Semester Reflection

One thing I learned while studying colonization was that the natives were treated poorly. We studied Australia, Rwanda, and South Africa. In all these cases when the people colonizing landed on the new place they looked down on the natives because they were different. In many cases the natives were killed, enslaved, and their culture was changed. After Germany came into Rwanda the Tutsi’s were put in charge. The Hutu’s were treated bad and looked at as not important. The Germans put Gave Rwanda to the Belgians, but after a while the Belgians pulled out. After they left massive killing started breaking out because of the trouble that was made. This is just one instance of how settlers have disrupted and destroyed the natives’ ways of living.
When we were having our debate on the Rwandan Genocide I realized that there was more than one person or group to be blamed. One group that could be blamed is the Belgians. This is because they gave the Tutsis power for most of the time and then right before they left, the power was given to the Hutus. If they would have just given each group equal power then there would be less tension between the two groups. Another group that could be blamed is the Interahamwe. This group of Hutu extremists did most of the killings. If they hadn’t taken part in the genocide and worked things out with the Tutsis then the problems could have been solved.

Another thing I learned throughout the semester was to improve my writing through blogs. Doing these weekly blogs really helped me to practice my writing. Before writing these I would write a paragraph as three or four undeveloped sentences and not know how to build on. By writing the blogs and having to make them 400 words long I learned to make long and developed paragraphs and ended up finding myself trying to find a place to end it. I also really improved on my thesis statements while writing these blogs. In one blog about the Rwandan Genocide I wrote “My opinion on the conflict in Rwanda is that it was started by Belgium, but the Interahamwe are the ones who kept it going.” Before writing these blogs I wouldn’t have known where to start if I was asked to write a topic sentence.

Also when we read weekly articles it helped me with both my reading, and writing skills. It helped me with my reading skills because every week’s article felt like it was harder than the week before. This made me really have to think while I was reading them, in order to understand it. Since we had to write one or two paragraphs after reading, I not only had to understand it, but I had to be able to write about it also. I really had to work my brain in order to come up with highly developed paragraphs to go with the hard readings. So not only did I improve my reading and writing, but also my thinking skills.

The last thing that I learned hurt my brain even more with only four words Man-In-The-Well.
after listening to this tap for the first time I had no idea what they were talking about. But after listening a few more times of listening to it I came up with a few ideas. The whole point of this activity was to get the class thinking and using our imaginations. I got an idea that the man in the well counld represent the conscience of the children. This was a very difficult story to understand but by doing this activity it helped me think about things in a different way.

All of these things that I learned have helped me a lot. They have changed the way that I read, write, and think.