Sociology is the study of group psychology or human behavior in groups. In the high school sociology course, students can learn how and why individuals behave the way that they do.

“It makes human behavior a lot more predictable once you take the class,” said sociology teacher, Mr. Johannemann.

During this course, a lot of discussion takes place, along with watching films and doing projects and experiments.

“I think that if you understand how and why people behave the way that they do, it makes you more powerful in almost every situation that you’re involved with. That can be business relationships as you get older in your careers, it could be romantic relationships with people that you’re involved with,” said Mr. Johannemann.

Mr. Johannemann said that he thinks that the students’ observational skills will become a lot sharper, and it will help one to understand the reasons why people think and behave the way that they do, and once one can see through other people’s perspectives it can make one a lot more effective as a person.

The best part of teaching this course, said Mr. Johannemann, is that it has no fixed curriculum so he can do what he wants with it, depending on the interest of the students. He also enjoys the conversation he has with students.

Mr. Johannemann’s inspiration for teaching this course came from seeing his mentor teacher, at the first school that he taught at, teach a sociology class that he had never seen before; he became so interested in what that mentor teacher was doing, that he wanted to do it for himself, and it had not been a class yet at Monroe-Woodbury.

Mr. Johannemann said that this course is interesting and relevant and that one can apply it to what is going on in one’s life right now.

Tiana Liggio, a senior, said that her favorite components of the sociology course were Mr. Johannemann’s teaching style; she also enjoyed his interaction with the students. She said that it made her feel more engaged and like she was part of the class.

“I was given a new perspective on how to interpret the ideas and beliefs of others rather than to just slap a label onto something just because it’s foreign in my life,” said Liggio.

Liggio thinks that students should take this class so they can really get themselves thinking about the world and people around us. She also said that she enjoyed the course.

When asked what her favorite activity that she got to do in this course, she said, “When we went to the library and played a simulation game to see if we can not go bankrupt in a month and make financial choices based off moral beliefs.”

Liggio said that this class has made her look at everything around her with a new perspective.

Fred Mourad, a senior, said that he would recommend this course to other students because it is genuinely interesting and it became his favorite class to go to every single day.

“It is a genuinely interesting class and it’s not too difficult, and for me, it became my favorite class and I could not wait to go every single day. I loved the topics and felt that this was important for me to understand,” said Mourad.

Mourad said that his favorite part of this course was watching the films and seeing the topics that impact individuals in everyday life.

When asked why he took the course, Mourad said, “my brother recommended it to me and it seemed interesting. It has made me become more aware of how people behave in social settings.”