1. Please respond to the question listed below. This first blog interaction is mandatory. You will have to participate in three others before the end of the semester.
2. You will be required to respond at least once to another students post, of your choosing.
3. You have until Wednesday, 12 September at midnight to complete this first of four excercises.
Question: What are your perceptions about history classes? Why is it that history classes are rated as the least popular of courses? What can I as a professor do to help make history beneficial and interesting to you as a student?
27 comments:
I think that most people think History is boring because it has happened and there is nothing we can do about it now. So the way I believe that you can make it more enjoyable would be to relate it to us by showing us how what happened affects us today in our society.
I agree with James most teens or college students aren't interested in learning anything new about their past and History.. I personally love history and the history of America and the Longhorns. I believe that if we mixed in some newer, up to date history instead of just old like 16th century things that we might have more interest and more response and interction between the students.
i personally love history ive always been a history lover since i was young i do not know the reasons that people do not like histor i find it fascinating to learn a about the past and what we can learn from and the the mistakes that have been made and in what ways we can learn to prevent them from happening again... I love the way Bro. M ties in religion to history it excites me to learn new things about history and im really going to enjoy this class
Joshua Wayne Dixon
History can be the most exciting subject you can study, or it can be the most boring. I know that some people ALWAYS find it boring and others ALWAYS find it facinating. (I'm lukewarm...sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it.) I think it all comes down to finding an area of history that interests you, like Brian said. If we want to enjoy history, we need to find a niche that we like. I have always loved learning about the quirks of female royals. The most facinating thing to study for me has always been the Civil War.
I think that the best way to make history come alive is to show us how it has affected us today, and how things would be different had certain events transpired differently.
Well I was homeschooled, so Bro.Mack is my first history teacher. I have always loved history, and been fascinated by studing the different time periods and the craziness of people. I think often times history classes are approached as boring because the teachers are boring. However, in our case I think our history teacher obviously puts forth effort to keep us awake and interested.
Hello,
First, I want to think God for the wonderful advances in technology. To give an opinion of this class I have to point out the obvious jump into modernism.The blog interaction alone is something I have never dealt with involving education. It’s a nice touch to the traditional lectures we are all so used to.
I feel history classes are rated least popular because it is a class that makes you use your brain in the form of memorization. It takes more time to memorize something than to just get the overall point and answer a multiple choice test question. There is a saying I would like to point out to the people that don’t like history or take it seriously. “The only thing we learn from history is how to repeat the same mistakes differently”.
Brother McDaniel I highly respect you not only for your wisdom and dedication to the will of God, but also as one who had gained high ranks in this nation’s military, “Hoo Raw Sir” Having the students print the lecture notes before class and filling them out on there own is one suggestion. The next suggestion would be to have students read out loud your power point notes correcting our notes in class. I believe that would be a start to making history beneficial and more interesting.
I would definetly have to agree with Elizabeth. History can be a love, hate relationship. For instance, I love learning about the Titanic sinking. I could read about that event all day. It fascinates me, that the saying in that day was "God Himself could not sink that ship." Then she gets taken out by a little iceberg. But, on the other hand, I would honetly throw-up if I had to sit and learn about Euorpean history all day. I think it really depends on what interests you.
I would definetly have to agree with Dustin too; the reason most people hate history is because it is not the learning of an overall point: but memorization.
Bro. McDaniel, I think the things that you are currently doing will capture many of our attention spans and interests. I'm really excited about the blog interactions, because their not the same old classroom discussions. Also incorporating Christ in Hi'Story(where He belongs) really grabs my heart for history! Keep up the good work!
GO BOOMER SOONERS!!!! :)
My personal opinion of History classes would be that the subject has not always tickled my fancy. I was never very good at it and I could never keep up with all of the events and dates that come along with learning about our past. When it comes to Biblical History, my ears tend to perk up a little bit more that what they would for just any other type of history. History classes are not that fun because it has probably not been presented in an interesting and capturing way. Therefore students are no longer interested in the things of our past. I think that you are doing a wonderful job of presenting the material that we need to know about History. Maybe we could do a little more handouts that require answering certain questions. I agree with Kristin on the fact that it really depends on what you are learning about in the classroom concerning History. If you like what you are learning then you will be more attentive and actually learn something. If you aren't interested in what is being taught, then there will be minimal learning, if any at all.
The comment that was just posted a few minutes ago and it says anonymous is from Jessica S.
I also agree with Elizabeth, I definitely have a love/hate relationship with history. I have certainly never had any teachers who made it interesting. Like with any class, the teacher will enjoy some parts of the class more than others, so it's easy to hate the parts of history that your teachers don't enjoy. This class has been interesting so far because I've never been exposed to how God has been involved throughout our country's history, even before its actual foundation. It is also nice that the professor is technology savvy. Typing takes much less time than writing and keeps my attention better, so the internet involvement is really great.
History classes are the classes that are taught by coaches in high school. Worksheets or reading is assigned while he gathers the football players by the chalkboard to talk about the plays they'll be using in the game on Friday night. It's always been a class that was just a waste of time. The teachers didn't care so why should the students. Football was always more important than the course information and that's why it was discussed and dwelled upon instead of the actually information that was intended to occupy the time we had in that classroom. I know a lot of people that love history classes. They don't love history, though. The classes weren't about history. If they were, I might actually understand and enjoy it myself. My entire student life up until high school graduation gave me one teacher that actually cared about history. I was never taught to appreciate history. When I finally had a teacher that did I was a junior and it was too late. I had already had 10 years of history being a joke. It's hard to break habits that old. Honestly, I don't know how to make history interesting to me. I would have to see the brutal affects that it has on people. It would have to be very intense to show me that this is worth my time, because most of my life no one has thought that it was. Football was always more important.
Heather B.
