Second Blog

As a few people have already mentioned, I too am always a little nervous for the first test in a class given by a professor I've never had before. But I think we will all be fine, this is a lot of topics we should already know. However, for me not being a history major, it is going in depth on specific things that I knew of, but not a whole lot about. Such as the immigrants coming over from China. I never knew how they too fantasized about the "American Dream", and when going into the laundry business that they would travel with many workers on the railroad. And, how they received poor treatment along the way. 

It was definitely interesting to go deeper in topics throughout these three chapters, and I look forward to learning more in this class. Good luck tomorrow!

Well...there's a test tomorrow! :p I'm hoping to better understand what Dr. Chambliss is looking for on future tests after this one, because as of right now I'm a little uncertain. Aside from that, I do hope the next secondary article will be kindof intersting...I enjoyed the first one, so if this one follows suit it shouldn't be too bad. Good luck everybody! See you tomorrow!

I'm kind of exctied about the firefighter research and interviewing the retired individuals that have worked there for years. It seems like a good amount of work but at least it will be interesting and not a lot of work to get borin information. I'm a little worried about the test tomorrow because I don't know what to expect. So far in the class I feel like I'm learning a lot and he really keeps my attention. All the other history classes I have taken I hated and didn't remember anything that I learned. I'm hoping that this class stays interesting so I can retain some of the things that are taught. I'm going to go study and I hope the test goes well tomorrow!

Blogging Time...

Chapters 16-18 provided much information about significant, life-changing historical events. It's interesting to learn more about black rights, the rise of industries, and immigration. More importantly, it is important to understand how there are various viewpoints on all of these subjects, as people look at and interpret history in different ways. I also enjoyed our first secondary reading assignment, which talked about the history of firefighting. It is amazing to see how firefighting has changed through the times, but is still based on the same passion and sacrifice. My cousin is a volunteer firefighter and he has told me some about his work. It is great to hear about his experiences. They produce a greater awareness of the sacrifices that firefighters do for our society. Well, off to study a little bit more for our first test tomorrow.

Blogging. Yeehaw.

I've just finished reading the second-secondary reading exercise about the history of design and implementation of fire escapes. I never considered the challenges involved with such an important safety device. I found this article interesting because fire escapes are still a major safety concern. Okay? Thats all I wanted to say about that right now.

And we have the first exam tomorrow. As I review my notes, I've realized that the interpretation of each point in history will differ from one viewer to another - as do all situations. Okay? Thats all I wanted to say about that right now.

test

Big test tomorrow. Monumental. The hard part about history is that everyone has their own point of view on what happened and what is important. What one may think is a big change in history, one might disregard. This is especially apparent in one of the books we are reading in my Social Studies for Teachers class: "Lies My Teacher Never Told Me". In "Lies", the author pinpoints many events in history that history textbooks usually gloss over, paint a prettier positive picture than what truly existed, or events are even completely omitted. For example, there is an entire chapter of "Lies" that discusses Christopher Columbus; we usually think of Columbus as our country's original discoverer and a brilliant man, both of which are so far from the truth. Many races of people discovered America first and he even raped and pillaged the natives. Nevertheless we still celebrate a holiday after him..... My point is that history has many vantage points and that it is hard to know the cold hard truth about everything unless you were there. Hopefully Professor Chambliss will highlight big events that I will have found to be important on this test as well. Good luck everyone.

Frustrated!!

I'm frustrated. Not because of the project. But because I emailed Prof. Chambliss about Wednesday's class cause I was super sick and at the doctor's, and he hasn't emailed me back. And so now I don't know what to write the paper about. And its due tomorrow. And I had to cancel my appointment at the writing center because I hadn't heard back from him. And that is very frustrating. grrrrr!

In other news, I'm no longer dying of what I thought could have been the plague. That's kinda hip and exciting. That means I can actually go to class tomorrow. Sweet.

Does anyone need a partner for the project? I don't have one :(

1/30/08

Chapter 18 of American Passages covers a very interesting and important time period of United States history. One of the key topics covered was the activity going on in the major cities. The growth and development of the cities was crucial to the emergence of the united states the powerhouse nation that it eventually became. At the same time, chapter 18 covered the separation, segregation, poverty, and all around poor lifestyle that many residents of the major cities had to endure. Along with the development of the cities, chapter 18 also discussed the emergence of the suburbs becoming where the more well off groups of people made their home. Another major topic the reader cannot ignore was the fact that even though slavery had been abolished already, the minorities in the country were treated well or fairly by many. The south still had many issues with African Americans, while the immigrants coming from Europe were also looked down upon for "stealing" jobs. Darwin's theory was being used to explain why white people were "better", and at some points the immigration abilities were taken away from certain nationalities.

