Winter Break is Coming Up!

Today in class we talked about stuff that is going to be on the exam tomorrow. Mr. Schick answered all of the questions that we had and told us what we should know for the exam. There will be 130 Scantron questions and 2 essays which isn't as overwhelming as the other exams, but still a lot. I am really nervous that I am not going to do well, but I am definitely going to try my best. Good luck to everyone!

Reviews

Today in class we went over the test we took yesterday and the Political Geography test. For people that failed, they are able to come after school Monday and retake the test to get a the highest score of a 70%. It is a great opportunity for people to bring up the grade a little bit. Monday we will be reviewing for exams.

Test

Today is the day we took the test and I'm very thankful I took time these past few days to study. I think I did fairly well even though some of the questions were kind of difficult. I really hope I did well because I want my grade to be higher. I hope everyone else did well too!

Mr. Schick's Birthday

Today is Mr. Schick's birthday so he handed out cookies to each of us but then he had to leave to set up for an academic meeting. So Mr. Kimble came in as our substitute and I got to spend time studying for tomorrow's test and finished homework I had.

End of PowerPoint

More on Buddhism
Four Noble Truths
There is suffering
Attachment to desire is the origin of suffering
There is a cessation of suffering
The Eightfold Path will lead to the cessation of suffering

The Eightfold Path
RIGHT VIEW
RIGHT INTENTION
RIGHT SPEECH
RIGHT ACTION
RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
RIGHT EFFORT
RIGHT MINDFULNESS
RIGHT DEDICATION

Judaism 
number of adherents- 14-18 million
called- Jews
geographic location- Israel
founder- Abraham ?
holy book- Talmud and the Torah
beliefs- ethical monotheism- God is one, and concerned with the actions of humankind. Ten Commandments and 13 Principles of Faith

More Cultural Characteristics Notes

Today in class we talked about spatial divisions, religion, and we also listened to Mr. Schicks rap song.

Examples:
Political Alliances
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Commonwealth of nations
Organization ofAmerican States (OAS)


Five Major Religions 
Christianity
-# of adherents: around 2.2 billion (largest in the world)
-called Christians
-geographic location: Europe, the America, southern Africa
-denominations: Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Protestants (Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, anglicans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians,etc)
-founder: Jesus Christ
-holy book: The Bible, especially the New Testament
-beliefs: Jesus is both human and divine
-clergy:  the Pope is head of the church, priests are local authorities.

Islam
-member of adherents: 1.5 billion (second largest)
-called: Muslims
-geographic location: Indonesia, Middle East, north Africa
-denominations: Sunnis 975-90%), Shiites (10-20%)
-founder: Muhammad (570-632)
-holy book: Qur'an
-beliefs:monotheistic, Abrahamic, Five Pillars (testimony, prayer, alms-giving, fasting, pilgrimage)
Muslims see their purpose in life as serving and submitting to Allah (God), and observing Islamic Law.

Hinduism
number of adherents: 1.1 billion (third largest)
called: Hindus
geographic location: India, Nepal
holy book: the Vedas- eternal truths revealed to ancient sages; written in verse form (meant to be sung and easily memorized)
founder: no distinct founder- series of intellectual philosophical points of view. Probably the oldest religion, although Hinduism is less a religion than a way of life. Believe in reincarnation.

Buddhism 
number of adherents: 500 million- 1.5 billion
called: Buddhists
geographic location: southeast Asia, China, Nepal, Japan, there are over 1.2 million in the US
founder: Siddhartha Gautama
denominations: Tibetan, Zen, Theravada, Amidist

Cultural Characteristics Part 2

Religion: can be both a unifying force.

There are 5 major religions in the world today--Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. They have millions of followers all believing the same thing. 

Religion can also be a dividing force around the world. Hindus and Muslims fight in India (Hindu) and Pakistan (Muslim). 

There are conflicts between Catholics and Protestants (two forms of Christianity) in Northern Ireland. 

Jews, Christians and Muslims all claim Jerusalem as their religions holy site. They are constantly fighting over the land. 

Spatial Divisions 

Spatial divisions are how we divide the livable space found on the earth by establishing social, economic, and political control. 

You can be a member of more than one spatial group.

Spatial divisions can also cause conflicts or cooperation. 

Examples: Countries, Economic alliances, European Union (EU). Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

PowerPoint Notes- Cultural Geography

Cultural characteristics are parts of a group's everyday life. There are the ideas and themes which the group will teach to all members. These same characteristics can also link or divide a region.

Examples:
Language- Arabic unites the Arab world. Spanish unites the Hispanic World. Brazil is the only South American nation which does not speak Spanish. It speaks Portuguese.
Canada is a bilingual nation. French and English are their official languages.
The United States does NOT have an official language.
Switzerland has multiple languages but very little conflict between the groups. English is now considered the world language and is used for most business transactions around the world.

