A New Love for History

As an eager eighth grader, I was filled with anxiety and confusion for what lay ahead of me. I was not sure of the direction that my life path would lead. Eighth grade seemed challenging, but one person helped me through that troublesome year. I met the man that would later change my attitude towards history. That man was Mr. F.

As the year started, my eighth grade experience wasn't looking so bright. But Mr. F. changed my view on this opinion. As I entered room 211, Mr. F. was writing the class notes on the chalkboard. Mr. F. dropped his task at hand to greet the students as they approached their seats. With my past luck, I was still skeptical of this polite yet enthusiastic man. Because of this, I hid myself in the corner seat of the back row. I thought I could just hide throughout the year without being noticed. Oh yeah, I hated history. I had a very negative attitude for history, mainly because I always had trouble comprehending the material. The reason for this was because I was never taught history in the correct learning approach that suited me. At the start of each class, Mr. F. had written all the notes on the chalkboard. He made it easy for every individual to learn because he not only stuck to the conventional auditory teaching style but expanded to the visual as well as the audiovisual.

After he wrote the notes on the chalkboard, he would use those as a guide for his lecture that would last for half the class. The remaining time of the period, he would select a video that would correlate to the lecture. This was my first positive experience with history. As each class passed, I grasped a greater concept of history. This was the first time that I was understanding and enjoying the subject. By the end of my eighth grade school year, the hatred that I harnessed for history was reversed. It is because of the positive influence of Mr. F.'s love for history that I later shared a love for it as well. It is because of Mr. F. that I changed my life path and decided to major in history. Thank you Mr. F.!!

-- Reaghan Bik and James Perachio