Reflections

=La'Ronda Fleming= I am not technology savvy; therefore, I was extremely anxious about this task and did not welcome it with open arms. My interaction with the Wiki page did not soften my anxiety. My experience with the page was one of unfriendliness. A significant amount of time was devoted to the logistics of organizing the data in the edit mode and realizing that after the data is arranged, it is completely disarrayed in saved mode. I was so excited when I discovered little tricks to accommodate my struggles, for example, I came to realize that one of the tricks to organizing the images was attending to the cursor when dragging and dropping the pictures. Usually the pictures woould be where I wanted them or at least close enough. Simple accomplishments as the aforementioned and inserting hyperlinks were reasons for private parties and celebrations for me because technology is not my forte. Once the task of logistics was conquered, I really enjoyed the journey.

I traveled through history with this activity. I was not a proponent or enthusiastic about American Education until I began reading and viewing documents and artifacts from this time period. I discovered that I was able to empathize more with the destitute circumstances that oppressed populations of people experienced. My horizons expanded to empathizing more with Blacks, Native Americans (American Indians), and poor whites. This experience increased my awareness of what my ancestors and ancestors of other ethnic groups experienced and the struggles they faced. Being that I am a forced Social Studies teacher that does not embrace American History because of the “half-truths” I was instructed as a student, this adventure was insightful and has transcended my knowledge base and interest for Social Studies thus improving the quality of instruction that I offer my students.

=Tonya Richardson=

====I remember being asked on the first day of class, "What was our favorite time in history?" and "Why?" with my response being that I didn't have a favorite time in history because I just didn't like history. Well, I will have to say that since I have started this class, I am really eating my words. History has never really been pointed out to me quite like this class has pointed things out. I was just discussing with LaRonda how I am reading and finding all this information and I feel myself on an emotional roller coaster. I never knew history could really affect me the way this class and this project have brought it out of me. Since I have started this project, I find myself just surfing the web looking at different pictures and various information discussing history that has been read in our textbooks. This project has offered me an extension to the concrete information that has been discussed and read. It's one thing to see it in words but it's another when you can take those words and associate them with pictures that help support all the things that those who had any part in shaping America before us had to endure. I can really understand how other cohort members say they this project just really pulls you in.====

====It even had me to thinking about my students. I wonder is history in the secondary classroom being presented in the way that it could be? I think that was my downfall for not liking history and not any specific piece of information ever really just standing out to me. I was always presented with the facts ("the unquestionable truth") and we just had to accept it for what it was. This project, as well as the class, has shown me history in a different light. If I was a history teacher, I would love to present my students with history the way that I have been presented with it in this class and build off of it with a project such as this to extend their learning. I am actually trying to figure out if there is a way that I could incorporate this into my math class.==== ====Overall, this project really helped me and I feel like when I hear people discussing different issues regarding education and its historical events, I can now say that I am aware of what they are discussing. Although I know I still have a long way to go, I feel like I am off to a good start.====