Overwhelmed with Artifacts

Since I have saved so much work from most of my previous courses I

am going to narrow it down to the courses that are relevant to social science
and history. Prior to my enrollment at Sac State I was attending Consumes
River College where I took many classes varying from business, accounting,
humanities, government, economics. history, math, anthropology,
astronomy, sociology, psychology, English literature, etc. At Sac State,
however, I was determined to only take the courses that were required for a
social science major. So for the purpose of this blog I am going to incorporate
both my Consumes River College and Sac State courses.
Consumes River College
Pols 311 International Political Economics: This courses focused on
both the political and economical aspects of many countries. This was one of
the best political/economic courses that I have taken because the professor,
Ms. Huffman, was well prepared on the subject and provided ample
information which was clear and comprehensible. For this course and for
most of my other courses I usually just save essays, textbooks, and notes.
So, most of the saved work that I have for this course is a stack of hand
written notes, all three of the textbooks that she required her class to
purchase, and one essay. As I have stated before one of the best qualities
about this course was Ms. Huffmans lectures which were very clear and
structured. One of the things that I remember from her the most was that
she always had a written outline of that days lecture on the white board.
These outlines always helped me organize my notes and so when it was time
for me to study and do my study guides I knew exactly where every piece of
information was in my notebook. This is something that I wished all of my
professor would have done and is something that I am sure to incorporate
into my unit plan. Since I dont have the prompt for the essay that I saved I
can only say that this essay was part of our final and that it had to do with a
political dilemma. My essay was based on outsourcing and it was ten pages
long. I also remember that for this essay she required an outlined so that she
could see if we were in the right track. Needless to say, that this outlined
helped me format my essay and also provided me with some feedback from
her (I dont have the original copy with her feedback, but I do have the
outlined saved on a word document). This is also another strategy that I feel
most professors/teachers should do, especially in middle and high school,
because this helps notify the student if he/she is on the right track. The three
textbooks that she requested were also useful and informative that is why I
saved them all.

Hum 310 Modern Humanities: This course was based on both the
history and art from the 15th to the 18th century. In other words, this class
focused on the renaissance, baroque, and enlightenment history/art period. I
absolutely loved this class because it provided me with so much information
on the renaissance history and its art. So, for this course I only saved the
notes which I have rewritten more clearly on a separate notebook so that I
can save them for years to come. Just like Ms. Huffman this professor was
also really clear and structured with her lectures this is why I was able to
take really good notes in her class.
Hist 320 History U.S.-African American: From this course I saved notes,
two exams, and two handouts that Ms. Mukantabana gave us as notes or
outlines for one of her lectures. The two exams consisted of an essay, ids,
and matching vocabulary to definitions. Most of my other history professor at
Consumes River College and Sac State followed this type of exam format so I
also plan to borrow some of these ideas for my own exams. One of the
handouts consisted of thirteen pages of extensive information on the African
civilizations from which I acquired many information that was knew to me.
The other handout was an outline for her lecture on the Underground
Railroads and the multiple revolts that happened before, during, and after
the Civil war. Again, I also remember that this helped me organize my notes
better and when it was time for me to study and do my study guide I was
able to quickly look up information. One of her best qualities was that she
was always available for questions or assistance to anyone that needed it.
She was also very passionate about this subject which made her lectures feel
enjoyable to her.
Hist 373 History of Mexico: This class was again another class that I
enjoyed taking because even though I am Mexican-American I learned so
much on the history of Mexico. I do remember that this teacher, Mr.
Newman, was a really hard grader, so his exams were really long and
unnecessary, in my opinion. For this class I saved my notes, a couple of
handouts, and an exam. His lectures were also clear and well formatted,
however, he did not use any sort of PowerPoints like my Hist 320 professor
did. I only remember him using PowerPoint slides to show either pictures or
diagrams when needed. All of the holdouts that he gave us were also really
helpful and always reinforced his lectures. His exam consisted of three full on
essays which to me seemed like he was over exaggerating. In my opinion, I
would have asked for at maximum two because the class was only an hour
and fifteen minutes; I am most defiantly not going to borrow his form of
examination.
Soc 321: Race/Ethnicity/ Inequality in the U.S.: For this class I only
saved four reading responses which corresponded to that weeks chapter or

