December 12th

Today in class we went over all of our previous tests. We discussed every answer. Mr. Schick told our whole class that we could redo our test if we got less than a 70. I think I'm going to redo my first test. The one i'm going to redo I didn't do good at all on that.

December 10th

Today in human geo, we had a test. The test was very difficult because you had to know the answers to the questions on the movie, "Slumdog Millionaire". I don't know how I did, but it was hard.

December 9th

Today Mr. Schick was not here. When he left, I made flashcards for the test tomorrow on all the religions.  I think tomorrows test is going to be really difficult.

December 8th

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 (ninth)

call them: Jews

Geographic location: Israel

founder: Abraham

holy book: Talmud, Torah (first five books of the Old testament)

beliefs: ethical monotheism- God is one, and concerned with the actions of humankind, Ten commandments, 13 Principles of Faith

December 5th

Again, we took notes.

Examples of Spatial Divisions

• Political Alliances
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
• Commonwealth of Nations
• Organization Of American States (OAS)

Five Major Religions

• Christianity- 2.2 billion (largest in the world)
• geographic location: Europe, the Americans, Southern Africa
• Denominations: Catholic Church, Easter Orthodox Church, Protestants
• founder of Christianity was Jesus Christ
• holy book: Bible especially New Testaments
• clergy: the Pope is head of the church, priests are local authorities

• Islam- 1.5 billion (second largest)
• call them: Muslims
• geographic location: Indonesia, Middle East, North Africa
• denominations: Sunnis, Shiites
• founder: Muhammad
• holy book: Qur'an
• beliefs: monotheistic, Abrahamic, Five Pillars
• Muslims see their purpose in life as serving and submitting to Allah (God) and observing Islamic Law

• Hinduism- 1.1 billions (third largest)
• call them: Hindus
• geographic location: India, Nepal
• holy book: The Vedas
• founder: no distinct founder

• Buddhism: 500 million to 1.5 billion (estimates vary quite a bit)
• call them: Buddhists
• geographic location: Southeast Asia, China, Nepal, Japan (there are 1.2 billion in the US)
• founder: Siddhartha Gautama
• denominations: Tibetan, Zen, Theravada, Amidist

Tuesday

Today we took notes.

Examples of cultural characteristics

• Religion can be both a unifying force
• there are five major religions in the world today- Hindusim, Buddism, 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 and Pakistan
• 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 are how we divide the livable space found on the earth by establishing social, economic, and political control
• you can be the member of more than one spatial group
• spatial divisions can also cause conflicts or cooperation
• Examples of Spatial Divisions
• -Countries
• -Economic Alliances
• European Union
• Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

December 2nd

Today we watched a PowerPoint. The PowerPoint was about the topic "Cultural Geography". Cultural characteristics are parts of a group's everyday life. They are the ideas and themes which the group will teach to all members. These same characteristics can also link or divide a region. Examples of cultural characteristics would be language, religion, and ethnic heritage.
Examples of Cultural characteristics:

• Arabic unties 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.
• Switzerland had 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.
• 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 are dominant in the other.
• The Hutus are dominant in one and they persecute the Tutsis, and the Tutsis are dominant in the other
• and they persecute the Hutus. It has led to almost constant war between the groups.
• the United States and Switzerland have peacefully merged multiple ethnic groups in their countries.
• Korea, Japan, and China have primarily one ethnic group.
• on the island of Cyprus the Greeks and the Turks try to gain control.

December 1st

Today in class we watched Slumdog Millionaire. We finished the movie last class, but some people were not here last class. It shocked me that Latika and Jamal ended up together at the end.

Today in class all we did was watch the movie.

11/24/14

In class today all we did was watch the movie. We didn't finish the movie, but it was very interesting when Mr. Schick paused it because we had to leave.

