First Quarter Reflection

Wow! I cannot believe the end of first quarter is already here! It literally feels like we just started back… So far this year I have definitely been put to the test of seeing what I know versus what all I have left to learn. This was especially true during my U.S. History class. 

Coming into this year I didn’t know too much about America’s past. I knew we had fought in some major wars and the we had a history of slavery and that we originated from England and were discovered by Christopher Columbus but other than that, I knew nothing. Now, after just eight short weeks, I could tell you all about our nation’s past from the time of the civil war to the western expansion. 

I think the biggest take away for me from this quarter is that I have the skills it takes to form a good paper or blog post but that I just have to trust myself and write the truth. When we were first told we would be keeping up with a blog throughout the year, I’m not gonna lie, I was terrified. History is typically my worst subject and english is not far behind so I could tell this was going to be tough. Our first assignment was to make a blog and then write a post about the differences between empathy and sympathy. I was heading out of town to go on a hunting trip with my dad the next day so I had Mrs. Lawson read my post before I left. Needless to say she was very pleased. We were also working in pairs at that time and so I was able to compare mine with my partners and see. After I clicked publish post I felt a big sense of pride. I think it was one of very few written assignments I was truly happy with. Next, we went on to learn how to properly add a quote to our blog and how to add pictures and then lastly we learned how to paraphrase a source and then incorporate it into our writing. We have done a little work with this in the past but I never fully understood it but after giving it another shot, it wasn’t too bad. All of these things led up to our major essay on how it was actually possible to learn from movies. 

Going forward this year I really want to work on going more in depth with how I view things. I feel like I often miss the true meaning of something because I’m too focused on the obvious. I know I am going to get plenty of chances to improve this skill in the coming months so I’m not too concerned but it would be nice. I plan on accomplishing this by doing extra research outside of the classroom and by taking the information given to me in class and finding other ways and perspectives of looking at it.