1st Blog

I have never blogged before, so I think this is going to be an interesting experience. I am intrigued to hear what my classmates thoughts will be on the readings and the projects. So far, I have found that the secondary reading exercise about firefighting was the most interesting. At the start of the class, I had wondered how firefighting was going to fit into the class, however, now I feel that it will be the most interesting part of the class. I really enjoyed the story of the retired firefighter that returned to serve in a time of crisis. I think that the project for this class will actually be a good experience and I am looking forward to getting started on the project.

Firefighter Project

I have to say that at first I was wondering how the firefighter web project was going to fit into this class, but I think it is going to be a really good way to experience, not just learn about, Winter Park history. I grew up here, but I have never given any thought to the history of our fire department. From reading the first article, it really made me aware of firefighting's extensive history in this country and the devotion we take for granted from these men and women - it's easy to think of sacrifices made by firemen and women in catastrophies, but they are also serving everyday, even when "mionr" efforts are deemed unworthy of media coverage. I think this will be a good way to see a less publicized side of firefighting and get to know some local heroes here in Winter Park.

Digital History Projects

After having Dr. Chambliss for a previous class, I feel that the digital history projects we will be assigned are very effective in experiencing history in ways other than through power point lectures. In my previous history class with Dr. Chambliss we did similar types of projects, however those were mainly document based research assignments. The projects for this semesters class appear to be much more interactive and will require us to experience history with those who had first hand experiences in the history we will be studying. I have never conducted a historical interview and I am somewhat unsure of what to expect. I feel the biggest challenge in this class will be to write the biography of a local firefighter.

Blogging about Class

So far this semester I think the reading although tedious has been interesting. I am also interested in starting this project for really do not know much about the Winter Park Fire Department or the the surrounding community even though I am a junior. I look forward to learning what there is to know about the fire department and those who work there.

First-time Blogger also

Okay, I have no idea what to write, so I'll just talk about the same things everybody has been talking about here.

Despite the tedious reading, the textbook IS quite comprehensive, packing everything that happened in a decade into a 35-page chapter. I just wonder how much will be remembered on tests. I also agree that sometimes the book lack of mechanistic details, which was described in a previous post written by Shealyn. But what can one expect? There’re just too many stuff. Just imagine what would happen if the U.S. history is 100 years longer than it supposed to be…

On the firefighters readings, so far the both of them have been really interesting. They go into many details in many different aspects that show the evolvement of the fire service. People always say, “Our past makes who we are now”. So, it is very important to know what’s been going on back then, because most things just don’t appear magically. There has been a lot of struggling in history to shape the society we are living in now, and push for the service and utilities we now enjoy. Now that we know how things were back then, I think we must not take them for granted (sorry, when I say “we”, I meant “me”. Just in case anyone doesn’t agree with me, so he/she can exclude himself/herself automatically)

I am VERY nervous about the firefighter project. It is a very unconventional project for a class. But I agree that it is a great opportunity to train for field works, which all historians do. I wonder when we need to conduct interviews, how do we set up interview schedules with the retired firefighters (find their phone # in yellow pages and call them up randomly only to be refused or even worse to be reported to polices and having a restraining orders files against me? No? Okay, I was just kidding)? Is the Winter Park fire department involved in organizing any of those interviews? Sorry for asking stupid questions, hopefully they’ll be answered some time later in the semester.

Never Blogged Before

Ok. I will be honest, I have never done this before. I commented on a post Thursday and thought that was what i was supposed to do, but i guess not. Anyway, this class is quite interesting. For a textbook, the American Passages is pretty good and seems to keep my attention for more than five minutes. As for the Firefighter project we are doing, I think that it will be quite interesting. As I said on the previous comment I made, firefighting is a very real career choice for me and so I would like to learn a little more about it. Since living in Winter Park for the past year and a half, I have little, if any knowlege about its history and would like to learn more.

Fuller Blog 1

I'm starting out with mixed feelings about the American Passages book. On the one hand I'm thrilled by the book's comparative lack of detail to The American Pageant which accompanied my last experience with U.S. history. This book doesn't make me feel like it's necessary to cram every last minute piece of information regarding the Tilden/Hayes election of 1876 (for example) into my brain in order to understand the impact that it had on social conditions of the time. On the other hand, I feel almost shortchanged reading over the subject of labor unions and the Haymarket Affair (for example) without a more thorough exposition. Ultimately, I expect that it will be a positive change. This way I won't immediately forget the concepts after each test in an effort to make room for the next ones. Though I would like to ask anyone who knows what exactly happened during the Credit Mobilier scandal because the book's description didn't entirely clarify the mechanics of whatever sort of money laundering was going on there.