Religion- 

Ethnic Heritage- In Yugoslavia, many ethnic groups were made into one country (Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Albanians). When strong leadership died out, the different groups fought a very bloody civil war and now they all have separate countries. In the countries of Rwanda and Burundi in Africa, two ethnic groups are dominant, the Tutsis and the Hutus. The United States and Switzerland have peacefully merged multiple ethnic groups in their countries. Korea, China and Japan have primarily one ethnic group.

Slumdog Millionaire

Today Mr. Schick let us re-watch the ending of Slumdog Millionaire because some people didn't get to see the ending. It was definitely a great movie I really enjoyed watching it. After we watched the movie we had like 10 extra minutes so we discussed the movie and asked questions. Tomorrow we will be starting PowerPoints again so today was a nice break.

More of Slumdog Millionaire

Today we watched more of the movie and we got to some really good parts right before the bell rang at the end of the day. I was really  hoping I could stay to watch the rest because I really like the movie but I had to leave. I'm really happy because today was the start of our Thanksgiving break!

Slumdog Millionaire

Today the class started out by giving me a synopsis of what was happening in the movie since I was absent Friday. Afterwards we went to Mr. Schick's classroom and watched some more of the movie. I have never seen Slumdog Millionaire so it was interesting to watch. I am really enjoying the movie so far even though I missed the beginning. It's somewhat sad but it's definitely a really good movie. I can't wait to watch more of the movie!

Not in school

I was not in class today so this is today's post.

Extra Credit Songs

Home- Chris Daughtry
Only in America- Brooks and Dunn
Pink Houses- John Mellencamp
She's Leaving Home- The Beatles
Going to California- Led Zeppelin
Home- Dierks Bentley
Rest of my Life- Soja
Leavin This Town- The Beach Boys
Leaving California- Maroon 5

French National Anthem

English Translation of La Marseillaise

Let's go children of the fatherland,

The day of glory has arrived!

Against us tyranny's

Bloody flag is raised! (repeat)

In the countryside, do you hear

The roaring of these fierce soldiers?

They come right to our arms

To slit the throats of our sons, our friends!

Refrain

Grab your weapons, citizens!

Form your batallions!

Let us march! Let us march!

May impure blood

Water our fields!

This horde of slaves, traitors, plotting kings,

What do they want?

For whom these vile shackles,

These long-prepared irons? (repeat)

Frenchmen, for us, oh! what an insult!

What emotions that must excite!

It is us that they dare to consider 

Returning to ancient slavery!

What! These foreign troops

Would make laws in our home!

What! These mercenary phalanxes

Would bring down our proud warriors! (repeat)

Good Lord! By chained hands

Our brows would bend beneath the yoke!

Vile despots would become

The masters of our fate!

Tremble, tyrants! and you, traitors,

The disgrace of all groups,

Tremble! Your parricidal plans

Will finally pay the price! (repeat)

Everyone is a soldier to fight you,

If they fall, our young heros,

France will make more,

Ready to battle you!

Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors,

Bear or hold back your blows!

Spare these sad victims,

Regretfully arming against us. (repeat)

But not these bloodthirsty despots,

But not these accomplices of Bouillé,

All of these animals who, without pity,

Tear their mother's breast to pieces!

Sacred love of France,

Lead, support our avenging arms!

Liberty, beloved Liberty,

Fight with your defenders! (repeat)

Under our flags, let victory

Hasten to your manly tones!

May your dying enemies

See your triumph and our glory!

Refrain

We will enter the pit

When our elders are no longer there;

There, we will find their dust

And the traces of their virtues. (repeat)

Much less eager to outlive them

Than to share their casket,

We will have the sublime pride

Of avenging them or following them

My comments:

France's national anthem is very gruesome and maddening whereas ours is basically happy. Ours shows how proud we are of our country, it talks about our flag, our braveness during battle and that at the end of the day, after all of the bombs and explosions, our flag was still standing. Almost their entire anthem is about bloody war and fighting. You would never think it was so gruesome by listening to it because it sounds pretty uplifting and pretty. I would say the tone of their anthem is definitely military. 

11/17/14

Today in class Mr. Schick shared the news with us that the academic team took first place over the weekend which is awesome. So we all asked questions about how these tournaments work and stuff so we had a practice round of questions. The questions were actually pretty hard and I give a lot of credit to the people on the academic team. Mr. Schick also let us see our test scores and I did really bad so I'm pretty upset especially since mid quarters are coming up. We also started learning about cultural geography. To get that started we looked at a map that was colored by places that call soft drinks by a different name. Such as soda, pop, or coke. Then we talked about having different views from our parents. I'm actually pretty excited to learn about cultural geography, it seems more interesting than the last topic.

Test

Today we took the test on Political Geography. I thought I was somewhat well prepared considering I made index cards but I guess the stuff I studied wasn't what I should've studied because I think I did awful. I'm disappointed actually because my grade in this class is definitely not where I want it to be and now that I did bad on this test, it will come down even more. I'll be happy when we start on a new topic because hopefully that will give me another chance to bring up my grade. Even though I'm stressed out about my grade and the test I have confidence that I can fix it all.

