Honors Courses :
Freshman Year –
GNED-261-50-Exploring Science in Our World:
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Open in new tab This is the final edition to our project on the Bay. For this assignment, along with 3 other similar chapters, we added “chapters” to one of our required readings, “A World Without Fish”. This is my final chapter, written on a world without blue crabs, specifically in the Chesapeake Bay, the life of a crabber, and a “call to action” for people to save the Bay.
Reflection:
This was one of my absolute favorite classes I took this year. This class was taught by Dr. Alix Fink and it was focused all on the quality of the water in our world. During this semester we participated in a field trip to Hull Springs Farm, where we actually went on board a oyster boat on the Potomac River, and then go into the local town to participate in a city as text project. This course truly highlighted the benefits of honors classes versus other classes. Every class was a focused discussion, not just a lecture on what we should know. Dr. Fink spoke to us frankly and as adults, urging us to take control of the situation that is the quality of the water in our world. The assignments that we completed were different than anything I had done in previous classes; I feel I learned more from completing projects in my Biology class than in any other class. I enjoyed every class meeting; the course was not only interesting, but extremely relevant to my life. It was in this course that I truly experienced the privilege of being a part of the Honors College. It was a thought provoking, mentally stimulating class that I will always think of as one of my favorite classes and most treasured experiences with the Cormier Honors College.
My favorite part of this course was our trip to Hull Springs Farm. The weekend was not only fun, but extremely interesting and truly unforgettable. It was during this trip that I realized it was a gift to be a part of something so special as the Cormier Honors College; my peers were like a family, and my instructors were genuinely interested in my success in life.
Longwood Seminar:
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Here I have my presentation on my “Longwood Tradition”, Princeps.
Reflection:
I thoroughly enjoyed my LSEM experience; some of the people in my LSEM were my first friends at Longwood. I felt that the most influential information we reviewed, was that about the different requirements of an honors student. I also enjoyed the guest speaker we had. I enjoyed my LSEM so much, and felt that my peer mentor was so helpful, I decided to become a Peer Mentor for the following year. The highlight of my LSEM course was when we had a speaker come in to talk about study abroad. At this time, I was already signed up to study abroad in Spain for 5 weeks, and the speaker boosted my confidence and assured me that I was going to have a great time on my trip.
Anthropology-205-50-Human Life in Prehistoric World:
Reflection:
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This was my 10 page research paper, written for 25% of my final grade. It covers the Founding Fathers and the relationship they had with their slaves, based on archaeological evidence found on their plantations.
This course held was very sentimental for me because both of my parents had had Dr. Jordan as a teacher and I was thereby required to take a class with Dr. Jordan before I graduated. Dr. Jordan did not disappoint. This class was challenging for me because I had no anthropology background knowledge, and the class seemed to jump right in past the basics. It was difficult to catch up, but I found myself interested and engaged during every lecture. We went on many different class field trips, and our small class became almost a small family, a trend I am sensing among honors courses. We only had four grades for the entire class, which was extremely different than anything I had ever experienced before. I was extremely challenged with my final paper, a 10 page research paper and a 25 minute presentation. This assignment, though extremely time consuming and difficult, was very fulfilling, interesting, and relevant to my major. After I had both turned in the assignment and presented my work, I was so proud of my efforts. I learned a lot about the prehistoric world, but I think I learned the most about how to effectively take notes, distribute large assignments, and conduct research. And that Dr. Jordan is awesome.
The highlight of this class, was our first field trip to Willis Mountain. Here we literally hiked up a large mountain, the whole time nervous Dr. Jordan would hurt himself. As we sat in a prehistoric rock shelter, surrounded by history, and stories being narrated by the best story teller known to man, I knew that moment was one I would not forget, and that I was very lucky to have Dr. Jordan as a teacher, mentor, and friend.
Education 245 : Intro to Human Growth and Development
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This course was the first of my education classes and I feel that I gained a good perspective on what it takes to be a teacher, and the amount of responsibility you have as an educator. I really enjoyed that this course was extremely discussion based versus simply a lecture. This class followed the trend of what a honors class usually entails. I think that as a class, and on a personal level, I gained the most from having the class mostly project and presentation based. I feel that this helped me understand the material more, and it got me prepared for getting up in front of a class and presenting material. A highlight from this class for me, was the use of group work. I feel that using group work benefited me in more ways than I can know in this moment. Almost all of our projects were group oriented, this was beneficial to me because before this class I had only done a minimal amount of group work, and through Education 245, I found that it was difficult for me at times. But with practice, I was able to improve my skills with group work.