The project on firefighters strikes me as very intimidating. I'm not used to original research, especially when its conducted on another person, a non-student no less. I'm sure it will be good for me to pick up those skills and I'm willing to do the necessary work. I do still need a partner, however, and so if anyone is still solo at this point and has managed to make it through what seems to be an abnormally long blog post...let me know. I have to be fair and say that I have pretty abominable leadership skills but I am set on getting a good grade so you wont be doing all the work, and hopefully neither will I.

First Blog

Well I'm glad someone figured out what to write about because i had no idea. I think this project will be a great way to learn more about our community and environment. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think as Rollins students, we stay in our campus/Park Ave bubble and don't really explore much. However, i feel we should go outside our comfort zone and gain some knowledge about Winter Park, we are living here for four years, we should know something!

I'm a little apprehensive to see how the Winter park community receives Rollins students and what they really think of us. Overall, I'm looking forward to this project and learning about our community's past.

Firefighting

Alright, I'm not really used to this, and being so I don't even know if I'm writing in the right spot. But besides that I'm excited to be learning about firemen. It was a career interest of mine at one time and two good friends I have are planning on being firefighter or are already fighting them. History of everything has revelence in life and who knows, maybe this knowledge will come back to serve me at some point.

Are you doing oral history?

What is oral history? For historians oral history has grown out of the social science revolution that has shifted emphasis away from elite views about historical events toward the everyday experience of ordinary people. The Oral History Association defines oral history on its website as, "a method of gathering and preserving historical information through recorded interviews with participants in past events and ways of life. It encourages those who produce and use oral history to recognize certain principles, rights, technical standards, and obligations for the creation and preservation of source material that is authentic, useful, and reliable." Since this project is not requiring students to record, only interview, it is not oral history. Creating a biographical sketch is not confined by the same standard as oral history. For more information on Oral history techniques and ideas check out the Oral History Association website.

first blog

So I'm not really sure either as to what we're suppose to write about here, perhaps talk about the secondary text? 

But as I was reading the other blogs I don't think that's what we're to do. 

With that, I'll say that I am too excited about this project that takes us outside the classroom and into the community of Winter Park. Especially because I'm not from around here, but from up North. It will be very interesting for me to learn more about this community.

 In one of my philosophy classes last year we were to go out into Winter Park and interview random people and ask them to be interviewed. It was very cool hearing stories from random people who either have lived here their whole lives or who were just visiting. So with this project I'm looking forward to having more of a direction and specific genre to ask about. I expect that the stories these people will share with us will be very interesting and worth listening to. 

I completely forgot about the old Winter Park mall. I lived around Winter Park for most of my life, and I used to go there. I remember my father telling me about the fire that once burned it down. I guess learning about the history of the area that I grew up in will be very interesting. I know that story- telling by parents and etc. is one of the main ways to learn about history outside of the classroom. I'm surprised that for this class, we are doing an assignment in which we listen to stories to learn about history, which is completely different from what I would expect from a usual history class.

stoked!

So I'm not really sure what exactly to put here, but whatever. I'm actually kind of looking forward to the project of interviewing and photographing a retired firefighter. I do a bunch of photography, mainly of people, and so having a new subject to shoot is exciting to me. I love hearing stories and I'm sure that a firefighter would have a ton about their, the line of duty, friendships and bonds and lessons learned. I think people that help others are truly inspiring and so it'll be nice to hear some stories about someone who did that as a living.

I think I remember prof. Chambliss saying something about partners? Whats going on with that? Are we supposed to pick our own partners for this project, or do they get assigned to us? Yea, I'm kinda confused.

Weee! Everyone have a good night. I have too much energy and nothing to waste it on for another couple hours.

Jan 25th-First Blog

I am excited to begin the digital history project because of the phase one: biography and photograph portion. My father is an architect and one for one of his projects he needed to gain knowledge on ways to design a building that met fire preventive and protective guidelines. He spent months interviewing current and retired firefighters of different environmental settings. My father informed me that retired firefighters enjoy telling stories of their experiences. I am most excited to listen to stories about the Winter Park firefighting past as well as their administration and the differences from back then to current day.

Planning For Class Project

Even before classes have begun I have learned some interesting things about the City of Winter Park and the Fire Department. Winter Park is full of surprises (largest mall fire in American history!?!). I'm looking forward to having my students research and interacting with community residents and learning more about the civic institutions that we all rely on, but don't truly know.

New Adventures for a New Semester

This semester I have new students working on the history of fire fighters and fire fighting in the City of Winter Park. Look for new student comments, insights, and startling discoveries as they interview past firefighters and look in local archives for interesting stories about the Winter Park and its firefighting past.