11/12/14

Today in class Mr. Schick explained to us why our test was postponed until Friday. More groups got up and presented their projects and we got the whole study guide situation figured out so now we can see other people's projects when we go to the study guide. The first presentation was on Russia which was halfway presented 2 days ago, so today Russia's group finished. Next up was Brazil. Here are some facts about Brazil:

Brazil
-Federal Republic
-Dilma Rousseff is their president
-Presidency: 4 year terms
-Dilma Rousseff was elected in 2011 becoming the first female president. This is her last term for right now.
-Ways to remove president: impeachment, electing another president, assassination.
-Brazil is very happy with their president.

Mexico
-President Enrique Pena Nieto (member of the institutional revolutionary party)
- Federal republic

Day before the test

Today in class Mr. Schick was only here for the first few minutes but then he had to leave so we had a substitute. We got to spend the whole class studying for our test tomorrow. Mr. Schick uploaded a study guide to his blog which is very useful since not everyone finished presenting their projects. Some people had an issue with the links on the PowerPoint though. Other then that, today was an easy class.

More presentations

Today was my first day back in class since Wednesday, due to the play, so I missed presentations on Canada and Japan. But, today more people presented their projects. We started off with Antony and Adrien's project on Syria.

Syria
-republic under an authoritarian regime
- Bashar al-Assad is their president whom was born September 11, 1965 in Damascus.
- Syria has been a republic under authoritarian regime since 1941 (73 years).
- Ways to get rid of president: Assassination, revolutionary war, and the country being taken over by another.
-Bashar al-Assad had the most votes in the last election at 88.7% of the votes. However, most votes came from Assad threatening the people to vote for him.
- Voting is rigged by "counting wrong" on purpose, bombing or threatening, etc.
- Assad can be president until 2021. They have 7 year terms.

Germany
- Federal Republic
-  They've been a federal republic since 1990
- East and West Germnay were separated by the Berlin Wall after World War II but reunited as a whole country in 1990.
- 2 leaders, President and Chancellor
- President Joachim Gauck (since March 23, 2012, independent political party. Pastor over a Protestant church.)
- Chancellor Angela Merkel (November 22, 2000. Former research scientist. Leader of Christian Democratic Union since 2000. Named most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.)
- Replacing the leaders: Impeachment of the president, or not being elected. New chancellor can be nominated. The Bundestag can kick the chancellor out or president out.
- Offices are elected by the Bundestag. Held every 4 years. Disabled people who are in overall foster care cannot vote along with people under 18.
- Christian Democratic Union, Social Democratic Union, Christian Social Union, LINKE, GRUNE.

United Kingdom
- Constitutional Monarchy (1066): King or Queen acts as head of state along with the Prime Minister. King or Queen has the ability to make and pass legislation.
-Commonwealth Realm: sovereign state that's a member of the commonwealth of nations.
- Commonwealth of nations- 54 members with one suspended and dates back to the mid 20th century.
- Prime minister of the UK has no term limits. He is appointed by the Monarch.
-David Cameron:Prime Minister since 2010,  he is the leader of the conservative party and is the youngest prime minister since 1812.
-Prim minister appoints members of the government and is the principal gov. figure in the House of Commons.
-Every Tuesday the cabinet discusses important issues for the gov.
- people of the UK support Cameron as a Prime Minster.

United States
- the leader of the U.S.A is President Barack Obama.
- Constitution based federal republic, with strong democratic tradition.
-Obama can be president for 2 more years and cannot run for re-election. He won the 2008 and 2012 election.
-Obama is the first  half African American president
- We can re-elect a president, or they can be impeached or overthrown, or the president can be assassinated, or a revolution can start.
-Impeachable offenses: treason, bribery, or other high crimes.

Russia
- Federation: formations of a political unity with a central government by a number of separate states, each of which retains control of its own internal affairs.
Official name of Russia is Russian Federation
- Governed under the constitution of 1993
- Russia became Russian Federation in 1991
-Vladimir Putin has been president since 2012. Previously served as president from 2000-2008 and was Prime Minister from 1999-2000. He is now allowed to serve another terms.
-Russia has 6 year terms.
Dmitry Medvedev is the Prime Minster of Russia
-Legislative branch adopts federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse and the power of impeachment of the President.
Executive Branch- President is the supreme commander-in-chief of the armed forces
Judiciary Branch
United Russia- main political party. founded in 2001.
Russian Military: very strong and aggressive due to strong leader Putin and his weapons.
Russia is the largest country in the world

Presentation

Today in class Kyle, Luke and I presented our PowerPoint on France's government. I think it went pretty well and was overall pleased with our project. We showed our slides and had some pretty good discussions. The other students took notes on our project because we will need to know the information about these countries for the test. Then, once we were finished, Ella's group got up and presented their PowerPoint on China. They only got to present the first slide because we got into a big discussion about communist states,rich/poor people, equality, and a bunch of other things that led to some disagreements among people in the class. Overall, it was a productive class and I'm interested in seeing other people's projects.

