Name of Assignment: Primary Source Analysis Subject: History Since 1500 Facilitator/Teacher: Professor Horovitz
Description of Work/Assignment: This assignment was broken into two parts, part one was a group assignment discussing European views on Native Americans and the second was an individual essay about whether we should replace capitalism with socialism.
Which 21st Century Skill do you feel this assignment addresses, and why?
interpersonal, thinking and problem solving, global awareness, financial, economic, and business lit
21st Century Skills: I believe the most important 21 century skill I used in this assignmnet was interpersonal skills. I really had to make an effort to work with my group on this assignment since I did not have much time to stay updated between work and school and the only way we had to communicate was through google docs. Most importantly, my classmates did not often check the docs so my notes would go ignored. I improved my interpersonal skills by taking any chance I could to collaborate with my partners and making my best effort with the time provided. I will definitely apply this to future learning in jsut about any other group assignment and I will also be expected to collaborate in almost any career field.
I also found thinking and problem solving to be very helpful in both halves of this assignment. I had to take initiative and make decisions in the group portion to keep the project moving and to stop myself from having to do it all the night before it was due. In the second half, I had to juggle my normal class schedule with midterm week which left little opportunity for relaxation and had to find ways to assure all of my work was done in a timely yet quality manner. I felt this skill expanded a lot over the course of my primary source analysis because I got to encounter small problems stacked on top of each other rather than one or two larger issues. I think this is a very important skill because it may be the most versatile and will be quite useful in any situation.
Global Awareness was a big topic across both assignments. In the first I got to see how people view something new. It showed how quickly word can spread and perspective can change. In the second assignment, I got to look into examples of harsh capitalism all across the world from the Industrial Revolution to the present. I then had to decide if I thought it would be better for us as a society to be based more in socialism. I felt my global awareness skills strengthen by seeing how each country became what it is today and by seeing how “civilized” people such as ourselves react to “barbarians” simply because of their foreign ways. I feel that even though we are fully connected we still face this problem quite often. I will use these skills a lot to navigate my personal life and hopefully use my global awareness to stay up to date on what is going on outside of my bubble.
The last 21st centrury skill I felt I had addressed in the second half of my proect was financial, economic, and business literacy. Capitalism and socialism are often seen as opposite forms of economy, but you need both for the best outcome. Getting to learn about both of these society types and seeing how they have evolved has been enlightening and changed the way I see our current economy. I felt it gave me a whole new perspective. I will use this all of the time when navigating the real world. I will need to deal with money, and I already do. I can see the differences between countries economic set ups and see which would be best for me.
What are you most proud of from this assignment, and why? I am most proud of my essay writing skills. I feel they were not exercised while at Kihei Charter, but I still created quality work and can now feel prepared for writing college essays during my college career.
What was most difficult about completing this task? The most difficult part for me when it comes to essays is starting. Especially when its for such a large percentage of my grade, I tend to overthink it until I don’t want to start. Usually I save more than enough time to do the work well, but it is a problem that will not work out when I have a fullc ollege courseload.
How could you improve this work? If you could start over, what would you do different? If I could improve these works I would likely proofread my group project. There was some miscommunication on turning in the assignment so I had to turn it in at the last second, only getting my sections and those that were already there proofread. I felt like this took a toll on my grade, but that is always the risk you run in group projects.
How does this relate to what you have learned in the past? Essays and group projects were never my strongsuit and this proved true during these assignments. It is still something I try to overcome every time I do either, but so far it is a slow process.