How To Survive History Class - My Toughest Experience This Year

 Dear incoming 7th graders,

Welcome to another year at Stanford Middle school! A new year of relationships to build, new teachers and classes, and most importantly - new ideas and topics to learn. I hope your summer was enjoyable and hopefully you recharged enough to continue with your academic journey. I have a few notable tips of advice to hopefully help you succeed in Mr. P's medieval history class. 

One of the most important things I would like to tell you about it that this is not a "normal" history class. Mr. P focuses on 21st century skills, writing techniques, and current events, all mixed in with the history content. It is very likely you will be behind other classes in terms of chapters and content but trust me, Mr. P knows what he is doing and you will still cover all the content. Besides reading in the textbook and doing comprehension checks, some of the other larger weighed assignments are the bimonthly current events (BCE's), essays (DBQ's), and other slideshows (4 Worlds of History, 5 Senses of Me, etc.). The BCE's are going to be the assignment most "on your heel," you are supposed to complete 2 a month. The BCE consists of reading an article online, writing a QCCC quadrant, and a reflective paragraph (for the first semester). More is added during the second semester. The DBQ essays are one of the largest assignments you will be completing this school year in Mr. P's class. They are standard, multi-paragraph essays about a certain historical topic, and just take some time to develop.

The one tip of advice I have for you is to pritorize your time well, and DO NOT PROCRASTINATE!!!!! I am going to be honest with you, around the start of second semester, I have started having troubles with sleeping and completing work on time. I am sure some of these problems will still come back to me in the coming years, but here are a few tips I have gathered. Make sure to put your phone either somewhere where it is hard to reach and you have to get up, or put it on silent and try not to touch it every 3 seconds. Also, try your best to your the given time in class to complete some work, I know it may be a distracting environment, but try your best. Especially during second semester, your workload will increase a lot, with many slideshows, paragraphs, etc. due constantly. It is pretty overwhelming, I am going to be honest, but try your best to get the assignments done the day they were assigned so you do not have to worry about them later on. 

With all of the work and effort both you and Mr. P put in, there are many benefits and opportunities available during the school year. You will develop typing skills, expand your ability to explain, learn about universal themes and Mr. Spice, and of course, develop your knowledge for Medieval historical content. It may seem confusing how Mr. P works his classroom at first, but he truly does care about your future and success, that is something he will never play around with. He has strong beliefs about what each one of your classmates are capable of, and will provide the necessary guidance for you and them to reach. I hope this letter has helped you, and deepened your understanding of how his class works, you got this and remember to breathe, I hope to see you succeed!