Well another quarter has come and gone! I have enjoyed getting to know
all of you and hearing your opinions in class! When we started
together, most of you hated politics, and now you are ready to go out
and change the world! I wish all of you blessings and success in the
future. Please stay in touch and feel free to visit and post on the
blog whenever you like.
So for our last blog post, I would like to get your thoughts and
feedback on the class. "What did you like or dislike about the class?
What could I do to make it better?" Answers are due no later than Wednesday, June 12th, 2013. After that, the blog will be down until
class resumes next quarter. To those of you who are graduating,
congratulations on all your hard work and achievements! For everyone
else, I hope you enjoy the break! Signing off for the last
time....(okay maybe not the last time, but it sounded good)
I had a great time in this class. It was all I hoped to be with heated arguments to passionate opinions about the world around us. I felt it gave us a better awareness to have for the next time we watch the news, or see a tweet related to what's going on in our environment. I will miss seeing everyone's presentations for this week, but I am glad to be apart of such a interesting class.
ReplyDeleteAlways, Sydnee <3
This is the second time I have been in a class taught by you Stephanie, and I was just as pleased as I was the first time around. This is my 3rd year at Ai, and I unfortunately have experienced more than my fair share of instructors who didn't make the effort to include the opinions of the students as passionately as you do. I enjoyed the discussions, and I always appreciate how blunt you are about what is and what isn't going to be on a quiz. That way I never feel like I've wasted excess brain power. The only thing I would change is I would have more of an open forum as far as what the subjects seem to be affecting the students directly as far as privacy, since we all seem to live on social media. I think this would push more young people to be more involved in what it going on in our world.
ReplyDeleteP.S. It is late, but I have posted a response to the previous blog too :0)
During the course of this class, I felt that Stephanie's teaching methods are outstanding at most. The amount of information that was reviewed can be overwhelming, especially with the fact of the rare occasion that I would have to verbatim my historical and political issue knowledge. She was able to narrow down the readings into parts that would be required as an answer for the quizzes: in most cases, teachers require you to memorize or take notes of the 'entire' lecture. This would help more with retaining the presentations instead of just remembering a single quiz, spitting out the answer and then forgetting what was taught.. Currently, I do not have any recommendations on changing any aspects of the course. There are no dislikes for the class but suggestions of more time spent outside would be more interesting as a lecture.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this class and had a good time listening and seeing everyone's stance on their views of the world. It was fun to learn about some things in politics that I didn't know about or was not aware of and because of that I feel like keeping up on all important political news. Thank you for everything you taught us. see you in the future.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I heard a lot of bad things from other people about the class, but I have to say that the class was really enlightening to me on a lot of fronts, so overall, I enjoyed it. I was glad to learn about the federal reserve (which I didn't know much about), watch the Katrina video (the video made me cry), watch An Inconvenient Truth, and gobs of other info that I didn't know much about. I can't say there was anything that stood out that I disliked about the class.
ReplyDeleteI don't think anything needs to change about the class. You're a great teacher and this was a great course. It was a pleasure being in your class. Thank you.
I wouldn't advise you to change a single thing, Stephanie! The way you managed to balance factual information with current, relevant issues always kept my attention. The whole lot of us began the class with a negative mindset towards politics and thanks to you I can guarantee each of us got something out of the course. The final was interesting and it didn't even feel like a chore to complete as opposed to the majority of the ones I've done. Like others have said, it is wonderful knowing exactly what will be on the quiz so we can actually focus in on and learn the things you feel are important and not just graze a plethora of facts without retaining it all. And the greatest part about the class is when you managed to incorporate rap verses into the lecture. So the F-C-C won't let me be or let me be me so let me see!
ReplyDeleteThank you for absolutely everything! You are fantastic and I loved the class and the way you choose to teach it! You are the bomb (:
I enjoyed this class. I wouldn't have you change anything about the class. We had good discussions and it was nice hearing everyone's opinions and views on issues. I enjoyed the films you showed us. I liked Stephanie's teaching methods and I liked how we kept up on current issues and political news.
ReplyDeleteThanks, you too! I really enjoyed the class and I don't think you should change a single thing. I love the consistency. You knew what had to be done the following week and what to expect in class. The way you set up your class made it easy to follow and a very enjoyable one.
ReplyDeleteOops, logged into my other account. -Efrain Covarrubias
DeleteThe class was very interesting and led to some interesting conversations. I think this blog idea is a great way to get the idea to really express their ideas and opinions, since some of us don't really speak up in class to often. It's interesting to sift through everyone else's opinion and see what an eclectic class we have. I've never had you in a class and likely never will again, but this quarter was fun.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a good quarter on a (seemingly) boring topic!
I actually quite liked the class. I like that you took a topic most people would consider incredibly dull and made it into a very thought provoking class. I see no problems with the class as is. The quizzes weren't bad, the blog posts were engaging, etc.
ReplyDeleteI found out I had this class and dreaded the thought of having to go to this class every week but after week two I couldn't wait for Thursday night to come back around. Stephanie you have made this subject interesting and appealing and I absolutely love the way you taught it. Giving your opinion and personal situations you've been in letting everyone speak freely about their opinions and setting up the class to where you know exactly what you're doing every week. I can actually say I'm going to miss this class about politics that I never thought I would say.
