Understanding that most of you are here to fulfill a general education requirement :-) what is one thing that you hope to gain from your time in this course? More confidence speaking in class? More refined writing skills? More information about American history? A better understanding of the current political climate/debates? A new study group? A place to sit with free wifi that is out of the rain? Besides the end goal of a degree, what do you want out of your experience in this course?
In the comments below, write your goal. We'll encourage each other throughout the semester and we'll check in at the end of the course to see how much progress we made towards our goals.
This post will be available for comments until Thursday, September 3.
Its no secret I was REQUIRED to take this course, but looking on the bright side, my goals for this class is a general, if not better, understanding of history. I was never good in history so a combination of that and confidence in speaking would be an awesome outcome from this class!
ReplyDeleteAside from this class being a requirement as well, I decided to take this course and chose from the Civil War to present specifically because I am more interested in the history that affected more of how we live today. I would also like to improve my writing skills, especially with using other sources and paraphrasing.
ReplyDeleteYES! In agree-ance (its being added to the dictionary as we type). Knowing your history does allow you to see the world today for what it really is.
DeleteI guess my goal would be to just learn more about history and have a better understanding of it. It would also be nice to improve my writing skills by the end of it. I have enjoyed history classes in the past, and I'm pretty sure I will enjoy this one also.
ReplyDeleteAlone with this being a requirement, my goal for this class is to achieve an A+, if not an A. I love history and have exemplar writing skills so I don't doubt that I can do well in this course.
ReplyDeleteI like history and I like listening to lectures, but I am not particularly fond of speaking in class and writing essays about it. So my goal for the semester would be to participate more and to improve my writing skills.
ReplyDeleteI'm taking this course to fulfill a requirement. As for goals, I'm not a really strong writer so I hope this course could help me improve my overall writing skills.
ReplyDeleteHistory is one of my favorite subjects to take, however, I prefer world history instead of American history. I'm looking forward to learn more about the gilded age and topics that were not taught in high school.
ReplyDeleteIn elementary school I never liked History as a subject. However, due to the teacher who taught me History for all three of my three years of middle school, I began to appreciate U.S. History. When I started high school, AP World History opened my eyes to the many different cultures there are and I loved every aspect of the subject. Going into AP U.S. History, I realized that, like you, I largely preferred World History. So hopefully this course can help us both gain a wider appreciation and understanding for American history and what it has to offer.
DeleteI am taking this course as a requirement just like many other students in the class. I was never good at history so for my goals I would like to grasp a better understanding of American history along with improving my writing skills.
ReplyDeleteAside from this being a course requirement for my degree I am interested in learning about American History and understanding why things are the way they are today. I am also interested in improving my writing skills and my essay skills.
ReplyDeleteI'm taking this course as a requirement just like many classmates. I've always enjoyed history class, so this coarse will refresh my memory. Some of my goals for this class would be to practice analyzing text, become a stronger writer and practice my citations.
ReplyDeleteA variety of our class is taking this class because it's a course requirement or because they want to broaden their horizon of history and the likes, but that is not why I am taking this class. I've always liked history since high school and American History is something that has always interested me, so I took 151 for my requirement and then decided that I might want to be a History Major (or minor) so when I decided to take this class, I took it with one thought in mind. This will be the class that lets me know how much I love history and if I do want to become a history double major/minor, since History is always good to know with English, which is my current major.
ReplyDeleteEven though for me this class is a requirement, I have always enjoyed American History because it is a good reminder from where we once came from. How Americans were able to just start building from the dirt under their feet. Even though we study the past, people tend to forget that we are too part of history and we are making it every day.
ReplyDeleteOverall, my goal for this class is that I hope it helps me improve my writing skills as well as my annotating skills. Hopefully this class will also help me improve my public speaking skills so it can be easier for me to express my ideas without hesitation.
This class may be a required course, however, that does not make it any different from other classes. My goal in this class is to have a deeper understanding of American History as I feel what I've been taught thus far is inadequate.
ReplyDeletei am currently taking this because it fulfills a requirement but also because i am contemplating about doing a history minor or not. As for my goals in this course i would like to become a better writer and leave with a grade of A- or higher.
ReplyDeleteI've dreaded this mandate since I got to college. As an African AMERICAN my people are continuously excluded from classroom text books out side of the conversations of slavery and civil rights movement. Even under those 2 circumstances, its always diminutive, rarely put in proper context, if not flat out incorrect information or "evasive" of the truth.
ReplyDeleteMy goal will be to add the pieces of my African AMERICAN history that I have recovered into the conversation. This country was not built under the feet of "American" It was built on the backs of indigenous people be them from Africa or the people whom were here before the Spaniards rude intrusion.
