9/28/12

          When we came into class today Mr. Schick wasn't there and then 5 minutes later he still wasn't there so Parker called on the phone to tell them he wasn't in class and then after like 20 minutes he came. He told us a little about the field trip he took his TV production class to and then we continued watching God Grew Tired of Us. The one guy found out his whole family and tribe died and that was really sad. Also, they weren't allowed to walk into stores in a group anymore because someone called the police i guess saying they were sketchy looking but thats wrong. You shouldn't get the police involved unless they really did something which they didn't. The boys were starting to grow apart because they found new friends and went off to college and stuff so that was sad. The whole video is really sad actually. But, its a very inspiring video.

9/27/12

       Today we continued the video God Grew Tired of us. It was really interesting. The United Nations had a camp set up for the kids and they could go to school and learn. But, once they finished they really had no place to go to. So the US brought some of the people over to our country. In the video is shows how they had no idea what to do and how different the US is. Like when they were in the airport they didn't know how to go on the escalator and the one guy crushed up Ritz crackers and the poured the milk into the box. It was really sad watching them and seeing how much moving the US probably effected their lives because of how different it is from their country.

9/26/12

      Today we got the tests back that we took on Monday. I did a lot better than i expected. I was pretty shocked. We went over the test because Mr. Schick wanted us to make sure we understood everything and to get the right answers because he said this wont be the last time we see this stuff. Then Mr. Schick got mad at us because we kept talking and he walked out of the classroom for a few minutes so we could quiet down. We started watching God Grew Tired of Us again but, we didn't really watch it for that long because we ran out of time.

9/24/12

             Today in class we had our first test of the year. It was pretty hard. It had things starting with a Message to Garcia and the CIA World Factbook. Hopefully I didn't fail it but I don't think its going to be my best grade.After everyone finished the test Mr. Schick said we were watching a video for the rest of the class. Usually I hate watching videos because I usually want to fall asleep but this video was really interesting. It was about these boys who tried to escape during this Civil War in Sudan between the Muslims and Catholics. These boys walked all the way to Ethiopia and then once they couldn't stay there anymore they went to Kenya. They started with about 29,000 boys and once they reached Kenya there were only 12,000. It was a really sad video to see that these boys had to live their life like this and try and survive on their own.

9/21/12

      Today my group got to present our presentation on Brazil. Eleanor's name got changed to buttface on our power point and it was really funny. But we were kind of laughing throughout the whole presentation and someone wrote "We are just that cool" at the bottom of one of the slides and we're not sure who from our group wrote that so that was funny too. I'm not sure how we did on our presentation...hopefully we passed! Then Mr. Schick talked about the test we're having on Monday which is going to cover everything from the beginning of the year. I'm kind of nervous for it. Hopefully i get a good grade!

9/20/12

          Today in class people presented their projects and most were pretty interesting. Only about 3 people got to present and the last group got cut off by the bell. I guess tomorrow my group will probably go. In everyone's power point they all talked about how in each country the life expectancy for women is longer then men so that information was pretty much the same for everyone. One of the most interesting ones were probably about Nigeria and how its a developed country. I didn't know that. They had some interesting facts. We were supposed to have a test tomorrow but Mr. Schick postponed it until Monday so people can finish their presentations.

9/19/12

          Today we got put into groups to do our first class project. Parker, Olivia, and Eleanor are in my group. We have the best group ever. Our country we're doing is Brazil.

9/17/12

      Today was a class where we didn't need our computers. Only our notebooks. Mr.Schick had a power-point ready for us when we came in. I think this was the first "real" notes we've taken so far. We talked about net migration rate, immigration, crude birth rate and a few other things. The life expectancy of the US kind of surprised me. Honestly, I thought it would be more. If you were born in 2012 your life expectancy is to about 70 years. I thought this generation would be at least like a 90 year life expectancy with all the new technology that is improving throughout the years but I guess not. Mr. Schick said that we will probably be having a test either Thursday or Friday of this week.

9/14/12

Today in class we discussed our homework last night which was watching this "Did you know?" video and we had to pick two facts from it. It was like a whole class discussion today. I gave my fact about how India has more honors kids than America has kids and I said the reason is because America is stupid but that was obviously wrong. The right answer was that India just has more kids than us. We also talked about the future and what technology we will have. Mr. Schick said how different listening to music will be in the future and how one day they will probably have a microchip implanted in the brain in order to listen to music. It was pretty funny. Human geo is one of my favorite classes. Everyday our discussions are really fun and interesting.

9/14/12

Today in class my blog got deleted and so did most of the class. It was really frustrating. But anyway we continued discussing the 25 questions and we talked about gas prices and how in Norway gas is $9.69 a gallon. Then we talked about the death birth rate in Africa and we got into talking about birth control and Moh was cracking me up with her comments. Oh and Mr. Schick told us about how he worked on movies like home alone before he was a teacher. I thought that was pretty cool. We have to watch a video and write 2 interesting facts for homework from the video. One interesting fact is India has more honors kids than America has kids. That’s crazy and makes America look really stupid. The second fact is 1 out of 8 couples in the US last year met online. That is just creepy I think. 

Today in human geo we reviewed the twenty five questions we had to answer last night for homework from the CIA factbook website. It was really interesting to see how different some countries are compared to the US. In Zimbabwe only 95% of people have jobs. I think that's crazy but also so interesting to see that other places have it way worse than we do. Also Russia is the largest country by area but they don't have a lot of population because most places in Russia you cant live in. We said it was a "depressing class" because we talked a lot about nuclear bombs and how America is the only country to ever use a nuclear bomb which killed a lot of people. So today was a pretty interesting class period. I like to learn about how other countries are different than ours.

