Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

During this school year we learned a lot about other countries through the Holocaust and Colonialism. I am writing about Countries not always knowing what is best for other countries. The pieces of work that we did in class that have to do with this topic are the Torture and Obedience worksheet, the Night Themes and Insights worksheet, and the Graphic Novel Quote Responses on the Holocaust book we chose to read. I learned about this topic from reading the books, “Night” by Elie Wiesel and “Maus” by Art Spiegelman. Both of those books are about the Holocaust through Jewish peoples’ eyes. On the “Maus” Quote Sheet, we had to write quotes that we thought were interesting, what we thought about the quote, what the quote says about the book, and what the quote says about the world. On the “Night” Themes Worksheet, we had to write three quotes from the book about faith, relationships, hope, and control. We also had to write two statements and a deep question for each of those categories. These helped me learn about countries not knowing what’s best for each other because we live in a free country and we complain if our phone is going to slow, if there's traffic, or if something costs more than we want it to, but these people were fighting for their lives every day and we will never know what their experience was like. The Nazi’s were trying to control the Jewish people and wanted to kill them because they weren’t the “perfect” race. The last worksheet that helped me learn about this topic is the Torture and Obedience Worksheet. This helped me learn about the topic because it was a worksheet on a video that had to do with people shocking others if they answered a question wrong, but the people weren’t really getting shocked, and the video related to the book, “Night.” It related to “Night” because the Nazis tortured the Jewish people by putting them in gas chambers and keeping them in the concentration camps with barely any food or water. They also killed the Jews by putting them in a in a crematorium. We wait in line for the newest phones, newest sneakers, or even concert tickets, and the Jews waited in line for food and their death. Another piece of work that we did in History was a Colonialism Project. This helped me understand because after the Native Americans were colonized their whole world changed, and they didn’t want that to happen because they didn't know what the change would bring to their already formed culture but the Spaniards thought that colonization was best for the Natives even though the Spanish told them how to live their lives. An example of this in today's world is the budget cuts from the Philadelphia School District. They are taking away our rights to a better education from our electives, our sports programs, and even our counselors that help us with our college choices.

My thoughts about countries not always knowing what is best for one another changed throughout this year because I used to think that learning about other countries and the Holocaust was boring, but now that I learned about it in a different way I found out a lot more about the ways countries try to control other countries. Another way it changed my thinking was because it was in the perspective of people that were a part of the Holocaust rather than someone else’s perspective. I used to not like learning about History but the way that I learned it this year really changed my perspective on how I look at the world and it taught me that I shouldn’t take the things I have for granted.

Some Other Work That has to do with this Topic:

History Journal 9/12/12