As an African American, I agree that it is frustrating to seem continuously excluded from a history that would not be a history without the struggles of our ancestors. I too hope to be able to add to our class conversations a different perspective that people with different backgrounds may not have ever come to think about.
DeleteI'm looking forward to class discussion even more so. How history is written and told is related to the time's current viewpoints and unfortunately prior to this generation, American history was told as an idealized variation of how it occurred.
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ReplyDelete"Those who control the present control the past and those who control the past control the future"
-George Orwell
History was my first choice amongst the plethora of options. Like Orwell I believe in investigating the past to provide a brighter future. I am interested in the past, present and more importantly the future.
There were a handful of classes to fulfill this requirement, however I took this class specially because I enjoy learning about the post civil war era. My favorite era to learn bout is the civil rights era (predominantly because I wish to pursue civil rights law). I hope to learn more about this era and also to improve my writing skills.
ReplyDeleteI signed up for this class with a few things in mind. Firstly, I really am slacking on my knowledge of history, and I tend to be a very science oriented person. I've learned a lot about psychology and sociology, and I see this class as a very unique opportunity apply knowledge from those areas to the knowledge I will hopefully attain in this class. History provides the opportunity to see how changes in culture, mindset, and ideology slowly take place within societies and I'm very excited to use what I've learned in the past in new and interesting ways. I also believe that history is the key to the future; good knowledge of the past makes for a brighter future, so that aspect is interesting to me as well.
ReplyDeleteHistory really does impact the future. We learn from the past and use that knowledge to move forward. After all as said by Albert Einstein "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different result."
DeleteI signed up on this class to be able to hopefully learn a bit more on history occurring after the civil war. I actually don't need this as a required class because I already took the first history.
ReplyDeleteWe'll certainly do that, but can you please post with your real first name and las initial so I can give you credit for posting? Thanks!
DeleteI signed up on this class to be able to hopefully learn a bit more on history occurring after the civil war. I actually don't need this as a required class because I already took the first history.
DeleteSorry about that didn't notice google plus didn't have it as my real name
As many of my classmates stated above, this class was also a requirement however I've always found history post civil war to be most interesting as well as being the most impacting portion of history that defines our way of living today. I hope to get an A in this course along with a sense of fulfilment, I'd also like to enjoy the class and meet new people. I also sensed that although this is an early course, there's an optimism and enthusiasm I feel being in the class so that's another plus. My preferred subjects are math and science, the last history class I took was A.P. U.S History about 2 years ago so it's also interesting to see how much I remember. I look forward to an enjoyable and educational semester
ReplyDeleteBeing that I am a science oriented person, I too am mostly taking this class being it is required of me. However, I am coming in open-minded and excited to learn about and take part in current debates. I hope to hear and consider differing opinions and be able to more eloquently deliver my opinions on certain "hot topics".
ReplyDeleteI already took the first part of the course, I really enjoy history and would like to possibly minor in it. I also would like to work on my time management and writing skills as the semester progresses.
ReplyDeleteAs like most people, I am taking this class to fulfill a requirement; however, I have always had a great interest in the topics this course covers. WWII has always been my preferred topic to learn and discuss, but I am greatly looking forward to learning new things that might not have been taught in the high school curriculum. I want this class to help me improve my public speaking. I wish to sound more confident about what I am saying as well.
ReplyDeleteI am taking this course because I feel that history post civil war is more interesting. My goal is to get an A in the course and to gain a better understanding of American history.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can see from the other comments, I'm obviously not the only one who is taking this course due to a requirement. Through this class, I do want to improve my writing. I want my writing to improve in a way that my future essays will become more coherent as well as maintain a more understandable flow throughout.
ReplyDeleteDespite being a requirement, I do hope to improve my writing skills as well as sharing freely in class during discussion. My goal for this course is to not only get an A but also to better understand the events throughout American history as a whole, rather than individual happenings.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if my comment went through a couple days ago, but if not I am taking history like many others as a required course. Fortunately I find history very interesting and look forward to learning more about events of US past time. My goal for this class is to be able to speak intelligently about the past.
ReplyDeleteHaving previously taken a history course in US history, I hope this class further expands upon what I have previously learned. I feel I have a certain aptitude for history because I do find interest in learning about the past. My main goal would be to refine my writing and hopefully garner more confidence to participate in class.
ReplyDeleteFor this course I hope to better understand the history of the political parties and the impact it has had to shape the current political landscape of views and relationships.
ReplyDeleteI am taking this course to have a better understanding of American history. In addition, my goal as a student is to have more confidence in speaking in front of a large group of people because I have trouble speaking in general.
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