Don't Fear the Capstone!

 Aleena Abraham, Verrazzano Class of 2021, completed major in History Education (7-12), and minor in Studio Art

My time as a Verrazzano student has shown me how much our advisers (Cheryl and Cynthia) care about all of us succeeding. Throughout my four years I can honestly say that they have been a constant support, so I am taking this moment to say thank you to them.

I remember as a freshman hearing about my senior year capstone project and thinking, “How am I ever going to get this done?” It went a lot smoother than I had predicted four years ago. At first, I found it difficult to find grounding in my topic, and even found myself on a completely different subject than what I had originally planned. My research project focused on the hidden connections between history and pedagogy.

As a future Social Studies teacher, it felt appropriate to focus on both the education and history fields for my capstone. I used the book from my HST 300 class, “What is History” by E.H. Carr, and connected it to my experiences as a student teacher.

When meeting with my mentor, Dr. Berci, I was able to receive necessary feedback from her to improve the quality of my project. In the beginning stages of my research, I kept interchanging history with historiography and pedagogy with curriculum, which are four very different topics! Asking clarifying questions really helped guide me throughout my paper. This project has allowed me to dive deep into finding connections between my future career as a teacher with my content area. Though we were unable to do this in-person, I am still grateful I had the opportunity to work with a brilliant professor who has taught me a great deal.