable class to participate in. I always enjoy listening to the diversity in opinions or thoughts regarding a lot of issues that we sometimes find controversial. Not only that, but it really kind of helped us realize exactly how relevant these topics are to our daily lives.
ReplyDeleteI think a push for more landmarks with our final presentations, papers, and art pieces would be helpful. I know that we're in college and we should take it upon ourselves to put our our guidelines in perspective, learn better time management, etc., but I think if we were given milestones to achieve before the final date, that all of us (especially the procrastinators, I know I'm guilty of this too) would be able to sigh with relief knowing that everything was done sooner!
This class overall was extremely fun, however. I enjoyed it!
With this quarter coming to a end I can say that I do not have anything I can see changing about the class. The test went hard however I would have liked to maybe switched out the time spent in the united nations groups for more class time to work on our final projects. Other then that nothing really stands out that I would change about the class. Over all the class become one of the more enjoyable classes I had.
ReplyDeleteOver all I enjoyed this class. You make governnment easy to understand and a fun class. I don't like taking tests, and I was a little worried when you said that we would have a test every class, but the tests helped me review and weren't as bad as I had imagined. Like Jonathan said, I would like it if the time spent in United Nations was switched with something else or changed, it was a little boring; other than that I liked the class.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this class, it was always creative and varied enough to make things interesting. I liked all the discussions we had and the different opinions in the class, but I would have enjoyed even more debate. I would have to disagree with the comments about United Nations. I enjoyed it and the overall idea of it. It gave us a world prospective on issues, but I think the topics could have been better for debates. I will take global warming again as an example. I found several articles when i was doing my report about the current renegotiations of the Kyoto protocol and was fascinated to see what each country's perspective was and what they were willing to concede. That might be a good topic for future classes. Perhaps you could also have the students do more research about the topic before the sessions so their could be well informed debate.
ReplyDeleteThis was hands down one of my favorite classes. I really enjoyed learning about everything we discussed in this class. I have learned so much probably most beneficial is the ability to see the opposing argument. The thing I liked most about class is that there is a never a dull moment and it was not a boring subject to sit through. I enjoyed the class discussions and sometimes the debates we had. I have really taken some great things away from this as a result of taking it. I really enjoy the way you taught us as a class. I did not expect this class to be what it turned out to be!!
ReplyDeleteDanisha says....
ReplyDeleteI have to say that you did make this class enjoyable and your teaching style was very down to earth and pretty straight forward for the most part. You were able to break down the material so that we could comprehend it all b/c the book on the other hand was little too wordy.
I love the discussions and the videos that we were able to watch. This class helps to reveal or confirm our own personal beliefs and thoughts. Though I am glad that this class has come to a quarter's end I am happy to have been involved and had you as an instructor :).
My favorite part of the class is the ability for everyone to be open and give their opinion. I also think it is a good thing that you give your opinion but never try to push it onto us. So many times I feel that teachers give their opinion and are not willing to listen to other views. Your teaching style is overall the main reason your classes run so well, you really make coming to class enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I loved being able to talk freely about all our opinions on the subjects brought up in class. I liked how you related a lot of the topics to yourself and your life. I really enjoyed this class and I you are a joy to have as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this class. I always thought politics was boring but I was wrong. This class made me realize that is interesting. I liked hearing different different points of view hearing both sides of the issues. I did not like the quizzes but they were a good way to review.
ReplyDeleteI can say for sure that I have gained more of an awareness than what I had when entering the class. I used to not follow the news, not even a little bit. Now I regularly check different sources because I found I enjoy having an idea as to what is going on vs. not knowing at all.
ReplyDeleteSomething else that I really liked about the class was the fact we didn't really have homework aside from studying for the quizes and the final project. This really helped since I am graduating in just a couple quarters and have a lot to do with my capstone classes. It was not a stressful class at all.
I've really enjoyed your teaching style. I have never been a fan of history or politics because I just couldn't get it to click in my head but the fact that you just go over main points instead of loading us with pointless little details such as dates and names really helped me. You also tried to relate everything of the past to something present day and I really appreciate that. The only thing that would have helped me more is having more information in the power points because your lectures fill in so much of the information in the power points that they didn't help to look over them if I was absent so that would help out a lot to stay caught up. But overall I have gotten a lot out of this class that I haven't in any other historical or political classes I've taken.
ReplyDeleteoverall i really enjoyed the class. the only thing i would change would be the united nations...either do a lot more with it or do away with it completely. I feel like what we did with that could have been a lot of fun but we never had time for it..maybe use it on the first day as an ice breaker type thing and more like a scavenger hunt. that is my only negative thought about the class.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this class even though we discussed politics at 8am. I think that your enthusiasm really helped, also meeting with sarah's class to have open discussion was a good idea to hear everyones opinions.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this class. I wish I would have payed more attention. I really like political science, plus I feel like you made it very interesting for the class. Sorry I txt so much. Hopefully one day you'll get me in an afternoon class where I'm more myself. :)
ReplyDeleteOverall, I really enjoyed this class. I think that this is a subject most people my age are not thrilled to discuss, yet you made it really fun. I liked the final projects because we were able to research a specific topic. I do wish we had been able to work on it in class towards the end of the quarter and possibly meet with others doing the same topic as us. I enjoyed being able to always know what is expected of me. One thing I think could be changed is the United Nations. We didn't do enough with them so I would like to see more with that or replace it with something else. Overall, a good class!
ReplyDeleteI would like to say this class was fun. I was worried at first that this class would be one I would sleep through but it wasn't. This class was very fun and I learned a lot of new material. What I wish was that there would have been more class activities similar to United Nations. Other than that, I really enjoyed talking politics.
ReplyDeleteTionda Burch
I have to say I came in class this quarter not knowing anyone and with the expectation that it would be a boring Thursday. It soon was turned around and I really enjoyed everyones comments and stories. I made some new friends and developed a new perspective for things. Even though some things were hard to learn or sometimes disturbing, I would not change anything. This class started with the biggest stereotype and ended being my favorite this quarter. If something HAD to be changed I would say tell more stories Stephanie, they were the highlight of my day and cracked me up. So thank you for teaching me so much I would have not looked into otherwise.
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