CIA Factbook Questions

What is the population of the United States? 313,847,465
What are the five largest countries in the world, by population? China, India, United States,Indonesia,Brazil
What is the population of Pakistan? 190,291,129
What kind of government does the United States have? Constitution- based federal republic
What is the unemployment rate in Zimbabwe? 95%
What is the largest country in the world by area? Russia
What country has the third greatest number of airports? Mexico
What country has the greatest number of exports? China
What country exports more oil than any other? Saudi Arabia
What country imports more oil than any other? United States
What country consumes more oil than any other? United States
Can women serve in combat roles in China’s military? yes
What is GDP? Gross Domestic Product
What country has the highest GDP per capita in the world, and how much is it? Liechtenstein, $141,100
Is the US in the top ten for GDP per capita? no
Most of the countries with the highest birth rates can be found in what continent? Africa
11 of the top 12 countries with the highest number of deaths from HIV/AIDS can be found in which continent? Africa
What other country is in the top ten? Asia
Where does the US rank in HIV/AIDS deaths? 18th
Is the US #1 in number of cellular phones? no its 3rd
What percentage of the US is Roman Catholic? 23.9%
What percentage of Mexico is Roman Catholic? 76.5%
What is Net Migration Rate? difference of immigrants and emigrants of an area in a period time
Does the US have the highest Net Migration Rate in the world? no its 26th
What is the current population of the entire planet? 6,973,738,433
The two most interesting questions to me are what percentage of the US is Roman Catholic and where does the US rank in HIV/AIDS deaths. The percentage of Roman Catholics is 23.9%. I thought there was more people who were Roman Catholic because it seems like most people I know are Catholic. I was surprised to see that the US was ranked 18th for HIV deaths because I wasn't aware there were that many people in our country who are affected by HIV in the US.

9/6/12

         Today in class we took notes on note taking. Mr. Schick read a paragraph about Illinois and while he was reading it we had to take notes. It talked about how Illinois is the most populated state in the Mid West and how most of the people live in the city of Chicago. Then Mr. Schick told us his story of how he was born and his parents couldn't find a hospital so they had to go to this hospital in a really sketchy neighborhood. Then he joked about how his story was like Jesus and he could be the "Messiah." It was really funny. Today I really enjoyed Human Geo.

9/5/12

        Today in Human Geo we learned how to post links on the corner of our blog. This helps us to access websites easier. Then we talked about which websites had accurate information for research papers. Most teachers don't like us using Wikipedia but, Mr. Schick said he loves that website but not for it to be our primary source of information. We looked at a few websites that were fake and had wrong information and then we looked at websites that weren't fake so we would know the difference between them.

Essay #3

        Over the next four years of my high school career I plan to take on excellence. In middle school I was a horrible procrastinator. I would be stressed and overwhelmed to try and get everything done in one night. I want to try and not do my homework or write my papers all at the last minute. I’m going to try and be more organized.  I want each paper, test, and all my notes to have its own place and not have everything all jumbled together. Studying for each subject every night is something I also want to start doing. To take 10 or 15 minutes for each subject and go over the notes we took that day because that will make me more prepared for class the next day and if there was a pop quiz I could be prepared. I’m not going to let the computer distract me during class or when I’m trying to do homework on it at home. And lastly I want to try and enjoy school the best I can and try and get good grades. So far all my classes keep my attention and I hope it can continue to be that way. I know if I try and follow all these things it will make me a lot more prepared and on top of things for my years at John Carroll. 

Essay #2

If Elbert Hubbard traveled into the present I think he would be disappointed in what he saw but I think Socrates would probably be pleased in what it’s like in the year 2012. Elbert Hubbard’s “A Message to Garcia” shows that years ago people were willing to work harder. If someone was asked to deliver a message to someone now they probably wouldn’t want to do it and would complain and ask questions unlike how Rowan did. He took the message right to Garcia without any complaints. It would be really hard to find someone that willing to do something like that in the present day. Socrates however would be pleased to see how much his method has changed what life is like today. Now people have opinions on everything and ask questions. His way of teaching is what has helped us progress over the generations. If they could travel to the present I think it would be very interesting to hear what they would have to say about our way of living. 

Essay #1

        Arête is a Greek term that is literally translated as “virtue.” It means being the best person you can be and living up to your fullest potential. It’s a word that is associated with bravery, fierceness, and skill. Socrates was an excellent hero in ancient Greek times. He demonstrated arête by showing his belief that the perfect human life should concentrate on self-development. He wanted a person to have their own opinions by using his method, question and answer, which is called the Socratic Method. He taught people a new way of learning which affected the way people lived their lives. The ancient Greeks showed arête by looking down on people who didn’t participate in their politics. They were the first people to have democracy as their government and they wanted everyone to not live their life in private but to be involved. Socrates and the ancient Greeks have changed what life is like today by demonstrating arête.

8/31/12

Yesterday afternoon in class we went over Thursday nights homework which was to define eight Greek terms. I thought the most interesting thing was Socrates's death. He was put on trial for his beliefs. He could have just apologized and said he was sorry and they would have let him go but Socrates stood up for his beliefs and refused to apologize. So they made him drink this poison that's called hemlock and that killed him. I think it was a very heroic act to stand up for something you believe in even if it meant life or death. After we discussed each word we had to define Mr. Schick gave us three essays that have to be posted on our blog before Tuesday. At fist when we talked about it in class I thought the assignment sounded kind of hard but now that i went over the directions again it seems like it shouldn't be too difficult.