Sophomore Year –
English 201 : World Literature
Reflection:
It seems that after history classes, English classes are my favorite. English courses really give me a chance to discuss and share my ideas, forcing me to think critically and make meaningful connections between works of literature. This was one the first time that I really took a sincere focus on literature all over the world. I love classes like this because we have the opportunity to see how literature from hundreds of years ago, found in countries all around the world, have many of the same ideas and themes. Something else I truly love about literature, is the idea that we can connect ideas shared in Greek literature from 200 years ago, to a Bob Dylan song, something that more than once we discussed. One of the main components of this course, was the weekly discussion board that was due on an important topic that we would be discussing in class the following week. This gave us the opportunity to really research something, such as zen buddhism, to give ourselves a firm foundation to base our discussion, and the ideas we take from the literature, off of. Another component of the course that I enjoyed, was the when it came to our two primary essays, we were able to complete it on our own time. There really is no need to write an essay under a time constraint, and being able to really take your time on the assignment, truly allowed for you to produce your best work, and idea that I wish more of my courses maintained.
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This is my midterm essay on one of my favorite books from our course. This book by Dante, takes you on a journey through the “depths of Hell” in a time when the church was truly trying to scare Christians into following the correct path.
Junior Year –
HIST 300: Principles of Teaching History in the Secondary Sciences
Reflection:
While at first I took on the poster enhancement to fulfill a requirement, I ended up finding my project to be extremely rewarding. I researched the effects of technology in the secondary education classroom, and looked specifically at history classrooms. I found that teachers out in the field were more than willing to talk with me about their experiences, which really encouraged me to continue to use that resource as I become a teacher. The best thing about my research project, was that I found very soon on, that my hypothesis was wrong. I initially believed that schools with more funding with technology would have higher scores, but what I really found, was that it’s the schools that know how to use their technology correctly that have higher test scores. This really inspired me in a way to try my hardest as a new teacher, to really integrate technology into my classroom the best I can. It made me think differently about the way the traditional education system is working, and realize that this new generation of students, is also a new generation of learners. This project really reminded me why I want to be a teacher, and I feel gave me new skills and research that can help me not only find a job in the future, but help make me a better teacher in general.
Here is a picture of me proudly displaying my poster.
General Education Courses:
Freshman Year –
Physical Education 101:
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While PHED is nobody’s favorite class, I did find that I learned a lot about how to properly exercise. While I may not be anymore inclined than before the class to exercise, the greatest skill I gained, was knowing how to successfully workout. I also did enjoy hitting 10,000 steps everyday; it was like a mission that I had to complete. I have many fond memories of my suite mates and I running around our room trying to get the appropriate amount of steps. Something else I enjoyed about this class, was how it was about how much effort YOU put into it. The more effort you put in, the more likely you were to succeed. This is something that should, in my opinion, be implemented in all classes, no grade should come extremely easy.
Foundations of Western Civilization:
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This course was a great way to begin my freshman year. While it was interesting, it was also challenging. The class was a healthy mix between new information and old, combining many things we had learned in high school with a college setting. I enjoy lecture style classes, such as this one, but it was an harsh differences to an honors class. Not many people spoke and there was little discussion. I find that for myself, when their is more discussion and class participation, I gain a greater understanding of the course material. I enjoyed the layout of the final exam; we were allowed to have one piece of paper with whatever we wanted. While this sounds very easy, it actually became very time consuming and forced me to prepare thoroughly for the exam.
English 150: Research and Writing
This was my favorite class of second semester. I learned so much about breaking old rules I thought I knew about writing. I found a love for writing and research, and I like to think that I truly excelled in this class. While my assignments were very time consuming and difficult, I was always proud of my work and enjoyed myself while accomplishing it. This research paper below was one of my best pieces; it is on a discriminatory LGBTQ law in the Virginia House of Delegates. My professor was so impressed, he offered to help work with me this summer to clean it up, and try and have it submitted to a research journal through the school.
