Winter Term at Portland State was just as good Fall Term. In The Constructed Self: Me, Us, and Them, we examined the Us during Winter Term. It was interesting in that I did not notice that the first term was focused on Me, the second term on Us, and Spring Term on Them. The work we did throughout the term related very well to the description of the course. Battling against Mother Nature, the syllabus for the course had to be changed many times, but having extended time on some assignments, like the research paper, allowed me to learn a lot this term. We focused on “us” as humans in a way that I had never really thought about. By focusing on different aspects that have shaped the meaning of human, I learned a lot about my self and those around me.
The term began with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This was an excellent novel that was centered around the theme of humanity this term. I did an excellent job in keeping up with the readings and taking notes diligently. In taking great notes and examining the literature critically, I was not only able to comprehend the novel and its themes, but completing the Frankenstein Take Home Exam was not as difficult as it would have been if I had not done those these things. Understanding Us through spirituality shifted to the examination of Us through evolutionary science. Humans are evolutions of past ancestors and many parallels were found between Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals. I did a good job in understanding these relationships and examining Us under this lens. I also did well with the final lens we used, which was that of technology. We looked at an important question which was how technology has changed our understanding of what it means to be human. This quarter I did well in conducting research and formulating my own voice and opinion around the research.
An area that huge improvement could have been made in was studying. The Evolution Quiz was the one thing I wish I had done better on. I took the quiz lightly and did not feel like I needed to spend much time studying for it. I had prior knowledge on this subject from courses in high school and felt like I could score high without a problem. Although a score of 84 is not that bad, to me it was a reflection that I did not study enough and took the assignment too lightly. I would have studied more and done some research on the areas of focus to solidify my understanding of the content. This would have led to a better grade on the quiz and also a better understanding of how evolution has played its part in who we are as humans today.
This term I discovered further more my ability to critically analyze work and conduct research. Analyzing literature is an important strength for a student to have in high school and college, and in completing the Frankenstein Take Home Exam, this strength was portrayed very well. Taking notes and highlighting were important tools for doing well on this assignment. Not only that, but I did not have to go back and find passages like many people spent time doing. I also conducted countless ours on research this term in order to complete the research paper, which was an important piece to the overall grade in the class Winter Term. Initially, I did not have a paper that showed the quality of work that I am capable of. I redeemed myself by spending more time on research and narrowing my thoughts in the final draft. I had to think very critically in order to narrow my thoughts and bring out my voice in my paper about Gerontology.
During this paper, I did find a weakness of mine that I have not been able to turn into strength just yet. Having a voice in a research paper is very important. Finding information and formulating your ideas around those findings is key to a research paper, but the paper is not yours if your voice is not evident. I did pretty well in changing this in the final draft, but this is an area that I can definitely improve on in Spring Term and coming years at Portland State University. The Evolution Quiz also exposed an area of weakness which is test taking skills. I am not a fan of tests or quizzes, which I could get away with in high school on some occasions, but in college, tests and quizzes are a bigger portion of your grade. Not doing well on the one quiz we had this term in Constructed Self has far more effects than one poor quiz score in high school. My goal was to repeat my A grade from Winter Term, but the quiz could have an effect on my goal. I need to study more ahead of time and not assume that I will do well just because I have familiarity with the subject. I learn a lot more when I study ahead of time and do not have the pressure of time on my shoulders. Making these improvements will allow me to learn more and just as importantly solidify an A in the course for the entire year.