subject. All of his reading responses would be from a secondary source which
this is something I plan to borrow from because I want my students to
become familiar with using secondary and primary sources when writing a
history research paper.
Anth 332 Native Peoples of California: I remember learning so much
from this class and enjoying her lectures because again they were really
informative and clear. From this class I was able to save my notes and one
essay which has photo copies of all of the resources I used. The essay was
about The Loss of Languages in the Native American communities and it
was five pages long. Again I learned a lot from this research paper and it is
something that most courses use in order to broaden the learning of their
students.
TA 300 Introduction to the Theater: Since, this course gave me some
information on the theater history of the Renaissacne period and William
Shakespeare I plan to use it as reference to my lesson 5.
Unfortunately, I did not save any work from both of my economic
classes at CRC because economics was one of my least favorite subjects. As
you may notice I tend to save work from classes that I really enjoyed taking
and that I learned extensively from.
Sac State
As I stated before all of the classes that I took at Sac State were taken
for my major, however, I did not save all the work from the 20 classes that I
have took.
Hist 133 20th Century World History: This course was one of my first
history courses that I took at Sac State and I was able to learn so much on
the history of WWI, WWII, and the Great Depression. The only artifact that I
saved was a take home essay which I wrote on the different methods that
Mussolini, Hitler, and Gandhi used in their pursuit for political change. I
remember that like Professor Newman this professor (Professor Vann) was
also a really hard grader. His study guides consisted of 50+ ids which we had
to define and remember, so as you can imagine we would be really stressed
out before the exam. However, on his exams he would only pick around
twenty and out of those twenty you would only choice around ten to define.
As I stated I learned a lot, but I would have hoped that his class would had be
less stressful because the course subject was really interesting.
Econ 113 Economic History of the US: The only artifact that I saved
from this course was a midterm paper and the only reason I saved it was
because I worked really hard on it. Additionally, the professor was really
picky with his grading so I am really luck that I was able to pass the class.

Needless to say, I did enjoy the class because this class incorporated history
and economics together. Since, most of the information that I was able to
learn was history/economics from the US perspective I dont find it relevant
to what I am planning to teach.
Govt 180 CA State/Local Government: I loved this class because it was
one of my easiest and informative classes that I took that semester.
Furthermore, Professor Latino had very similar political views as I did so it
made me appreciate his lectures even more. I was able to save one of his
exams and a textbook. His exam consisted on ten multiple choice questions
and two short essay questions. These types of exams are the ones that I
favor the most because I dont feel overwhelmed and always seem to learn
more from these classes. The reason why I saved the book was because I see
it as a reference book that I can always go back into and learn from it.
Govt 35 World Politics: Again this class was also a class that I enjoyed
taking because I was able to learn a lot from and it reminded me a lot of my
CRC Pols 311. I saved my notes and an essay which was a research paper on
the Bay of Pigs. This was actually the first time that I was able to really know
the backbone of why the Bay of Pigs really happed, so I was really pleased
that I was able to write on it.
Hist 183B California History 1860-1970: This class was a reinforcement
for what I had learned in elementary, middle, and high school so it was really
nice to take. On both of the essays that I saved we had to read a book and
respond to one of the many questions that he provided. Additionally, we had
to incorporate his lectures, primary sources, and the main textbook. The first
essay we had to read The Lucky Ones by Mae Ngai and on the second paper
we had to read The Harvest Gypsies by John Steinbeck. Both book were
really great to read, however, I enjoyed reading The Lucky Ones the most
because I was able to learn more from it. This type of assignment was
something that I feel helps students reinforce their learning while at the
same time learn more from outside reading. His exams were also really
straightforward and they usually consisted on multiple choice and five ids.
This is again something that I plan to use in my exams.
Hist 50 World Civilization Begin-1600: Most of the work that I saved
from this course was my notes, three short essays, and all three of the study
guides which consisted of ids. The reason why I saved all of the study guides
was because I see them as references for when I need to refresh my memory.
Unfortunately, I dont have any of the exams, but I do remember that they
were really similar to Hist 183B exams. Additionally, his lectures were also
really informative and clear. For all three short essays that I have we had to
use primary sources along with our notes and textbook. I plan to borrow this

type of assignment because I want my students to get familiar with using

primary sources in their papers.
Hrs 140 Exploring World Religions: This course was one of my favorite
courses to take at Sac State because I learned extensively on different
religions and I was able to appreciate other religions more. Professor Terry
was extremely educated on all the religions that she taught us and she was
never biased. She was always clear and consistent with her lectures. Most of
her classes consisted of lecture, short video, group activity, and class
discussion. This format is what made her class really great because she
incorporated different strategies in teaching each individual religion. I was
able to save the lecture notes and six of the short essays that she assigned
throughout the semester. For the essays we also had to use primary sources,
lecture notes, and videos.
Hist 114 Europe Middle Ages: This class was by fare one of the best
class that I have taken at Sac State. I absolutely loved and enjoyed taking
this class. Not only was the topic very interesting, but the Professor was one
of the best Professors that I have taken in both CRC and at Sac State.
Professor Candace Gregory-Abbott was very knowledgably on the subject
and in every lecture she always provided extra information that made you
what to learn more. I was able to save all of the work that I did in her class
like notes, papers, exams, study guides, handouts, personal articles, and the
textbook that we had to purchase. The only thing that I did not save was her
syllabus because there was no particular information on the course subject.
Her exams consisted of ids, multiple choice, and a short essay. This may
seem like a lot, but since I was consisted with taking notes and reading I
found her exams essay. The reason why I saved all of the notes and study
guides are again because I would like to keep them as references for the
future. The essays that we had to write in her class consisted of either doing
a reading response from a primary source or a book like The Quest of the
Holy Grail or Dantes Inferno. Additionally, the handouts were always
relevant to her lectures and the articles that I printed out were many to
better my understanding of a character or event. I also plan to use the
textbook as a reference.
Hist 100 Introduction to Historical Skills: if I remember correctly we had
to choice from a variety of subjects that fell under this section, so I choice to
Tutor Era as my subject. Since, this course was more focused on writing I
only saved the books which I plan to read and use as references in the
future.