A look back on the year

History this year has been a true inspiration to me. Up until this year History was something that I only took because I had to. However, through learning about modern world history, as well as the atmosphere of the class I have become extremely interested in the subject. History is no longer something, which I consider a chore to do the reading homework in, as nerdy as it sounds it actually excites me to have to do reading, and learn about different aspects of history. Apart from learning history, this class also taught me a lot about myself, and the subjects that interest me.  Another change for me in history this year was the fact that I become comfortable with expressing my ideas, and sharing them with the class. This would've never been possible if it wasn't for the comfortable atmosphere of the class. I honestly love coming to class everyday because it isn't a class that I dread going to, and it is extremely fun. Each day is filled with activities, which not only test our knowledge what we have learned but plant new ideas in our minds. I am extremely sad that the year is over because I have enjoyed the time we have spent as a class, learning history together. 

What A Year

Mama Pugs made this a really memorable year. History became an extremely fun class to go to as the year progressed and I thought that this year taught me some new, valuable skills that I don't think the rest of the other classes had access to. I felt like this class was very much more based around learning how to take information and create your own, original ideas around that information, instead of just getting tested on it and forgetting it once we return from summer, or even before that. Instead of doing that, there were fun ways to apply that to our own work: whether it was through the blog, or any other kind of writing expressive assignment that we had throughout the year. Because of activities like these, I think I learned to make history a much more creative class than I always perceived it to be. Most importantly, I think that I learned two extremely relevant, connected things. The first is that the two major research papers that we did taught me how to find good information. The second thing that I learned was how to take that information and instead of just spitting that back out again in my own words, I got really good at picking out specific research to go with an argument that I was trying to prove, using my research more as evidence to support my claim rather than just write about what others have researched as well. All in all, I think that the most important thing that I can take out of this class is how to take factual history and get more creative to turn it something interesting and original that I could call my own work.

Just one important thing I learned

Although this year as a whole has brought a whole different meaning to History Class, I think the most important thing I learned this year was to discover history through modern day uses of technology as well as using not so modern tools. It is important to combine the two, because they feed off of each other, to contribute success. The best stories from Modern World History will come from live accounts (which we have access to) and may even be posted on youtube! A first account of the situation is a great, personal, and entertaining way to learn about a topic in history. I also have learned how having history class after two o'clock is an accident waiting to happen. 

I Promised Myself I Wouldn't Cry

Ok, my title is a little dramatic, but I have had a lot of fun this year in Modern World History with Mama Pugs. Though Mama Pugs teaching style is far different than any other history teacher I have ever had I feel like I am going to remember more from this class that any other. I loved the second semester whether it be blogging, reading Maus, or doing the final project. The most important thing that I learned this year was that history is sometimes hidden and you have to go and look for it. But once you find it, it is the best feeling in the world. I learned to articulate my argument and take criticism (a lot of it). To conclude, I feel that not only has my analytic writing improved but also my argument creation and my ability to take criticism.

Thanks Mama Pugs for a great year and I wish the best to D-Pugs...

--Ryan "I Complain A Lot" Stastny

Definition of History

At the beginning of this year a set some goals for both my writing and my research in history and I feel like I was able to accomplish them. For writing I wanted to able to write argumentative in a concise fashion. Even from my first essay I felt like I was improving, but it did take a couple more tries for me to be able to find the balance between being argumentative and factual thoughts. This was especially hard when we kept switching between the kinds of essays and reports. However, I feel like I have a pretty good idea of how I want to balance these two things for my final project. Research wise I think I was also able to improve through out the year. I found that when researching for a certain subject you need to gather all the sources you can and then start weeding through. This was very important lesson for my final project. I found this a lot easier than trying to weed sources out from the beginning (which is what I did for our first research paper). So overall my research paper writing skills improved drastically.
Apart from this writing improvement, I also learned how to like history. I was not a very big fan of history because to me it was just boring facts and dates I needed to memorize. Now I learned that history is not the study of the past but rather how we remember and record events. It actually made learning about these events a lot more interesting and exciting. This was, in fact, my favorite part about this class.

A Block Unofficial Awards

MVS (Most Valuable Student)= Estefania

Most Analytical= Megan Brown

Biggest Smart-Allick/ Most Pessimistic= Sam Parker

Lil' Pugs Award= Christophe

Blue Collar Jerber= Justin Lannin

MHM(Most Honorable Manchu)= Kevin Ji

Biggest Abuser of the "No Question is a Stupid Question Rule"= Connor "Rathist Bonist" Radlo

Comeback Student of the Year: Kyle Hutchinson

Most Likely to Become Villain in A James Bond Movie=Sasha Badrenkov

Class Jester=Priyanka

Brett C'plan Enthusiam Award: Ms. Pugliese

First Team All Pugs A Block:

Sam Fancher, Robert Wickers, Eliza Adams, Rebecca Friedman

Second Team All Pugs A Block:

Justin Wong, Sarah P, Jack Suiter

May I add that no award is any higher ranking or better than any other award.