Course Reflection

Being in a college course for the past 5 weeks has definitely been a positive experience. I have been taking Intro. To Native American studies and it’s been challenging but fun. Throughout the course I’ve notices a lot of differences between college and high school courses. The biggest difference I’ve notices is that teachers don’t remind or keep onto of what you do. You’re accountable for yourself and your homework. The first day I received my syllabus with my test dates, reading assignments and due days. After that I was the one accountable. Our professor would mention tests and different activities coming up but I was never once told to do my reading. I had been given the syllabus and was expected to keep on top of it myself. This was a lot different than a high school class and required me to take on more responsibility. Through the entire course the thing I enjoyed the most about my class were our “clan” debates. All of the students were split into clans or groups of four and assigned a certain topic, side and date to debate. After the two clans debated the discussion was opened to the class. This really helped me think critically about the issues brought up during lectures and understand the complexity of the topics. While these debates were my favorite part of the class my clan’s debate was the biggest challenge of the class. I had to work and interact with college, students which was intimidating, especially during the debate in front of the class. Overall my course was a positive experience. I was able to learn a lot and excel in a college environment. My professor was always helped and willing to work with me and the other students and I was able to build confidence in my future success. The class and summer scholars program as a whole are things that I would recommend to many students. They were a great opportunity to grow and learn!