Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

Everyone is different and therefore there is never one "correct" way to teach them. Learning is not just reading a textbook and taking quizzes but it extends way beyond that. There are many different ways to learn that are more creative and they vary depending on each person. Not everyone can be able to learn well through reading but there are other ways such as through listening or visuals. Throughout my history and english 10th grade course, I have experienced many different methods of learning and realized that they are all unique in their own ways. The way we learned throughout the year the way we learned was just as important as the material itself.

One of our major projects this year was to interview someone and make a podcast to explore the topic of crossing boundaries. We had a few class discussions but did not go to much in depth about it until we all finished our podcast. While sitting through the interview and listening to the other podcast, I gained something that I would have never gotten if it was in text form or discussions. I felt and heard the emotions expressed through listening. In my reflection of the podcast, I wrote, “Although I have done interviews a few times before, this time it felt like something different because it was something that I could really connect with, especially because I was interviewing my own brother.” If my brother was to write down everything he said and hand it to me, I would have read it but not feel any connection at all. The podcast added a deeper layer to my experience in learning about crossing boundaries. I was able to learn about the boundaries in general and also apply that to my life. If it was not for this podcast then I would not have known so much more about my brother.

The class also spent a huge amount of time writing our own play. Plays normally have a storyline to them that makes people interested but writing plays takes a lot of skill. Writing a play is not like writing an essay but it enables so much more creativity. Students are most likely going to put more effort into something that they enjoy and that is why writing a play is so important. It increases our writing skills but it also shows that we can learn from writing something that is not as formal as an essay. When I gave a brief summary of my play, I wrote, “One of the girls is a famous star who dreams of going back to school but cannot because she is too busy. The other girl is very poor and tries to find money to pay for her tuition and take care of her family at the same time.” Although this play did require a lot of editing, it also helped me learn about the life of people in different countries.

As one of our earliest projects, we had to write a series of monologues from different perspectives. Although there may be articles and news about the different views of the pipeline coming from certain groups of people but there is so much more we can learn. Writing monologues gave us an infinite range to choose from. We can write from the perspective of the pipeline, the trees, the earth, the water and so much more. For one of my monologues, called “One In Thousands,” I wrote from the point of view of a sensor in the pipeline and one of my lines was, “If something goes wrong, they’ll just blame us. “Oh, there’s something wrong with our sensors.” Pathetic. Why is it that I’m the only one that could see that we shouldn’t be here?” In order to express the feeling of a sensor, I had to do plenty of research. The monologues helped me have a better understanding of the effect of the pipeline because I did a lot more work and put more effort into it but at the same time it did not feel like much because it was an enjoyable project.