Social change

My History Portfolio:

I remember vividly the first day of the trail, anxiety coursing through my veins. I knew this project was going to be something else the day we learned about it. It was going to magical. This whole class has taught me to march to the beat of my own drum, and take control of my own education. I have experimented with many different projects, each of which had descriptions pliable enough to craft something unique. Every single project was more original and innovative than the last and made me think of ideas in history in expanses of new ways.

Social change is the result of creative minds putting their best work together, rallying the people and just giving it your all. A job worth doing is one worth doing right so you might as well give your 100% every time. The ideas of social change I learned in this class have rocked me to my core, shedding new light on historical instances I had prior knowledge on. The vast amount of freedom allowed in each project really let me run wild with my creativity. Each worksheet and assignment on a topic wove masterfully constructed questions together with insightful commentary on the source material allowing me to really get imaginative with each response. We could always count on Mr. Block to provide the necessary information during pause breaks in movies. They were useful and unobtrusive and really helped me understand some of the trickier topics.

In order to understand myself I had to do some deep soul searching. At first, I was unsure about this class, the assignments were vexing on a deep moral level and the near laissez faire setup of the class intimidated me. But by the time we were setting up our play outlines I was raring to go and giddy as ever. The plays really opened my eyes to how social inequality ticks and what the driving forces are. Mr. Block let us go wild with this project and I think it really affected how the plays turned out. The limitations were unobtrusive helping each play find its own footing and really become something else. “I don’t know why I was so excited by this. It didn’t mean anything for sure yet. What was I thinking” This is a quote from play.

I wish had spent less time on drawing in my notebook, I wasted all that paper doodling instead of letting my ideas on the state of the world flow out onto the pages. It is my biggest regret. And, now, at the close of this long spectacular year, I can see what a huge mistake I’ve made. My drawings were mere distractions, roadblocks on my journey to becoming a socially-conscious adult. I should have soaked in every bit of sacred information that was provided for me in this class instead of letting it slip away, dripping through my open hands. This class makes me love history and I walk away a better man because of it.  

Links to my work:

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/presentation/d/1PC_eav8ZiLmgQcanaklmUbEqcWa3i4A5_eQS6QREdjA/edit?usp=drive_web

https://drive.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/#folders/0BzLvODXVI4hdQlJYSEZiVmdMR2s

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1-knNkuZalOd0eiH0mkmxUVSwtNdBmnNXUmouklLckS0/edit?usp=drive_web

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1uzW-Z3QBQD_Xh0PJWROBf3pyhqViaPPBc3KOA0g3_kI/edit?usp=drive_web