At the beginning of the course I had very little knowledge of Canadian history and my critical thinking skills were almost non-existent. I didn’t have super high expectations of enjoying the class because history has never been my forte. As we progressed I learned some new and indispensable methods of critical thinking as well as a familiarity with some of the key historical events in Canadian history.
In the beginning the reading logs were quite excruciating to me, and that was because I knew that my skills were weak and it’s hard for me to hand in work that I don’t feel like I’m proud of. What really helped for me to understand what was expected out of the readings and develop my skills further were the seminars where we would go over what other people thought that the key points in the reading were. It was interesting to hear students different interpretations of the same thing, which could be quite different at times. It showed me that although the interpretations could be wildly different, as long as it’s backed up by facts you have to consider anything as a potential truth.
Shockingly I found myself watching the CBC Curio videos or researching the topic at home after attending a class that I had found to be particularly interesting. I have always been a huge fan of the fantasy genre and sometimes while Dr. Penny Light was going through her lectures I would find myself almost daydreaming about the past like it was an action-packed novel being read to the class. It’s amazing how much more knowledge you can retain when your interest is held by a subject compared to when it’s not. I genuinely feel that Dr. Penny Light’s passion and excitement about the course helped to grow my understanding of Canadian history greatly.
Not only did I learn basic critical thinking skills and the different historical topics discussed in class, but I now have an understanding on what it means to “do” history and the importance of learning history to our society. I learned to take a document written by someone else, analyze it and construct my own interpretation of it. I learned the importance of recognizing other historians as well as avoiding the inclusion of them in your own work. I believe that I will continue to use the skills that I’ve gained this semester for the rest of life. Not only in an academic setting, but also in my day to day life when developing opinions on any controversial subject. At the beginning of this year I would have never fathomed the amount of appreciation I would have for history and how it is done by the end of the year.