Nov 21st

There are a lot of differences between United States and Mumbai.
India is a very big country but yet there is barely any space for families. The families houses are so tiny, and they also sleeping on blankets. I couldn't imagine living in a life like that. United States has a lot more space and we also have a lot of mattresses so you could sleep very comfortable. Another ting that I witnessed in the movie was everyone trades. In the movie the boy took his friends autograph and traded it from money. Yes, we trade in the United States but not as much as India does. The kids in the movie barely ever see their parents. They were basically off by themselves the whole entire movie. In United States us kids always are with their parents. India is a very dirty country. Their is trash everywhere. I would be terrified to live in India because at any moment people could come in and invade the country.

Extra Credit

Song:

I'm Proud to be an American: by Pat Boone, This song represents a pull force. The guy singing is telling everyone about how he loves America and everything about it.

Home: by Phillip Phillips, This song represents a push force. The song is about moving away to a new home. He is saying that "I'm gonna make this place your home."

Leaving California: by Maroon 5, This song is clearly about leaving California. The song is representing a push force.

Stay: by Florida Georgia Line, This song represents a pull force.

I Love America: This song is clearly about loving America and Is a pull  force.

National Anthem: by Lana Del Rey, song is a pull force.

November 19th

Today I was not in class. I was sick. I worked on finishing my Russia National Anthem project, and worked on my Spotify push and pull forces songs.

Russian National Anthem

Lyrics in Russian:

Rossia - sviashennaia nasha derzhava,
Rossia - lubimaia nasha strana!
Moguchaia volia, velikaia slava -
Tvoio dostoianie na vse vremena!

CHORUS:
Slavsia, Otechestvo nashe svobodnoe,
Bratskikh narodov soiuz vekovoi,
Predkami dannaia mudrost' narodnaia!
Slavsia, strana! My gordimsia toboi!

Ot yuzhykh morei do poliarnogo kraia
Raskinulis nashi lesa i polia.
Odna ty na svete! Odna ty takaia -
Khranimaia Bogom rodnaia zemlia!

CHORUS

Shirokii prostor dlia mechty i dlia zhizni
Griadushie nam otkryvaiut goda.
Nam silu daiot nasha vernost otchizne.
Tak bylo, tak est' i tak budet vsegda!

CHORUS


Lyrics in English:

Russia — our sacred state,
Russia — our beloved country.
Mighty will-power, great glory
Shall remain your honors for all time!
REFRAIN:
Praise our free Fatherland,
Long-lasting union of brotherly peoples,
Ancestor-given wisdom of the people!
Long live, Country! We are proud of you! From the southern seas to the polar realm
Our forests and fields stretch.
You are one in the world! You are alone like that,
God-guarded native land! REFRAIN Plenty of room for dreams and for life
The coming years are promising us.
Allegiance to our Motherland gives us strength.
So it had been, so it is, and so it always will be! REFRAIN 

Russia's national anthem is very interesting. It sounds like its an opera band singing it. The song is very loud and has a good tune/ beat to it.

The lyrics are well written, meaning they make sense in English, but of course the words in Russian don't sound normal to me.

The tone of the song is "military". The song symbolizes that the Russian's are very proud of their country.

Nov 17

Today in class we got our test back. I did not do well. I am hoping Kacey and I did good on our Russia project and the project could make my grade better. Also Mr. Schick talked about his team winning The Academic Team competition. He asked us some questions about what they talk about at the competition.

Nov 14th

Today we had a test. The test was on everything we learned about the Presidents. It was sort of hard. Mr. Schick had us write an essay on how it is wrong to assassinate the president, which we discussed that in class so it was not a hard essay.

Nov 12th

In class today Kacey and I shared our Russia project. It was going good until I realized I put pictures from the US government. Which Mr. Schick was making fun of me. On Friday we have a test on all of the countries. I have a feeling the test is going to be difficult.

November 11

Today in class Mr. Schick wasn't here.

Mr. Gibbons was our  substitute. Gabby, Delaney, Ella and I worked on our notes and reviewed the slide show. We have a test tomorrow which I need to get a good grade on. I am going to be studying a lot tonight.