Field Trip 11/4/14

Today in class Mr. Schick decided to take us to the Cancer Awareness tables in the hallway since the majority of us didn't get to go during the day. We each got pamphlets from different tables and they had examples of what breast and testicular cancer feels like. They also had a table about smoking where they had 2 lungs displayed, a healthy lung and an unhealthy lung. The unhealthy one was black and looked awful and the healthy one was a reddish color and had life to it. The unhealthy lung was what a lung would look like due to smoking. They also had a table that gave awareness to skin cancer and they had a little booth that you could stick your face in and look at your skin under special lights that showed white and orange specks on your skin or purplish colors. The purplish color showed sun damage and the white specks showed dry skin. They also gave out free sunscreen samples.

New Class 10/29/14

Today was the second day I have been in Section 6 and honestly I miss my old class so much. It's so weird switching classes this late in the school year and my old class was the best. Since I transferred to a new class I am obviously in a new group for the project. So today, my new group and I continued to work on our project which is almost done and Luke sat there and talked about his bloody nose the whole time and showed us pictures.

Human Geo Project

Today in class we spent most of our time picking partners for the project Mr. Schick assigned. Chris had to write the groups and country names on the board for the project. We're in groups of 2 and we have to make a Google PowerPoint thing on the country we chose with information on their government and rulers. I am in a group with Sydney and Grace and we will be working on it throughout the week. Mr. Schick is going to put all of the requirements for the project on his blog.

The Class That Brought My Grade Down

Today in class Mr. Schick gave us a pop quiz on all of the leaders of the 12 countries we did research on. Clearly I was not prepared and did awful on the quiz which is unfortunate because it's going to bring my grade down a lot, which isn't good because my grade was great before. Our overall average for the class on this quiz was a 68.7%. Hopefully next time we'll all be ready. We also might be switching seats soon too.

"Interpersonal Relationships in the Classroom"

Today in class I sat on the other side of the room with Sydney and McKenna just because Sydney loves me so much. So basically Mr. Schick kept telling us to stop talking and stuff and Sydney kept pretending she hates me but we all know she doesn't. We looked at my homecoming shoes and took some pictures and talked to Suky and talked about random stuff with McKenna. SYDNEY TALKS TOO MUCH.

Angela Merkel- Chancellor of Germany
- She is a former physicist.
- First female chancellor
- Has a Ph. D in physics and quantum chemistry

Facts About Country Leaders

Enrique Pena Nieto
- He is the 5th member of his extended family to serve as governor of the State of Mexico. His cousin directly preceded him as governor.
- He traveled to Washington, D.C. in 2012 to meet with President Barack Obama.

Xi Jinping
- He is the 2nd national leader who's wife is an entertainer.
- He is the first national leader with a Ph.D

Narendra Modi
- He is a former chief minister of Gujarat.
- He is a self-declared Hindu nationalist.

Vladimir Putin
- He has a black belt in Judo.
- He served in the KBG as an intelligence officer before becoming involved in politics.

Joachim Gauck
- He is the son of a survivor of the Soviet Gulag.
- He has been serving since 2012.

David Cameron
- He is a descendant of King William IV.
- He is the youngest prime minister since 1812.

Francois Hollande
- He is the first socialist president since 1995.
- He was inaugurated to be president in 2012.

Dilma Rousseff
- Prior to running for president she had never run for an elected office.
- She was jailed and allegedly tortured in early 1970s  for joining the resistance movement against the military dictatorship.

Bashar al-Assad
- Once his brother died, he decided to take the position to be their new heir for presidency. 
- He was Colonel of the Syrian Army in 1999.

Stephen Harper
- He showed early interest in politics, when he was in high school.
- He is the first prime minister to come from the newly reconstituted conservative party.

Shinzo Abe
- He was Japan's first prime minister born after WWII.
- His grandfather was Japans prime minister and so was his uncle.

Benjamin Netanyahu
- Spent his teen years in the United States and went to high school in Philadelphia.
- First Israeli prime minister to be born after the state was founded in 1948.

