Maddy's Western Civ 2018

In today's class, we were very unproductive in the beginning. We were all complaining about some crazy reason that I cannot recall right now. Then Faith got our class started on wanting to get water, and go to the bathroom. This discussion lasted for a long time. It involved me saying that I had to pee very badly and how I was going to pee my pants. Not actually though. Finally, after that discussion ended and halfway through Mr. Schick's lesson he finally let me go to the bathroom. I got up, and secretly took my Yeti with me, and went to the bathroom and refilled my water. When I came back into class I gave my water to Faith, to quench her thirst! After that happened, I could finally focus on what was happening. We began to talk about the recent hurricanes and how it affected specific areas and why. I learned that a hurricane gets all of its power from warm water, and when it hits a region of warm water, it just stays overtop gathering more and more energy and raining or flood

Today in class we had a discussion about sites, and how locations have culture and customs. To start off the class, the shadow students introduced themselves. I felt bad for them because Mr. Schick kept picking on them. Then out of nowhere, he tells us to clear off our desks! We look at each other and think that he is joking, but then he starts to pass out maps with numbers on them! I was disgusted by this because I am so bad at geography, especially without studying. Maybe 20 minutes after complaining and working, we all finished and thats when class actually began. We began to talk about how things are different all throughout the world. Then Mr. Schick gave us a really good example saying how he is from Oregon(I think) and how the thought of eating crabs is really weird. My first response to this was very defensive and then I realized that he was proving a valid point. I recognized that with different resources you have available, you are more custom to things in your daily life. An

In class today, Mr. Schick was on his TV Production Field Trip, and we were left to take notes on Sites and Situations. Below, is all the information that I gathered that I thought was important.  The second way geographers describe location is Site Site is the physical character of a place  Important site characteristics include: climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation  Site factors are essential in choosing locations for settlements We as humans are able to modify the characteristics of a site  People have their own preferences  The location of a place relative to other places is a Situation  Situation is a valuable way to indicate location - finding and unfamiliar place and understand its importance We use this to compare a location to a familiar one  We identify important places or monuments etc. to help us give directions Locations are important because they are accessible to other places (I got this information from Mr. Schick&#

Today in class we had a long discussion about our blogs. Mr. Schick kept critiquing all of our blogs so we could have them the best they could possibly be. He is telling us these key points because he wants to make sure we understand the content that he is teaching us and also, he is making sure that we are preparing our selves for upcoming tests by attaining the information that he taught us during class. He also said that he wants these blogs to be mostly on what happens in class, not just about personal things that happen in your daily life. Mr. Schick wants this because he said that we could possibly use our blogs for tests. So if we write about what happens in class, instead of our personal life it could be more useful and helpful in us getting a more successful grade. next, we went over the "Closer Look View"maps. We went over the answers from when we previously completed this assignment. I got all of the answers correct, even though some of them were debatable. Then, I

Today in class we watched a video about our fire drill. Mr. Schick sent us a link to a video and we all watched it for the first 10 minutes of class. We kept on playing it! Then he came around and checked everyone maps that we had to complete a couple days before. I felt like this took a long time too. Also, I felt like he kept getting side tracked, and same with the rest of the class. Then finally, we actually began class. We were talking about places and regions and the difference between the two. Then he gave us our test back. Whenever someone got an A he rang the bell and even when he didn't ring the bell, we all still clapped. I thought that was pretty cool. Then after we all got our tests back we went over the answers and reviewed any questions that we had. Then at last, the bell finally rang.

Today in class, we had a good time. When we walked in, it was finally cold. At first, I thought it was way too cold, but really it was a nice temperature. We named the new air conditioner Faith! Then we started class and we began to copy down notes. Within ten minutes, many people had to leave because it was game day! After they left, we began to draw our own mental maps of the world and our route to school in the middle. I am so bad at geography so I only know the basic things that you learn at a young age. So, when Mr. Schick looks at my map it is going to be very basic! Then I drew my route to school. Begin I live so close, it was simple for me and I finished very fast. Then we looked up where everyone lived!

Today in class Mr. Schick asked us if it was okay if he graded tests, and got himself out of the hole he was in. He said that he had a lot of grading to do and not enough of time. He was 'mobbed' with papers. So, he gave us a free period to do our homework and get work done. This was also really helpful to him, because he still had 60 essays to grade. He said we could go and get all the work that we needed to do. Kelsie and I ran to Mrs. Pliess' room and got a math book to work on our homework that we had in that class. Then I went to Kelsie's locker with her to get her calculator charger because mine was dead. After the quick stop at Kelsie's locker, then mine we returned to the room. We started off focused and getting our work done. Then Kelsie took my computer and started to 'study' the Our Father in Spanish. We both already finished math and nothing else left to do. That's when we started using the photo booth and taking pictures of ourselves! What e

Today in class we discussed the difference of maps and how maps don't really show what earth actually looks like. Mr. Schick has two different types of maps in his room. One of the maps is a Peters World map. This map is more recent and is actually more accurate. The other kind of map that Mr. Schick has in his room is a Mercator map. Both of these maps however, distort what the world actually looks like. The Mercator map, is the older of these two maps. This map has its proportions all wrong. The size of Greenland is the same as Africa on this map! This is definitely not correct! This is why the Peters map was created. It better shows the world but everything is still not correct. By the larger size of continents and countries it made them seem like they had more importance, which is incorrect. These maps still don't perfectly show the world but over the years have gotten much better.