Nov 10th

presenting projects:

Syria:

• type of government- republic under an authoritarian regime
• President- Bashar al-Assad
• Syria have had republic under an authoritarian regime since 1941

Germany:

• type of government: federal republic
• the German government has been in place since October 3rd, 1990
• President: Joachim Gauck, since March 23rd 2012
• he is also a pastor over a Protestant Church
• Chancellor: Angela Merkel, since November 22nd 2000
• Bundestag is like the congress is in the US but the Bundestag has a lot more power
• Angela Merkel was named the "Most Powerful Woman in the World" by Forbes Magazine
• the offices in Germany are elected by the Bundestag
• disabled people who are in foster care are not aloud to vote

United Kingdom:

• type of government- Constitutional Monarchy
• a constitutional monarchy is when a king or queen acts as head of state
• they also have a commonwealth realm
• a commonwealth realm is a sovereign state that's a member of the commonwealth of nations
• the constitutional monarchy has been around since 1066 and developed over several centuries
• the commonwealth realm has 54 members with one of them suspended
• the prime minister of the United Kingdom has no term limit
• elections take place every 4 years, with the maximum of 5 years
• Prime Minister- David Cameron
• he became the prime minister June 2nd 2010
• he is the leader of the conservative party
• he is the youngest prime minister since 1812

United States:

• President- Barack Obama
• America has a constitution based federal republic
• Obama will only be allowed to be in power for two years and cannot run for re-election
• first African American president

Nov 7th, still presenting

China:

• communist state
• a communist state is a system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and every so often the authoritarian party holds power
• government choose prices of cars and big items
• Xi Jinping: been in office for 2 years, originally Presidents in China serve 10 years
• Xi Jinping: got a total of 2,937 votes. four delegates voted against him, four abstained, and 38 did not vote

Canada:

• have a parliamentary government
• have been a parliamentary government since 1867
• political parties and leaders:  conservative party- Stephen Harper
• Green party- Elizabeth May
• Liberal Party- Justin Trudeau
• New Democratic Party- Thomas Mulcair
• the prime minister is the leader of the government
• anyone that is over the age of 18 can be Prime Minister
• Leaders have no term limits
• Holds election every 4 years

Japan:

• Japan has a parliamentary system, a constitutional monarchy, and is a unitary state
• Shinzo Abe is the prime minister.
• the Emperor is named Akihito
• Finished on of his terms in 2007 and was re- elected in 2012

Nov 5th, Presenting Slideshows

France: 

• French government
• they have a Republican Government
• government was made in 1958
• President- Francois Hollande  Prime Minister- Manual Valls
• became president on May 15th 2012
• shares executive power with the prime minister
• part of socialist party
• the word Republic means "public thing" in Latin
• government has lasted for 56 years
• the UMP is the second most powerful political party in France
• Francis Hollande is likely to run for president once again for his second and last term.

China:

• communist state
• a communist state is a system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and every so often the authoritarian party holds power
• government choose prices of cars and big items

Nov 4th

Class today instead of sharing our projects we went to look at the presentations set up in the hallway. The presentations were about smoking, cancer, and some information was about Mr. Maynard. The most interest presentation was the smoking one. They had these lungs (were not actually human lungs, but they were pig lungs.) One was a black and in horrible condition which was the smokers lung. The healthy lung was pink and in a very great condition. This presentation made me think about everyone that I know that smokes that we need to find a way to get them to stop smoking because they could get cancer or even their lungs could fail. Smoking is a very bad habit that someone needs to find a cure to stop making smoking so addict able.

October 29th

Today in class we once again worked on our powerpoints. We were basically done our projects but we added pictures to what went with the information on the slides.

October 28th

Today in human geo we still worked on our powerpoints. Kacey and I found more information about Russia and included that in our slides. We found mostly facts about the Population and more facts about the President.