Political Geography Assignment #1

Mexico

Federal republic

President Enrique Pena Nieto

China

Communist State

President Xi Jinping

India

Federal Republic

Narendra Modi

Russia

Federation

Vladimir Putin

Germany

Federal Republic

Joachim Gauck

United Kingdom

Constitutional monarchy and Commonwealth realm

Prime Minister David Cameron

France

Republic

President Francois Hollande

Brazil

Federal Republic

Dilma Rousseff

Syria

Republic under an authoritarian regime

President Bashar al-Assad

Canada

A parliamentary democracy, a federation, and a constitutional monarchy

Prime Minister Stephen Harper 

Japan

A parliamentary government with a constitutional monarchy 

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe 

Israel

Parliamentary democracy 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 

10/16/14

Today was the first time we've had class for a week so we actually had some stuff to go over including our tests. I took the test Friday after school since I was on retreat and I felt pretty well prepared and the grade I got definitely showed that. I was really happy with how I did on the test and maybe next test I will do even better. In class Mr. Schick handed out all of our tests and we went over every single answer on the test, especially the answers for the push and pull forces because some people had some interesting answers. Mr. Schick also demonstrated how to quickly use the CIA website to get answers fast. Today our class was a little too talkative but overall it was a good class.

10/9/14

Today we once again went over everything that will be on the test. We talked a lot about population pyramids again because Mr. Schick told us they would be a big part of the test. We should be able to name the country's pyramid by looking at the population pyramid diagrams on the test. He told us to also re-watch the videos on his blog especially the population pyramid video. We also took guesses on how we would do on the test and who would get over 100% In class Mr. Schick gave us time to write our blogs which was nice and I listened to some Spotify while I wrote mine. We also watched a video about tiny hamsters eating tiny burritos.

Review for test

Today in class we reviewed what is going to be on Friday's test. Everything listed below is all of the things we should know. 

• life expectancy
• crude birth rate 
• crude death rate 
• developing nations
• developed nations
• rate of natural increase (RNI)
• net migration rate 
• immigration
• emigration
• push forces
• pull forces
• total fertility rate (TFR)

We should also be able to list 3 pull forces and 3 push forces. 

During the test there will be a specific time where we need to use our laptops to go on the CIA website and find answers to some of the questions but it is not open note/blog.

I re took notes on everything we should know which I think is a good study technique. I also high lighted all of my previous notes to study from as well. I have confidence that I will do well on the test especially since I think we are going to do more review tomorrow.

10/6/14

CIA FACTS

• We're first in airports, Brazil is second. 
• We're second in electricity consumption. 

• Largest producer of oil- Saudi Arabia...United States is the second largest producer of oil. 

• Largest consumer of oil- United States

• Largest oil exporter- Saudi Arabia 
• Largest oil importer- United States

• We're the largest cocaine consumers
• We're number one in railways and roadways
• We're third in area

Class 10/3/14

I would personally say today was the best class we have ever had for so many reasons. I think Mr. Schick was pleasantly surprised by us actually participating in the group discussion that early in the morning. We started off by watching a video about America and peoples different views on whether it's the greatest country in the world or not. It was honestly one of the most powerful videos I have ever watched. For some reason it really spoke to me. That video then led us into a very well participated group discussion on our views on the topic which then led into other topics. Somehow we started talking about alcohol, drug use, and marijuana. We talked about what should/should not be legal, freedom, how America has the most people in prisons, whether America is the best country in the world or not, the news, government, what stuff we do/don't believe, marijuana, alcohol, and even more. Each of us shared our different opinions and added a lot of good points to the discussion. It was so fun because I enjoyed listening to other people's views on things and I liked being able to share my opinion with everyone else and trying to prove points. Finally, there is actually a class that we can go to and just speak our mind on truly important things going on in the world.  I learned so much just from that discussion and the video and I just really enjoyed it. I really hope we have more classes like the class we had today.

Class 10/2

Today in Human Geo Mr. Schick managed to get all of us 3 months free of Spotify premium which was amazing because I use Spotify all the time. Spotify is trying something new to see if students are able to learn better with music instead of just studying. Such as music that reminds you of a certain topic your learning. As we do this stuff with Spotify, Mr. Schick is going to give us assignments such as creating playlists and stuff like that. I'm actually really excited about this because I already know how to use Spotify and I use it basically everyday. Many people in our class didn't have a Spotify so they had to make an account and I taught a few people how to set theirs up and redeem their 3 months of free Spotify. But a few people already an account so we listened to some music and just hung out.

Human Geo 9/29/14 Population Pyramids

Questions:

1. According to the Population Reference Bureau's "2013 World Population Data Sheet", 271 are born every minute, and 106 die every minute. That's a global net population increase of 165 per minute. This lesson was published on May 5th. What's the estimated global population increase exactly one week later (May 12th)?  A: over 10 million       B: 20,739      C: 1155    D: 1,663,200    
2. As a country slows in population growth, its pyramid shape will  A: become wider at the base and narrower at the top         B: be inverted          C: become more rectangular            D: bulge in the middle
3. What does a Population Pyramid NOT give you information about?    A: birth rates         B: actual number of people        C: life expectancy         D: death rates
4. Which continent would have the most fast-growth pyramids?   A: Africa         B:  Asia          C: North America         D: South America

CIA Fact book 9/26/14

Today in Human Geography we talked about more facts we learned from the CIA fact book. Mr. Schick called a few of us up to the front to share the facts we found on the website. A few of the facts that I found interesting were that the United States is #18 in the world for obesity.Also that Niger has the highest Total Fertility Rate in the world at 6.89 children born per women. Also the American Samoa (deserted beach near Pago, Pago, part of the Samoan Island Chain but is in the southernmost territory of the U.S.) is #1 in the world for obesity at 74.6%. We also learned about the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)  average amount of money an adult makes in a country per year. Someone got up and told us that a single person in the U.S. makes about $52,800 a year making us #14 in the world for GDP.

