Reflective Narrative
SPAN 308 History and Culture of Aztlan helps fulfill the MLO 3 requirement of secondary culture. In this class I was able to learn the history of Mexico, and the origin of its people. This was done through a variety of written assignments and research projects throughout the class. Each month of the semester was divided into a seminar, which organized the class into roughly 5 separate parts. Being an online course, an important facet of the class was reading the assigned book titled "Mexicanos". Every month there would be a variety of written assignments that would test our knowledge and understanding of the assigned reading. This class interested me greatly because I am of Hispanic origin myself, but I knew very little about my ancestry and cultural history. '
Each seminar would focus on a different aspect of Mexican American history and culture. At the end of each seminar, a 6-7 page essay was due in order to gauge our understanding of the assigned reading, as well as give us a chance to voice our thoughts and opinions about the information we had just learned. In addition to the written assignments, we were required to do mini research assignments and submit power points of topics of our choosing about Mexico. For one of my assignments I chose to do the California Forty-Niners,and their effect on the native Mexican American community. For our final assignment, we were allowed to choose our own topic about Mexican Americans in the mid 1900s and do a small research assignment on it. For my topic I chose to research Cesar Chavez and his endeavors in the mid 1900s, which can be found here. With the knowledge I gained throughout the course, I was able it to my Cesar Chavez research and gain abetter understanding of why he became a farm workers activist. Together, these assignments allowed me to learn a wide variety of Mexican culture, as well as the history behind it. This class not only helped me gain a better understanding of Mexican American history, but also compare it to my own culture and history, as well as Japanese culture.
Each seminar would focus on a different aspect of Mexican American history and culture. At the end of each seminar, a 6-7 page essay was due in order to gauge our understanding of the assigned reading, as well as give us a chance to voice our thoughts and opinions about the information we had just learned. In addition to the written assignments, we were required to do mini research assignments and submit power points of topics of our choosing about Mexico. For one of my assignments I chose to do the California Forty-Niners,and their effect on the native Mexican American community. For our final assignment, we were allowed to choose our own topic about Mexican Americans in the mid 1900s and do a small research assignment on it. For my topic I chose to research Cesar Chavez and his endeavors in the mid 1900s, which can be found here. With the knowledge I gained throughout the course, I was able it to my Cesar Chavez research and gain abetter understanding of why he became a farm workers activist. Together, these assignments allowed me to learn a wide variety of Mexican culture, as well as the history behind it. This class not only helped me gain a better understanding of Mexican American history, but also compare it to my own culture and history, as well as Japanese culture.