As you read through my portfolio, you probably know that I do not do well with historical literature type classes…..that statement still stands.
I took this course in the first semester of my sophomore year and it was BRUTAL! Although I did very well in the class (final grade in the class was a 95.5%) it was still very challenging for me. This class was conflicting for me because I genuinely enjoyed the material we discussed, but it just required so much extra mental focus and energy that I simply did not want to put in.
In this class we talked about different ideologies around the world, different governmental structures, political theories, how different governments view certain acts, and we discussed news that was occurring at the current time. The class was the typical “lecture and listen” type of class where the professor did most to all of the talking. In different parts of the semester, the professor would assign the students with groups and have them perform in a debate group about a topic currently being discussed in the lecture. The students were randomly assigned with a “view” of the argument at hand. The assignment was to conduct as much research on your issue as possible to do well in the debate. These debates would consume the entire class period, and it would just be the debaters discussing their research. I actually enjoyed this assignment for some reason. I was very nervous for it because I have never taken part of a formal debate before. When it came time for my group to debate, both sides were actually heated during the argument. I, personally, contributed to my side of the argument more than my partners but overall it was a great debate. More debates like those were scattered throughout the duration of the course, and it was interesting to see what research there was out there about these topics.
What made this class challenging for me was the fact that I had to spend a considerable amount of time outside the classroom to study the material. I felt this class needed a lot more time outside of class than any I had ever taken. The only few grades that were in the gradebook were a few exams, so if you completely bombed one it would be very difficult to bounce back. I would spend hours each week studying the material I had learned in class that week, and would come up with rhymes and songs to remember all of the terminology. The exams were all essay formats, so we would come to class and type and essay responding to a question for the duration of the class. The professor graded harshly, so it was difficult to receive a good grade. Luckily for me, I had an honors friend who was taking the class with me. So we always dedicated the night before an exam to do a complete brain dump of all the information we knew and go over it with the notes we took from class. Each time we studied, we would study for nearly five hours each time. I guess you could call us the breadwinners because we received an A+ on each exam!