ReplyDeleteHonestly (100%)I didn't care for this class much at all. I have taken into consideration that there is a thousand things that needed to be covered in only eleven weeks, but I felt like there were a lot of important events and current topics that we either skimmed over briefly or didn't cover what-so-ever. For example we only barely touched upon the Benghazi topic in a blog and didn't talk about it at all in discussion, or the IRS scandal never even got mentioned what-so-ever. I felt like the class was pretty one sided and almost as if it wasn't a class but more of an indoctrination towards a more liberal way of thinking. Just my opinion, I'm sweet enough so I don't sugar coat things. I felt like topics that made the current administration questionable were the ignored topics (Benghazi, fast and furious, IRS, NSA,). Even the more neutral current event topics were barely touched (immigration, gun control). Yeah sure gay marriage is the new hot button subject but there were a lot of equally important subjects as well. Gay marriage doesn't affect me directly either way, but a government that discriminates its citizens because you don't vote their way or spying on my phone calls does concern me.
ReplyDeleteCan I say I adored it all? Your teaching style is relatable for all students, regardless of our learning styles, which makes the material easy to follow. The class itself doesn't get boring, but the important bits only seemed to be the quizzes (not to say everything else wasn't, but not so much in a classroom stance). Like, the videos and such were fun, but they didn't pertain to the material on quizzes. I would, also, recommend getting rid of the United Nations, only because we had, like, three meetings. Clearly we can't fix the world with only three meetings. Or, include class time for more meetings.
ReplyDeleteThe final project outline is kind of boring and pointless, in the sense that we have to turn in a paper then do a presentation on it--redundant. BUT, I think, if you made a requirement for a more hands on final project, that would be a lot funner and then a reflection paper wouldn't be as redundant--and we could connect more with what we get and learn in this class.
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI just want to say thank you so much for having an informative and fun class this quarter. I have always enjoyed history and discussing various political issues so I always had a good time in this class. I honestly don't think you should change a thing about this class, I always felt very engaged and what we talked about in class were also topics that were happening in the real world. I also want to say thank you for letting me feel comfortable about sharing my story in class since I wasn't sure about sharing it in certain moments throughout the quarter. Thank you for having a class that felt open-minded and safe.
Lani
I think what you're doing in the class right now is absolutely fine. I enjoyed the class quite well. The only thing was just the subject in general just because that is the one thing in the world that I dislike. The class is still fun! I believe that the only reason that I am doing well in the class is because of the way that you are teaching it, so keep on it and thank you for being such an awesome teacher!
ReplyDeleteI heard a lot of bad things about this class, but so far I have to say I enjoyed it. The issues we talked about were what I was hoping to talk about. The class was fun and I would redo the whole thing over if I had the chance. Thank you for being an awesome and energetic teacher.
ReplyDeleteI feel you did your job well in teaching this class. It seemed to go by faster than I thought it would. I kinda wish we got to outside a little more often then we did but then again the weather didn't always prevail for the best. I would of liked to get on more government based topics and conspiracy theories but yea cant have a cake and eat it too lol. I wasnt a huge fan on the quizzes but then again I have never been big of them for all the answers I got wrong I blame Canada lol.
ReplyDeleteSo I had this nightmare. I was in your class and you were yelling at me about missing class on Thursday. I was genuinely freaked. I'm not afraid of people Stephanie, but you scared me in my nightmare. Hahaha!
ReplyDeleteAfter waking up I realized that it wasn't fear, but respect that I have for you. Though, my opinion about the government and politics has not changed since the moment I stepped in your classroom. They still piss me off more than anything. Every time I see a politician or government official speak, I will still always see shit spewing from their mouths. I don't know a whole lot about what gets done in D.C., but I know first hand that a man with power, will always corrupt it.
On another note. I will be missing class Thursday. You should have had me wait to present. Unless you wanted that this whole time and love me so much that you wanted to give me an early break. In that case I thank you. I was a little upset that nobody really seemed to get my poster. I didn't think I'd get so many blank stares from it. You can blame my absence on the "shame" I "felt" after everyone saw it. Sorry classmates who I'll miss present. If you really cared about me being there, then I would've appreciated a little more feedback on poster. Not even YOU said anything, Stephanie. I'm not used to that at a school like this.
I'm a very stubborn mind. I already had a mindset on how I felt and that wasn't going to be changed. You did a great job putting up with my crap which proves how patient and kind you are. I had a great time in your class. It was entertaining and had a diverse mindset.
Thank you Stephanie. I hope to see you around school after this quarter.
I actually learned so many things in this class, and it exceeded my expectations. I loved that Stephanie used videos and power points to help teach, (as a visual learner, I soaked it up!) and I really liked that we actually had class outside (more than once, too!).
ReplyDeleteI had fun in this class, and I really appreciate how passionate Stephanie is with her subject. You make boring/confusing government subjects interesting and understandable, I love it!
ANARCHY!!
I learned a lot things this quarter. I also think the class was pretty well set and flowed by smoothly. I'm sure I'll see you around and you keep it classy. Riley Bass 2016!
ReplyDeleteWhat I like about the class is that we discussed modern politics and how history has shaped it since the American conception, I learned a lot about how the government works and how politics is played. And I still don't like government or politics still.
ReplyDeleteYet overall, the class was great.