Second Semester Honors Book Club
For the second semester of Humanities Honors, I participated
in a book club. Throughout the semester, I read two books assigned from my
teacher. I was asked to write a reflection of the book and participate in
seminars for each one. The seminars consisted of several of my peers and we
discussed big ideas presented in the book or pose questions we had. I read Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut and Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and
Sheryl Wudunn and chose to make an art piece for Cat’s Cradle.
I felt that Half the Sky had a profound impact on my understanding of women’s oppression around the world. Although I did have some exposure to this issue before, I found that I learned so much more. The book integrates personal stories from women around the world with ideas of how to address the problem of oppression and make the world a better place for everybody. I found this book hard to read because of the many graphic stories, but nonetheless found it to be a valuable and important read. Needless to say, I enjoyed this semester of honors a lot. I’ve always loved reading, so I had no problem completing these assignments. However, I think that the most challenging part was understanding the deeper meaning and ideas presented in the books, especially Cat’s Cradle. In the novel, Vonnegut satirizes the importance of religion, government and science. However, I did not understand this until the seminar. I think that I need to work on this skill by reading more books like Cat’s Cradle and challenge myself to think critically about what the author might be trying to convey. HERE for my reflections on the books, as well as my art piece reflection! |
Independent Study
For the 1st semester honors humanities, we had to do an independent study project that involved an event or series of events in the history of the United States. For my project, I choose to focus on two environmental issues, the Hetch Hetchy Dam and Glen Canyon Dam Debates, and how they are related to each other. I have always been interested in the history of environmental issues so I figured that I could really explore those ideas further through this project. However, I started this project by trying to do something with the history of mining in Colorado, but ended up going with the other topic because the research was much more accessible.
I found this project to be very difficult. On top of having to do this project and my school work, I also had to create this out of thin air (or at least it seemed like it), which I have never done before. Although I could have worked harder and smarter on my project, I still feel that the process has been very beneficial in teaching me valuable skills to tackle similar problems. I’ve learned to communicate with my teacher earlier on, research relevant information and to tackle a big problem by breaking it into smaller pieces. This experience has, hopefully, put me in a good spot to succeed in my senior year project, which is ever similar to this one, because I have been educated in the best ways to go about an independent study project.
If I was to do this project differently, I would have started everything a lot earlier in the year and I would have asked for my teacher’s support when I most needed it. Also, I would have flushed out my research more so than I did because I still feel a little fuzzy on some of the concepts.
For next year’s students who are going into honors, I would suggest that they do everything that I wish I had done (listed above). This will ensure success on this project, as well as increase the overall satisfaction one might get from doing this project.
I found this project to be very difficult. On top of having to do this project and my school work, I also had to create this out of thin air (or at least it seemed like it), which I have never done before. Although I could have worked harder and smarter on my project, I still feel that the process has been very beneficial in teaching me valuable skills to tackle similar problems. I’ve learned to communicate with my teacher earlier on, research relevant information and to tackle a big problem by breaking it into smaller pieces. This experience has, hopefully, put me in a good spot to succeed in my senior year project, which is ever similar to this one, because I have been educated in the best ways to go about an independent study project.
If I was to do this project differently, I would have started everything a lot earlier in the year and I would have asked for my teacher’s support when I most needed it. Also, I would have flushed out my research more so than I did because I still feel a little fuzzy on some of the concepts.
For next year’s students who are going into honors, I would suggest that they do everything that I wish I had done (listed above). This will ensure success on this project, as well as increase the overall satisfaction one might get from doing this project.
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