Reflections on Writing and Researching

I thought I would dedicate a post to my overall writing and researching reflections including my thoughts on how I may use my experiences to teach my future students in my own classroom. Overall, as I have mentioned in other posts, the researching and writing process had its ups and downs for me. I have discovered that I am not a huge fan of researching, confirming my decision to not pursue history beyond my current program. This is not to suggest that I don’t love history. I do, and I am passionate about history, including the constant influx of new information and new discoveries. I suppose it is the process of researching itself that can seem arduous and tedious to me.

Indeed, I completely understand the value of researching and I hope to one day (soon) teach my own students researching skills that will allow them to undertake historic work greater than that which is typically presented in public schools. For example, most students are rarely given the opportunity to even undertake any research whatsoever. I hope to give my students such an opportunity if at all possible (if resources are available, for example). For historic researching skills can also translate to other subjects and becoming a better historical writer only improves one’s writing abilities overall. Lastly, I believe analytical skills are often overlooked in public schooling, much to the detriment of students. Analytic skills need to be introduced early and often as again, such skills translate to other disciplines as well, quite effortlessly.

Overall, I am truly grateful for the skills I have obtained these past two years in the history department. Though difficult at times, I am thrilled I was able to persevere and ultimately produce a final project that I am quite proud of.