This semester in History class was rather interesting for me. I am really not a good history student, and I always felt like there was so much information to retain in such a short period of time. My professor, Professor Underwood, proved me wrong this time. While in her class this semester, I was able to get a more in depth class discussion on what we were learning about. Although history is rather boring, Professor Underwood helped me to get a better understanding of it. I appreciate history more, and I have learned things that I never thought I would learn. While studying the different time periods and their great contributions to the world of today, gave me a better appreciation for my forefathers and mothers. I was able to learn more about personal artifacts and obtain greater knowledge on different cultures and ways of living.
It amazed me how much technology and resources we have picked up and still use in today’s world from thousands and thousands of years ago. I never felt history was an important subject and did not see the point in us learning about it, but my professor has given me a different outlook and perspective on things. Although I dreaded those long slides full of notes, they really did instill important information into my memory bank. I was able to go deep into different cultures and countries, and read on their ways of living, art and architecture, faiths, origin myths, philosophies, government, and popular culture. Professor Underwood had us doing many different things while studying these cultures and countries, and I think that is what gave me a better visual on what I was learning about. By elaborating on a certain thing, you are able to get more insight on what it is the professor is talking about. The personal artifact essay was our first writing assignment of the year, and with this essay we had to pick our own personal artifact and describe how historians of the future would identify its significance to society later in life. Upon completion of this assignment, I was able to understand the type of questions historians may answer to get a better understanding of what it is they are studying. This was by far the easiest assignment we were given, because it was more personal to me and my writing flow was much better. We also were assigned to write a cultural analysis paper. While doing my cultural analysis paper, I was able to focus on a certain aspect of a culture of my choice and elaborate on it. I chose homosexuality in Ancient Greece, and I was amazed at the research I stumbled upon. This paper was rather difficult because I was not sure if I was researching the culture correctly, and it was rather hard to get my ideas flowing like I wanted them to. This paper was a prime example of one of the main things Professor Underwood had us do as a way of getting a better understanding on what we were being taught. Professor Underwood did a great job of making sure we were not only learning about these different people and ways of living, but also were getting something out of it. She made the class more interesting and bearable. I really thought I would die of boredom, but she actually kept my attention the whole semester. I also learned about the creation of the first humans to ever walk earth, Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens Sapiens, Mesopotamia, the birthplace of civilization, the first type of writing, cuneiform, a form of wedge-shaped lettering, The Tigris and Euphrates River, the two rivers that were the main source of food in Mesopotamia, and also the beginning of early Christianity.
Overall, I think my experience as a first year freshman in History 201 was much better than I anticipated. Going into the class, I did not know what to expect or what challenges I would be faced with, but I was able to take everything in stride and put forth my best effort. It has taught me self-discipline and time management. Without those two things, there is no way one can pass the class because it is too much information to retain simply by studying only during class meetings. One must take time each day to go over the material learned in the course of that day. As a result, I have learned valuable information that I can now transfer over into the second semester of this course.
Sharaine's Blog 