October 27th

Today in class we got with our partner to research facts about our country we chose. Kacey and I chose Russia. Russia is a very easy country so it was very hard to make up slides about all the facts because we only had like 3 slides in the beginning.

Class

Today in class we went over our tests. Like I said in my last blog I got a 80%. Mr. Schick asked the class if we were ready to share our power points and no one raised their hands saying they were ready, So Mr. Schick gave us class and tonight to finish and be able to share tomorrow. My partner is Kacey and we picked Russia. Russia is actually not the easiest state to research.

Blog

Today we had a pop quiz. I actually thought I did really bad. Mr. Schick left the room and went to grade the quiz. I got a 80%, which I thought was really good compared to what I thought I got.

Wednesday

Today in class we went over facts about the leaders of the countries. Our class had to go on a quest and find some of the information Mr. Schick wanted us to know. Our next class will be on Friday.

Oct 21st

Today in class we went over our project and homework from the night before. We talked about the presidents of each country we were assigned to research. There was very many interesting facts about some of the presidents. Like one of the presidents had a black belt in Judo, one president had many affairs, and one was 91 years old.

Project

Mexico

Enrique Pena Nieto: President

Federal Representative Republic

 -he cheated on his wife

 

 India

Pranab Mukherjee: President
Federal Representive Republic

 -

China

Xi Jinping: President
Communist State
-He wanted China to have a dream.
-Wife was a folk singer
-He was the son of founding members
of the Communist Members in China

 

 

 

Russia

Vladimir Putin: President

Federal Representive Republic

-earned a black belt in Judo









Germany
Joachim Gauck: President

Federal Representive Republic

 -Both of his parents were apart of the Nazi party

 

 

United Kingdom

David Cameron:

Prime Minister

 Constitutional Monarchy and Commonwealth Realm
 - youngest prime minister since 1812

 

 

 

France

Francis Hollande: President

Republican

 -He was raised Catholic and then changed to
athesist

 

 

 

Brazil

Dilma Rousseff: President

Federal Representive Republic

 - was in jail for political crimes

 

Syria

Bashar Al-Assad: President

Republic under an Authoritarian Regime

 -Speaks fluid English and some french

 

 

 

 

Canada

Stephen Harper: Prime Minister

a parliamentary democracy, a federation, and a constitutional monarchy

 - was enrolled into university of Toronto and then dropped out

 -

Japan

Shinzo Abe: Prime Minister
A parliamentary government with a constitutional monarchy

 

 - 91 years old

Israel

Reuven Rivlin: Prime Minister

Parliamentary Democracy

 -received a degree at Hebrew University of Jerusalam
-

 

 

 

Today in class some students still had to take the human geo test. Mr. Schick told us that if we had any other homework we could work on that. I worked on my math and English.

test day

In class today we had a test. The first part of the test was about finding clues on the CIA world fact book. We had 10 minutes to complete this part of the test. The second part of the test was questions about the vocab. It wasn't that hard but some questions were kind of tricky. The third part of the test was a little hard. It was a population chart but it did not tell you what countries they were so we had to identify the charts country.

Class

for the test we need to know:

life expectancy

crude birth rate: total births per thousand

crude death rate: total deaths per thousand 

developing nations 

developed nations 

rate of nature increase

net migration rate 

immigration: coming into the country

emigration: leaving the country

push forces: something that forces you to leave a country 

pull forces: something that make you want to go to a country

total fertility rate 

We need to make sure we study the CIA world fact book for the test also.

Spotify

Today in class, Mr. Schick told us about this "Spotify group" he is in. He had codes for us to use so we could have a free premium account to access Spotify. Mr. Schick assigned us a project to find songs that have to do with moving around like migration. He said it could be any kind of music. I think this is going to be a hard project, because not really songs in our present time are not about migration. It is going to be hard because we are all going to have to find an old fashioned song.

