First Class Experience - Response Paper 1

First Class Experience

Our first class of American Culture and Society course was very motivating to me. Though it was too late, the professor turned our time into a proactive lesson, in which we all had fun (I guess so). We first started with an explanation of the course itself and later we performed an activity assigned by Mrs. Nelly. She gave us advice of what we have to take into account while teaching a class, and a general background of culture.

The first activity was about "classifying" ourselves on the right position regarding our birthdays in a chronological order, and then in regards of our ethnic background. Among the techniques we should consider are specifically emphasized to behavior the most: Not answering the phone while you are teaching (do not go outside the classroom); monitoring what students are doing while walking around, and it is unacceptable to prepare yourself at the same time you are teaching your class. We talked about the definition of culture and other aspects of it. We were thinking about the phrase "If culture lies at the heart of the cultural experience, what then it is culture?" stated by the professor. We concluded that culture is the experience of living, and analyzed the five dimensions of culture: products, practices, perspectives, communities, and persons.