Today in Honors Human Geography, we started our new unit. The new unit is called 'Thinking Geographically.' There are four key questions for this unit. The first one is 'How do geographers describe where things are?' The second one is, 'Why is each point on earth unique?' The third question is, 'Why are different places similar?' And, the final question is, 'Why are some actions unsustainable?' We discussed these questions, and some of us were partially able to answer or understand them. We also went through the introduction to the section we are studying. My main takeaway from it is that regions can be studied as they relate to space, place and location. With the studying of regions we are able to give common characteristics so they can be easily grouped. Next, we went into further detail, and talked about formal regions. This is an area with a high level of consistency in a certain physical or cultural attribute. After taking many notes, we wor

Today, I came into Honors Human Geography late because I had a dentist appointment. We were taking the test. I started late, so consequently, I didn't finish. There were many questions on the test, which were many points. There were fifteen questions that were worth four points and four questions, that were short answers, which were worth ten points. There were questions like, what crimes did Socrates commit, what idiot meant if you were called it by the ancient Greeks and what was the significance of 508 BC? These were some of the easier questions to me. When we had to write the short answers, I didn’t exactly write ‘short.’ I put a lot of time and effort into these answers. Being it took me so long to compose these, I did not finish the test. However, I only have one more question to do, and I am finishing it in advisory tomorrow.

Today's date is September 11, 2017. Sixteen years ago a great tragedy occurred. In class we talked about 911 and the details of what happened. Mr. Schick was talking about how he was in the exact same room sixteen years ago. The whole school was headed to the upper gym for mass, and all the teachers were talking about how a plane had hit the World Trade Center. In his mind, he thought it was a little plane tat lost control and didn't do very much damage. Then, when the whole school got the upper gym the principal went up on the stage and said that two different jets hit both of the the twin towers. As Mr. Schick explained there was dead silence, and you could have heard a pin drop. The principal didn't know what to do. He was clueless. He dismissed everyone from the mass and they could either watch the damage and news on the televisions or they could do their regular studies. It was up to the teachers and the students. Mr. Schick said that one kid asked him if this was the

Today in class we continued our discussion about excellence, and went into greater detail with the topic of Socrates. In the beginning of the class, we had a debate about North Korea, and what we should do about them threatening us. We had approximately a fifteen minute discussion about this and Mr. Schick was moderating the conversation. Not until the discussion came to a close that the class and I recognized that he was using the Socratic Method. This method is a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions. This, especially for me was a really good example of the use of this method because it showed me how often it is actually used and a situation were it could be used in. After that discussion came to a close, we started to go through the powerpoint again, which had many facts on Socrates and an example of synergy. Democracy and excellence worked perfectly together! Next, we learned about Socrates as a teacher. He was very

Today in class, we defined terms and found out the significance to them. Our first word was agora. It means: a public space used for assemblies and markets. It is also the center of athletic, artistic, spiritual, and political life in this city state. The next word that we had to define was polis. Polis means a city state in ancient Greece, especially considered in its ideal form for philosophical purposes. This is also known as a poll, or metropolitan.  Next, we had to research the importance of 508 BC and what significance it had on the greeks. This is when Democracy was introduced by Ciesisthenes. He established a constitution called "Father of Athenian Democracy." This was one of the greatest accomplishments of Greek culture. Also this is when people for the first time ever revolted against their ruler. We then research Socrates, and found out that he was a greek philosopher and was considered a father of eastern philosophy. As a young man he was a stonemason, and fought

Today during class, we went over the real meaning of "A Message to Garcia." This piece of text was published as an inspirational essay in March of 1899. This specific piece of text was reprinted as a pamphlet and a book due to its popularity. It sold over forty million copies and it was translated into thirty-seven different languages. Also, this short story was made into two movies. One which was created in 1916 and another in 1936. This text was so popular that it had a slang expression, "take a message to Garcia" which meant get-it done and take the initiative. The backstory to this short story is very interesting. This took place in a Spanish-American war. Garcia, was a revolutionary who was seeking independence from Spain. Rowan was an army officer who graduated West Point in 1881. McKinley, who was the 25th president of the United States of America who was assassinated in his sixth month of his second term by an anarchist. The main message from "A Message