Class Oct 6th

Class today was about "Why is the United States the greatest country?".  Today in class we looked for information in the CIA fact book to prove that the United States was the best country. There were some things that were negative and some things that were positive to answer that question. We are very high ranked in transportation. We are also very high ranked in communication and technology. The United States has very bad health though. We have very many people who have diseases and many people that are overweight. I think that if we changed up what we eat and learn how to become clean we could possibly be the best country.

Today in class we watched this video on three news people . The video was about America, questions about America. One of the audience members asked the news cast "Why is America the best country?" The woman and the other man answered in a positive way. The other man didn't answer. He saw this lady in the audience holding a sign up saying, "its not." The man said, "Its not." in front of the whole audience. He started ranting on why America isn't the best country. I agreed with him, its not.

class today

Today in class we reviewed the video again, and we finished the whole thing. We talked about the population rates in all the different countries. The United States population should be higher with all the immigrants we have in our country. We also talked about how the families in China usually only one child in there family. The one child is usually a boy. If the child is not a boy the mother chooses abortion.

9/30/14

Today in class we reviewed the video we watched in class on Monday, when Mr. Schick wasn't here. We talked about the video and how the populations in every country are different. It depends on the country if the population is big or small. It also matters about the population according to the country because the gender, like in some countries it is more easier for men to die out before women do. The three stages some countries are going through are pre- industrialization, industrialization, and post- industrialization. Tomorrow we will review the video.

Class today

Today in class we were in a different room. Mr. Schick was not here. Mrs. Smith was out substitute, she told us to look on our blog and see what Mr. Schick planned on what to learn in class today. There was a video on his blog about population. The video told us about everyone around the worlds population. It also talked about birth rates, death rates, life expectancy, and child morality. The video was very interesting because it is cool to learn about the population rates all around the world, and cool to see how many people are on this earth.

Today

Today a lot of students were not in class, they were on their freshman retreat. Today in class we received our test back and went over our tests. The essays on the tests were difficult. Now I know that I need to put a lot more information in my blog and what exactly I write in my notes in my blog.

test was today

Today in class we had a test. The test was not that hard because Mr. Schick let us use our notes. I was confused on a couple questions, so that proves I need to write better blogs on what we learned in class. The test was about Socrates, The message to Garcia, and the video that we watched in class. So this proves that whoever thinks they didn't have all the correct answers in their blog needs to write better blogs in class  and more meticulous about the details that are said in class.

Class

Today Mr. Schick was not there so we had a substitute. We got into a group and discussed what we need to know for our test. We made flashcards on some of the questions and vocabulary.
questions;
What does globalization result in?

the expansion of international, cultural, economical, and political activities.

who wrote the message to Garcia?

Albert Hubbard

what  war was the message to Garcia during? 

Spanish American War

What was the message?

to do what you were told without any complaints 

What does arête mean?

excellence of any kind 

Who is Socrates?

a philosopher who was sentenced to death because of false teachings

What does agora mean? 

a central spot in the ancient Greek citystates

Who will become the number one speaking country?

China

When was the first text message sent out?

1992

 

globalization: the connection of the different parts of the world

What are the positive and negative side to globalization- positive: technology
negative: air pollution

class

Today in class we discussed about what we have learned in the past few weeks. Last week Mr. Schick told us that we will be having a test on Wednesday so we discussed the test today. He told us about if we know what's going to be on the test, what questions we should add to the test, and what the essay was going to say. Mr. Schick will not be in class tomorrow so we will have time to go independently over the notes.

Class Today

In class today we discussed what the video talked about. We talked about raising minimum wage, couples meeting online, and how china's second language will be English. Raising minimum wage would really help the economy. The couples meeting online is not very rare anymore, many couples are getting in touch and learning about each other from all these websites. Many people fake their identity, which is a big problem for talking online. It is very cool to me that china's second language is going to be English, I think it would be very cool if Americans learned Chinese for their second language.