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Sophomore Year –
Math 171 : Probability and Statistics
This class was actually much more challenging than most of my other classes this school year. Math has never been the easiest class for me and I felt like I was very out of practice. My teacher was extremely helpful and understanding though, and I did indeed survive my Monday/Wednesday/Friday, 2 – 2:50, class. I was certainly challenged in a different way than my other classes that I am more used to taking. I have a history/English “brain”, not a math/science “brain”; this meant that I was forced to use a part of my brain that I’m not quite as comfortable with. Certainly I am not going to have to use everything I learned in statistics on a daily basis, but really the point is, that I was challenging myself, and simply learning. This is what I believe to be the most important part of education; it’s not really what you’re learning, but the fact that you are constantly expanding on your knowledge foundation. It’s the idea of learning how to learn. This is my answer to anytime a classmate makes the point to say, “i’m never going to need to know this in real life”. I certainly am glad that I have completed my math credit, but it was at the same time beneficial to my education.
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This is the only paper I was required to submit during my time in Probability and Statistics. In this paper, we were to write about a possible experiment that if we had the time and resources, we would undertake. I was to make up probable outcomes to my experiment.
Sociology 101 : Principles of Sociology
I thoroughly enjoyed my sociology course in the Fall. Our professor was extremely knowledgeable in her field, and I learned a lot about different theories and ideas when it comes to studying the behavior of groups of people. I think that one of the reasons I enjoyed the course so much, was because throughout your education, I believe you find many different studies that interest you. Sociology is one of those fields that if were able to go to college for 10 years, for free, this would be one of the degrees to work towards. The class was extremely discussion based, which sometimes just simply is unsuccessful in a general education course, as many students certainly didn’t choose to take that course. In this class though, for the most part, students were relatively willing to engage in discussion. I will say, the teacher was extremely opinionated, as many sociology professors would be, but I could tell that some students were in disagreement with her ideas. This would lead to some even more interesting back and forth between the teacher and the class. Sociology 101 was certainly successful in making me think in a more complex manner about my environment and the society I am a part of, and am glad that it was a required course for my general education requirement.
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In this project, we had to as a group, think of something that would have some effect on all people, and alter their productivity of life. This was our abstract for our research paper on everyone’s “fear of failure”.
Psychology 101 : Introduction to Psychology
Reflection:
This is a class that I completed online over winter break this school year. I in a way, hit the jackpot with online courses, as it was only two weeks total. While working everyday, then coming home to do homework was tiring, I was certainly glad that I took the time to do it. The class was very video heavy, and self taught in an aspect. I learned so much from this class, and I found many of the ideas and people that I learned about extremely interesting. I have learned that videos can be a very successful and engaging way to teach, and in this generation, with all of the ample technology available to teachers, it only makes sense to really take advantage of it. While I do not believe that an educator should solely rely on showing videos in a regular classroom setting, when used at the right time, and with appropriate material, then this is a great way to educate. While it was only a two week course, I feel as though the professor did a really good job creating a class that was appropriate for an online class, but also was able to teach you something, and be challenging in some aspect. I was glad I took this course, and reflecting back on it, I learned a lot about important ideas and disorders that many people suffer with on a daily basis. Taking psychology was able to give me a new perspective on how the mind works, and how many different disorders and circumstances affect human beings.
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This was one of my favorite papers that I have written because we first took a fairly in depth personality test, then reflect on our outcomes. I learned something I’ve really always known, that I pretty much extremely extroverted.
Theatre 101 : Issues in Theatre
Reflection:
I actually really enjoyed my theatre course this semester because I was a pretty big theatre kid all throughout high school. While trying to hide my inner theatre nerd just a little, I was still able to sit back and simply enjoy my professor’s lectures. This class was also very video based, as my professor would use various youtube clips to demonstrate theatre from different eras, types of theatre, and theatre all over the world. The advantages of using videos to teach material were exceptionally demonstrated in this course. As my professor was teaching us about different art forms, using videos to teach, is a perfect way to get these ideas across. They were always engaging and interesting, and it was probably my favorite thing about coming to class everyday. As another requirement for the course, we had to go see the two shows that Longwood put on during the Spring semester. One I really enjoyed, and the other not so much. While both shows took approximately 3 hours of time, and cost money, I was glad that I had the opportunity to see a form of college theatre, something I probably would not have done on my own time. This is something I believe to be the primary reason for general education classes; teaching or showing you something that you may not encounter in your area of study, but does benefit you in some way.
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This was a presentation I did about a theatre labor union making sure to practice our public speaking skills.