Class 9/25/14

Today in Human Geography, for the people that weren't in class yesterday they got their tests handed back and we discussed them some more. Mr. Schick asked us what point we were up to in the PowerPoint and we said we were at the TFR discussion. We talked even more about push forces, pull forces, emigrants, immigrants, rate of natural increase, and measuring population. Mr. Schick really wanted to make sure we understood everything we have learned because it's a lot of information to take in and it's sort of difficult information. Mr. Schick called called on people in class and basically quizzed us on stuff that was on the PowerPoint that we learned a week ago. He did this because we all agreed to knowing the information and he said if that was the case would we be able to pass a quiz if he gave us one to tomorrow but then once he started asking us questions nobody really knew that well.

Human Geo 9/24/14

Today in Human Geography Mr.Schick handed back our tests that we took last week. For people that got an A on the test he rung his bell once. If you got a 100% he rung the bell twice but no one in our class got a 100. Overall I'm pretty happy with my grade and I hope to do even better on the next test. Mr. Schick went over our tests with us after he handed them back and we went over the answers. He called on each of us to read off the answers and we got to correct the answers we had wrong. We went over the essay questions and discussed what we should have written for each essay in order to get a 10/10. We went into great depth about the essay about Socrate's quote "The unexamined life is not worth living." Mr. Schick went into a rant about people saying "live life to the fullest." He asked us each what that quote even meant and explained how it's sort of an idiotic quote because people think it means you can just go out and act stupid and live every day as if it's your last.

Notes from 9/22/14

Why do people migrate?
People migrate due to pull and push forces.

Push Forces- cause you to want to leave the place you live in.
-civil war
-environmental degradation
-unemployment/underemployment
-religious /ethnic persecution

Pull Forces- Something causing you to want to go somewhere else
-better economic opportunity
-better health services
-religious freedom
-political freedom

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)
TFR: Average number of children born per woman. For a population to remain the same, the TFR must be 2.1.
Higher than 2.1- population rises
Lower than 2.1- population falls

World TFR- 2.47
U.S.- 2.06
Nigeria- 5.38
Japan- 1.39

Notes and facts 9/19/14

Today we talked about measuring population, crude death/birth rate, rate of natural increase (RNI), and net migration rate. The crude birth rate is the number of births per 1000 of the population and the crude death rate is the number of deaths. The rate of natural increase (RNI) is produced by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate. This gives us the annual natural growth rate (in percentage form) for a country or region. The net migration rate is the difference between the number of people entering/leaving a country during a year. An excess of people entering the country is net immigration. Net immigration is written as a positive number. People leaving the country is net emigration. This is written as a negative number. The United States used to be #50 in the world for highest life expectancy but now we moved up to #42 in the world. Also, the U.S. is 18th in the world for obesity as of 2008.

Notes on migration and population

Today in class we talked about new stuff and took notes on population and migration. We learned that there are over 7 billion people in the world and the number is being increased by over 73 million per year. About 90% of population growth takes place in countries such as Africa, South and East Asian and Latin America. These are developing countries. By the time people my age reach the age of around 50, it is very likely that the population could double and many conflicts could occur because of that, such as: less food and less drinkable water. I found it very interesting that we are the 50th country with the highest life expectancy. I sort of though that we would be like #10 at least but we're #50 so that means there's 50 more countries before us that have a greater life expectancy. Such as Monaco. We believe life expectancy has to do with the developing of a country, so therefore, countries that are less developed have a lower life expectancy. Such as Chad, most people only live to their 40s if they're lucky. Here, 50 years ago our life expectancy was lower because people smoked a lot back then and there was less technological advances in medicines. Plus, a lot of people didn't know was was safe and unsafe back then. Nobody really knew the side effects of some things such as smoking.

Human Geo Test

Today in Human Geography we took our test. Mr. Schick did a great job reviewing with us on Monday and told us what would be on the test which was really helpful. He was also nice enough to let us use our blogs today while we took the test.I'm really glad I actually put important information in my previous blogs because that definitely helped a lot on some of the essay questions. I think I did pretty well on the test besides 2 of the essay questions and 2 of the multiple choice questions. The question about how many americans voted in 2012 was one of the ones I struggled with. I think the test was fairly easy but that is probably only because I studied. Overall I think I did well on it and I hope I get a good grade. After I took my test I let Mr. Schick read my Earth Science paper which he described as "sick" and said it was really good. He also said I should consider joining that newspaper club which I actually might do.