Our fast moving world

Today in class we watched a video about all around the world. My initial reaction to the video was actually very shocking. I was very shocked about the one that said "1 in four workers have been with their current employers for less then a year", because my parents have both been working for their jobs for more then ten years. Most people in this present day find a job, then decide to wuit because it is not what they have interest in.This changes my personal life because in about a year or so I need to find a stable job, and then go to college and find the right job for me and stick with it. Technology plays a big factor in my life. It basically helps me with a lot of things including, homework, social networks, looking up information about sports, and getting in touch with your friends.

class today

When we first walked in class today we switched seats. Then we went over all of the definitions we had to do. We all had to make a few changes. Mr. Schick told us to make the corrections in our notebooks and then tonight for homework edit your blog. We talked about some greeks philosophers and what they did, also we talked a little about Garcia again

section 4 definitions

• agora- a gathering place; the center of artistic and athletic spiritual political life in the city
• arete-  the act of living up to ones full potential, excellence, moral virtue 
• polis- central urban area, body of citizens
• 508 BC- this was the year of birth of democracy

• Socrates- was a classical Greek philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western Philosopher 

Merriam Dictionary

• The death of Socrates- a 1787 oil on canvas painting by the French painter Jacques-louis David
• The Socratic Method- a form of inquiry and discussion between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas
• what the ancient Greeks meant if they called you an idiot- person lacking professional skill a private citizen

Class

Today in class we went over the “Message to Garcia” and learned that we need to get our work done without complaining. And that we can be successful. Everyone is town wanted a copy of this story. They sold 80 million copies of the story. We also talked about the author, Elbert Hubbard. He died in 1915 on a ship called, RMS Lusitania. We also talked about the voting age. Not everyone 18+ votes. In this day in age we need everyone 18+ to vote. People just decide not to vote, which is a bad decision. Like Mr. Schick said they should create an app to vote. I agree. They should, the population for voting would go up by a lot. It doesn’t take much effort to take out your phone and vote.

Today

Today I was not in class. I had to leave early for an away soccer game. The soccer game was at St. Pauls. We did really good today and worked well as a team. The score was 5-1 us. We were all very happy about winning.

Class Today

Completing your homework: Every night you need to complete your homework. You need to make sure you follow the directions and make sure you complete the whole assignment and not just complete some answers.

Being Organized:  Throughout the year my goal is to be organized. In order to get good grades you have to be organized. Like you have to know what to bring home for homework and have the right books.

Studying: For every test you have you need to study. The teachers usually give you weeks notice, so you need to make sure you're studying every night on the things you need to know.

Focusing: To get good grades you have to always be focused. Focusing is very important in school , if you don't focus you will loose concentration on whatever your doing and cause you to not do well on homework\tests.

Being Social: In school it is a great to be social but to be a good student too. To have a good four years in high school you have to have friends.

What we learned in class today

Today in class Mr. Schick explained to every student how to blog. He helped the students make sure they completely understood how to blog. We also went over where Mr. Schick’s classroom is, where to find him at certain times, and what times we can meet up with him throughout the day. In class we also went over everything that we are learning this school year. The class found out what we need to bring to every class and what we don’t have to bring. We also found out the rules, like we can’t do extra credit to earn more points to raise our grade, and we need to be to class on time. Mr. Schick also explained the blog points, like when we need to complete our blogs by and how many points the blog counts for depending on how long the blog is.

First Day of High School

The first day of high school was great. Everyone was very welcoming and people were very relaxed, probably from their summer vacation. I like how we have free/off mods, so we can either do homework, socialize, or eat lunch. The classes were actually quite easy to find. If you didn’t know where to go you could always ask a teacher or a student and they were willing to help you find the class. The teachers were also very generous. They taught us the rules and policies on homework and classwork. The difference between John Carroll and my middle school is John Carroll has so much more space than St. Stephens did. Also my old school didn’t have a cafeteria so it is very different. I have a feeling this year is going to be lots of fun and challenging. The classes might be a little difficult but everyone should try their best. John Carroll Staff was very good about welcoming the new students. These next four years are going to be fantastic.