Personal Narrative: My Urban Experience

Going into Sophomore year, starting my Urban class with Mr. Berkson, I was worried. Although I had heard he was a great teacher, something about being in a different class then I had planned worried me. Going into Sophomore year, I had planned to join Eastern Religions, but after going through some serious consideration, I decided to switch into Urban. To this day, my decision has not let me down. I enjoyed Mr. Berksons class all year, for many reasons. These reasons include his great humor, his passion of teaching, his endurance and dedication.

Not only did I enjoy Mr. Berksons class because of his way of teaching, I also enjoyed it because of what he taught. There were many things I enjoyed learning about, and then there were things I did not enjoy. In this course of a semester, we learned and read about many interesting topics including, the discovery of Chicago, Chicago becoming a “shock city”, and many other topics that led to the great city Chicago is today. Out of all the topics we have studied throughout this course, my favorite would have to be learning about the great migration and the black. I enjoyed learning about this because it shows how african americans came to chicago and how they brought their culture to the North. I also like seeing how the violence in the south side in the earlier 1900’s is still happening in the city today. This is my favorite topic because studying this made me realize how our city has changed/ evolved since this time. We still hear about racism, gangs, and that black lives matter, but we never really pay attention to how this conflict started, until I studied Urban studies.
Being in Urban Studies, I feel as though this class has made me grow as a student.
I feel I have grown as a student in the context of this course because I have learned how to use a textbook to study. I also have learned so much about the city that I can use in my life to this
day.

For future students in Urban Studies I would suggest they always study. For all students they should always do their “Chicago A Biography” homework. It will help you for the tests/ finals, and also for homework reviews in class. All the questions that were on the CAB questions were also on the test and you can use the questions to study for the tests and the final. Also, just study for the tests because it is a very easy class that you can easily get an A in, all it requires is a little bit of preparation. For students who are iffy about taking the class or debating it in general, I would highly suggest that they take urban since it is a very easy class with a fun field trip.

Out of all my classes taken for first semester, I feel as though Urban was ranked second place for my favorite class. I would rank it first, but my favorite class is Child Development. I would recommend this class to many freshman and sophomores, because starting with Urban really helped me realize many things about my city, but also set as a starting point in what I want to study next year. Although Urban Studies was a very easy class, in my opinion, their are a few things I would advise to incoming students attending this class. Some advice I would give to incoming students is, don’t NOT read the book. Not reading will get you completely lost, because almost everything we go over in class is based upon the book. Also, don’t push Mr. Berksons buttons. He is already very lenient and will let you turn in late work, but don’t expect too much.
I had a really fun time this year in Urban Studies. I have learned so much about Chicago this year. Thanks so much for a great semester, and I hope that having us as a class, has helped you evolve and prepare for next year's class!