Human Geo Class 9/15/14

Today in Human Geography we went over what is going to be on our test on Wednesday. The 4 things that will be on our test are a Message to Garcia, Ancient Greece, Did You Know 3.0, globalization, and americanization. We have to know who delivered the message to Garcia, who wrote it, who was the president during the time, and what war was going on during the time it was written. We also have to know the definitions and concepts of "Arete", "Agora", and we have to know about democracy. We have to know what happened in 508 BC and when Cleisthenes granted power to men in Athens. We also have to write an essay about Socrate's quote "The unexamined life is not worth living."  We don't have class tomorrow so our job is to study for the test.

Human Geo 9/12/14

Today in class we talked about globalization and its effects. Globalization is the connection with different parts of the world. It results in the expansion of international cultural, economic, and political activities. Globalization has been around forever, it is not a new thing to society just because we have computers. It was even around during Alexander the Great's time. In class, we checked the tags on our clothes and shoes to see where they were made, we came to a conclusion that most were made in China because it's cheaper to pay Chinese employees. I found it interesting that usually when Chinese people get sick they just get fired and they get replaced very quickly. Globalization has lead to americanization of other countries. Americanization is the influence the United States has on other cultures such as the food they eat in different countries. Japan now has fast food places such as KFC and McDonalds which is obviously very common in America. Americanization has an effect on the economy and health of other countries. An example of globalization was the Silk Road of China. The Silk Road interconnected them with the rest of the world through trade of silk, tea  and other items. We also talked about the difference between BC and BCE. None of us had ever heard of "BCE" before so we learned that it means "Before the Common Era." Also, more on globalization, it spreads religious beliefs and the art of knowing more then one language. I found today's class very informational and interesting.

Human Geography Class 9/11/14

Today in class we talked more about the video we watched "Did You Know 3.0".Mr. Schick explained the fast-moving world we live in. We live in exponential times where information is spread so quickly that it is almost too hard to keep up with all of the new technology and websites. Mr. Schick explained to us the first time he used a "cellular phone" and how he called his friend Carl to tell him about it and it just showed how advanced things have become in the last 25+ years. It's funny because the computers and phones we have now most likely will not even exist in the future because everything will just be in our minds...such as the chips in our heads I have talked about in my previous blogs. We then began to talk about the new watch that basically does more then our phones and computers now. The watch enables you to swipe your arm over your bill in a restaurant and it automatically pays because its connected to your credit card. It is crazy how fast things are advancing in todays society.

Did You Know 3.0 video

Today in Human Geography we watched a video called "Did you know 3.0". This video illustrates how quickly the world is changing and how technology is advancing very quickly. Honestly, when I first saw this video I was mind blown and amazed. Its insane to think about all of that stuff. It's honestly kind of scary to think about because technology is basically taking over the world. There was a fact in the video that said "The amount of new technical information is doubling every 2 years. For students starting a 4 year technical degree this means that half of what they learn in their first year of study, will be outdated by their third year of study." It's almost pointless so learn software that is just going to be outdated soon after it's made. That right there just shows how insanely fast the technology is being updated and how fast everything changes. Another thing in the video that was mentioned was that if Facebook were a country it would be the third largest country in the world. That shows how consumed we are with social networking. It's crazy to think that there are that many people on one website. The problem with that is, people are losing social skills in real life. So many people use social networks that it's almost like they forget how to interact with people in person. That's why 1 out of 8 married in the U.S. last year met online. Clearly technology is a huge role in our lives these days if we are marrying people we met through a screen. It's honestly sad that our world is like this now.

Human Geo Class 9/8

Today in Human Geography we had quite a loud and entertaining class. Mr. Schick started out the class by telling us he was giving us assigned seats. So once everyone got got to class he assigned our new seats...of course everyone complained and said they hated their seat. It was actually pretty funny because the class was almost fighting like brother and sister with each other about seating arrangements. We then decided to challenge Mr. Schick in a debate started off by Nate speaking first. Nate definitely added some spirit into the debate and made some key points as did Reece. It was definitely funny watching all of this happen. Finally after everyone gave their opinion we took a vote and majority ruled to switch seats. Then, each of us found our new seats next to whoever we wanted and we continued to talk about ancient Greece. As Mr. Schick said, we turned the classroom into an Agora.