This one is my response to reding everyone else's.
Someone talked about history being hard because it's a class about memorization. I don't like that statement. NO class should be about memorization. It should be about the knowledge of the information, a respect for the class content, when this happens you do remember what is happening because it matters to you, not because you were told to memorize it. When people memorize the Bible it's usually because they love it, they repect God's Word, and they know that it applies to thier life and can help them in their everyday situations. Memorization should spring from this. A class shouldn't be about memorization but about facts.
I think that some people enjoy some areas of history more because it has been presented in a way that provokes personal interest and connects to the lives of the individual. Someone mentioned Titanic (a girl) it's been presented as a love story and, it was shown as a huge force being brought down. It brought man back to reality becuse what we thought was impossible wasn't. It was a tragedy. Another girl talked of females in history. The obvious connection there is gender. In a world that still tends to place women below men it's nice to hear about women that defeated the odds and held the power. These people have found personal connections in these areas of history. I'm pretty sure that you can find a personal connection to every aspect of history if you look. I don't think that God would have it otherwise.
I'm a little long-winded.
Heather B.
I also agree with Elizabeth and everybody else who says that evrybody can have different feelings about history class. Sometimes the same person can have different feelings about it. There may be some events that really interest somebody but then other events that they are not interestd in at all. There are some events that I think are really interesting and then others that aren't as interesting to me. I also agree with Heather. In high school most of my history teachers were coachs so they really didn't put history as a priority. Now that I am here at ABC and I actually have a history teacher who cares about more then just football I think I will enjoy this class more and gt more out of it
I think the reason why history classes are the least popular ones are because we have a mentality of that if it doesn't happen to us, who cares? I think that at its most basic level is why they (history classes) aren't popular with our "here and now" age we live in.
As far as what you can do to make it more beneficial or interesting, I think that is going to come down to relating it to us, the uncaring self absorbed generation that we are.
-Keegan
History has always been one of my least favorite subjects. Like stacie and heather said, most of my history teachers were coaches also. i never really had a great history teacher. i think the best way to help us learn is to try and relate it to us today(like keegan said). I believe History could get very interesting and maybe even fun to learn about if we all get into it.
~Court H.
i think people dont like history because it is something that occured long ago and nothin can be done about it now. I think a way to make history more interesting would to allow more class discussion and try to get kids more invovled in the learning of it. For me history has always been interesting so its really not that hard for me to get into it, especially now since God is involved in the way it is taught.-Kendall Johnson
I think history in general, while it can be interesting at times, is not always applicable to the majority of what I'm doing. The way that history has always been taught to me has probably influenced my disliking of it because of it not linking back to the occurences in my life. So, in general, I've always had a distant and uninvolved sort of perception of history classes. I think many students feel the same way about history as well; that history is in the past, nothing can be done about it, and very little of it applies to my current actions. It could possibly be because of this that history classes are ranked so poorly in comparison to other subjects. On a more positive note, however, I really like what you are doing as a professor to bring God's influence and actions into what we are learning, showing side-by-side how everything is related. Bringing this into the lectures makes me more engaged, and enjoy learning to a greater extent. - Jeremy McNair
Looking at what Elizabeth posted, I can definitely relate in that there are some topics that are brought up in a history class that I am engaged and interested in, while others bore me to death. I love learning about the history of Christianity, for example, but don't feel the same excitement towards the Civil War. I guess it all comes down to personal preference. When it comes to a topic that we don't like, we have to pay attention and learn about it anyway, because the things we do like will still come around eventually.
I believe history is an important topic to study so that our mistakes are not repeated. History, with all its ups and downs, can be very interesting or very boring depending on how it is presented. It is for this reason that history classes are rated the way they are. As a professor of history the facts must be presented in a manner that gains the classes attention and brings the story to life, all the while showing the importance of the historical event and how it impacts us in our daily lives today in 2007.
I must agree with Jeremy. Most of my history classes have been less than enthusiastic and left me wanting more from the class then a boring lecture. If I want to fight falling asleep I can find a cheaper way to do it then paying for a history class. What is great about Bro. McDaniel's class is that he brings everything to life and places God in His rightful place so we, as students, can see how God has worked in the past and how it applies to our lives today.
I agree with Elizabeth as well. History can be boring or interesting depenging on the teacher and the topic. Like Beth said, if the teacher is not interested in what they are presenting then it is very hard to be interested in it as well. So far this class is very interesting because God is being added to the text. To see how God and history relate is very interesting and it really keeps my attention. And what also really helps me stay in touch and focus on the lesson better is that the teacher puts humor into it.
I believe that history classes are rated least popular because people feel that since it involves the past there is nothing you can do about it now in the future. People feel that what has happened, happened. And you cant change the past.
Elliot Delka
My preconcieved notions about history in general are bleek. I hate the thought of having to learn about old dudes doing stuff I feel is not pertinant to what I want to do. Before ABC, i went to UNT wanting to be a movie director. I just never cared why people did what they did. Call it a focus problem. I only care for the now.
I think that the reason for history classes being very unpopular is that there is really nothing new to talk about. To most people "what's done is done," so all that seems to be left is the memorization of famous names and dates. We live in a world where last week's news is old news, so it is difficult to make a history class seem relevent to current times. I think that by showing God's hand throughout history, Bro. McDaniel has given history a twist that a lot of us haven't been exposed to before, especially in public school systems.
Most students do not understand the importance of knowing historical events. When knowing the facts of the past, it will help prevent negative problem being repeated. I think it would be beneficial to point out how stuff from the past has greatly molded the present.
Jacob Wade Teekel
I agree with Kendall. History is does not appear that exciting but adding God's influence to it seems to make pay attention. God has control of the past and I believe we forget that sometimes.
Jacob Wade Teekel
Post a Comment