Our midterm

When given our assignment for our midterm I was excited. I had never been given the opportunity to really reflect on what I had learned throughout a semester in my classes. I usually am too focused on memorizing and re-learning the materials for the exam to have a chance to reflect on what i've actually learned in the class, and how it applies to me personally. By the time I finish with all my tests I am too over thinking about the material I learned to really absorb what had gone on in the semester. This assignment gave me an opportunity to really think about all the things I had gone through this semester, what I learned from it and how it changed me as an individual. So I really thought this assignment was cool. I think in some ways it is actually a better tool to solidify what we learn in class in our minds permanently. A lot of students look at finals and midterms as basically big knowledge dumps. Thats not really a wrong way of looking at things, its just not conducive to learning. They memorize everything, starting probably a week in advance, and keep studying until the test where they just write down all their information they have absorbs. After the test is over, students will go home and never think about it again if they can help it. Especially if they don't have a cumulative final at the end of their course. That is why I have always preferred essays. Essays make me actually think through and learn the material I am writing about. I just personally think they are better options. Without fail I could tell you way more about classes that i've had to do essays in in comparison to tests that I just have tests in. So thats why I thought this midterm was so cool. Not only the part we did in class, which was hands on and fun, but also the at home portion. It gave me an opportunity to look at my semester in my way. I had to actually think about my life and classes this semester and decide what the most important thing to say about it was. It was a way to decompress about my school year this far, and I think that is a very good thing. It was good for me anyway.