Definitions

Agora: A central spot in ancient Greek city-states. Normally was the center of athletic, artistic, spiritual, and political events Literal definition is "gathering place" or "assembly". They were all over the mainland and were independent nations in a way. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agora

Arete: Excellence of any kind. http://mythology.wikia.com/wiki/Aretez

Polis: an ancient Greek city-state where everybody lives and gathers. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/polis

the year 508 BC: This is the year democracy began in Athens. Meaning 'ruled by the people'. Male citizens were given the chance to vote to decide how the city-state should be run. Cleisthenes granted full rights to all free men of Athens. This was the first time that people revolted against leaders and seized power for themselves. Males were able to discuss and vote. ://www.schoolsliaison.org.uk/kids/access/greek/timeline_greece.htm

Socrates: was an Athenian philosopher whose beliefs are known through writings of other philosophers. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle were the 3 main people of western philosophy. He taught that virtue was based on knowledge. "The unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/socrates

the Socratic method: He wanted to get the views of his students and colleagues by asking questions until a contradiction was exposed which would prove the fallacy of the initial assumption. This is was named "The Socratic Method". ://www.law.uchicago.edu/prospectives/lifeofthemind/socraticmethod

what the ancient Greeks meant if they called you an idiot: "person lacking professional skill". Someone who is characterized by self centeredness. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot

death of Socrates: Socrates was charged with 2 things (corruption of youth and introducing strange gods.) He went to trial with 500+ jurors to decide his fate. They voted to have him put to death by the Athenian government for his teaching methods because they thought it was impiety toward his students. He accepted death from Hemlock. https://www3.nd.edu/~plato/bloch.htm
Below is a painting by Jacques- Louis David from 1787.

Human Geography 9/3

Today in Human Geography we actually got a lot done and talked about a lot. We started out class today by Mr. Schick checking to see if all of us had our composition note books. Then, he went over how to do our blogs again because some people didn't submit theirs right or on time so he made sure we all knew how to use blogger. We then started talking about cyber days and how useful they really are and how we will probably use it a lot this year. It was funny because Mr. Schick brought up how we might use Skype and how we would have to turn our cameras on so he could make sure we were really there. All of us joked about the Skype calls and how we would probably be eating during them or still be in our pajamas which is funny and true. Then we talked about how in years from now when all of us are married and have kids we will probably all have chips in our heads so we could easily transport information to each other and stuff like that which is probably true because technology keeps getting more and more insane every year. Then we expanded more on the topic of "A message to Garcia". We learned all about the metaphor that is illustrated through the story and all of the important facts we need to know. Elbert Hubbard wrote this rant in 1899 during the Spanish-American war. The president at this time was President McKinley who wanted this message spread and needed the message to get to Garcia. So a trustworthy man named Rowan carried this message all the way to Cuba. The metaphor in A message to Garcia is all about taking the initiative and being a reliable person. It's basically all about not being lazy and saying "do I HAVE to?" it's about getting up and going to do something without question. Oh yeah and we also watched Mr. Schick's ice bucket challenge video which was hilarious.

5 Things I Will Do Freshman Year

This year is the most important year to get myself organized, adapted, and comfortable in school sine it's basically a transition year. Since freshman year is my first year in a new school I need to do a lot of things to be prepared. I think the most important thing is to be organized. Without organization it's easy to forget homework, books, and tests/quizzes that are coming up. One way I found helpful in middle school was after each class I would go to my locker and put those books in my locker from the class I had before if the teacher had assigned homework. That way, at the end of the day I would not have to try to remember what classes I had homework in because I had already put my books in my backpack. I will definitely do that again this year because it was really helpful. Another way I will get organized is by using my planner, that way I can write down all of the homework I have and write myself reminders to do stuff. Last year I had a color for each class so an example is math was pink so I would have a pink book cover on my text book and I would have a pink notebook and workbook so then I could just go right into my locker and grab all of the pink books and not worry about forgetting anything because I knew ALL of my math books were pink for that class. I can also color code my schedule to correspond with my books. To make sure I get all of my homework done I will just write it down in my planner. For studying, I will get my friends to quiz me if we have a test coming up because that way all of us will get to study together and not have to worry about it later. I will also make sure I write down all of my test dates in my planner so I don't forget.

Human Geography Class 8/28

Today in class we didn't do much because Mr. Schick was helping people set up their blogs and get situated because a lot of us didn't do it right the night before. During class, we all had the chance to write our blogs for today, quietly talk to other students in our class and even do other work from other classes which was nice. I talked to people sitting next to me and behind me for most of the class. Nothing much happened at all really, and it went by fast. Oh and cross country people left early so they missed out. Overall it was a very laid back and relaxed class today.

My First Day at John Carroll

My first day at John Carroll was less nerve wracking then I thought it would be. Even though it was my first day as a freshman, it felt as if I had already been a student here for a while. I found all of my classes pretty well and on time which was something I worried about. I got my locker open on the 2nd try and other freshmen were actually asking me to help them!! All of the older kids in my advisory class were so nice, supportive, and helpful. And I love my advisor! I was thankful to have 5 off mods on my first day because it gave me enough time to do everything I needed to get done and not be in a hurry. It also gave me more time to socialize with new friends that I made that day and friends I had from middle school. The great thing about high school is all of the freedom you have. As a high school student you have so much more freedom which is really nice. Also, I was impressed by the cafeteria food!  Overall, everything went well and I hope it gets better throughout the school year. I am so excited that I'm finally apart of the John Carroll community.