Last Class of 2014

Today was the last class before exams and of 2014.  Karson brought in cookies.  They were amazing! Mr. Schick brought in pound cake.  That was really good too.   We were all on a little sugar high and we were all crazy.  We reviewed another test that we got the other day.  I answered a lot because, unlike the test we reviewed yesterday, I got a lot more right.  I was really excited.

While we were reviewing for the test, Mr. Schick was trying to come up with nicknames for everyone (except for me.  I don't know why).  He mad the nickname Rosie for Rosemary, which is my dog's name.  I said that Rosie was my dog's name, and he started treating everyone like dogs (except for me.  Still don't know why).

Toward the end of class, I mentioned that my test grade brought me down 16 points (I did the math wrong though.  It was actually 12), and he remembered the remake.  He said that if you got below a 70, you can retake the test, and he'll give you a seventy.  Better than a 42.

Test Review

Today we got two tests back and reviewed them for the exam.  I got a lot wrong, so I had to pay attention a lot.  On the first test, I only got 14 right out of 33.  One of the questions I got right, so I asked if I could do it.  Mr. Schick let me, and when the person who was supposed to go asked why it wasn't his turn, Mr. Schick said I needed self esteem.
On the second test, I didn't do as bad, but I still got a bad score.  At least I past the second quiz.  (I got a 73%.)
I'm really happy that we reviewed, and I hope I do well on the exam.  It's kind of important.  Its 20% of our grade.

Test

We had a test today.  Some of it was a little hard for me because I wasn't here when we went over some of it.  The rest of it wasn't very hard.  I might have gotten Buddhism and Hinduism mixed up on one part of the test.  Most of the questions were pretty easy.   The easiest part was the Slumdog Millionaire questions.  I'm pretty sure I got all of those right.  I tried my best on this test, and I hope I did well on it.  Right now I have an 84 in this class, so I hope this test brings my grade up.

Our average was a 75.  I got a 42.  This is not going to turn out well.

Test Review

Today in class, we reviewed for the test for tomorrow.

        = on test

• Buddhism
• Name of adherents: 500 million to 1.5 billion (estimates vary quite a bit)
• Call them: Buddhists
• Geographical Location: southeast Asia, China, Nepal, Japan (there are 1.2 million Buddhists in the United States)
• Denominations: Tibetan, Zen, Theravada, Amidist
• Founder: Siddhartha Gautama
• Four Noble Truths: (only know which religion these belong too)
• 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 (the first five books of the Old Testament)
• Genesis
• Exodus
• Leviticus
• Numbers
• Deuteronomy
• Beliefs:
• ethical monotheism - God is one, and concerned with the actions of humankind
• Ten Commandments
• 13 Principles of Faith

Religions

Today in class, we looked at a PowerPoint about religion:

• Political Alliances
1. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
2. Commonwealth of Nations
3. Organization of American States (OAS)

• Christianity
• Number of adherents: around 2.2 billion
• Call them: Christians
• Geographic Location: Europe, the Americas, southern Africa
• Denominations: Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Protestants (Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Anglicans, Presbyterian, Episcopalians, etc.)
• Founder: Jesus Christ (it's Abrahamic in origin)
• Holy book: The Bible, especially the New Testament
• Beliefs: Jesus is both human and divine - the Son of God; he led a virtuous life; he was crucified, died, buried, and resurrected; he ascended into heaven where he reigns with God the Father
• Clergy: the Pope is head of the Church, priests are local authorities
• Islam
• Number of adherents: 1.5 billion (second largest)
• Call them: Muslims
• Geographic location: Indonesia, Middle East, north Africa
• Denominations: Sunnis (75-90%), 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)
• Call them: Hindus
• Geographic location: India, Nepal
• Holy book: the Vedas - eternal truths revealed to ancient sages; composed in verse form (meant to be sung and easily memorized)
• Founder:  no distinct founder - it is a series of intellectual or philosophical points of view, rather than a rigid, strict set of beliefs - probably the oldest religion, although Hinduism is less a religion than a way of life, or a faith.
• Example: "As a person puts on new clothes and discards old and torn clothes, similarly an embodied soul enters new material bodies, leaving the old bodies"
• In other words… reincarnation

Blog for December 4

Today in class we looked at the PowerPoint a little more and we took more notes about religion and spatial divisions.

• Jews, Christians, and Muslims all claim Jerusalem as their religious 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 a member of more than one spatial group.
• Spatial divisions can also cause conflicts or cooperation.
• Spatial Divisions Examples:
• Countries
• Economic Alliance
1. European Union (EU)
2. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

After that, we reviewed about Slumdog Millionaire, because a few things that are going to be on the quiz is from the movie Slumdog Millionaire.  Mr. Schick wrote a rap about it.  It was great.  Can you put that on your blog too, if you haven't already?

Blog for December 3

I forgot to blog yesterday, so I'm going to blog now.  

Yesterday in class, we took a few notes about Cultural Geography, mostly about religion.

• 5 types of Religion:
1. Buddhism
2. Judaism
3. Christianity
4. Islam
5. Hinduism
• Religion can also be dividing forces around the world
• Hindus and Muslims fight in India
• There are conflicts between Catholics and Protestants )two forms of Christianity) in Northern Ireland

Unfortunately for me, since I was sick, I didn't see half of the PowerPoint.  If you see this, Mr. Schick, can you put the PowerPoint on your blog if you don't already have it?

While we were talking about the PowerPoint, Mr. Schick had a very big conversation about religion.  He told us that fifteen years ago, her would've considered himself a Buddhist.  He got really into Buddhism.

Blog for December 2

I was absent on December 1, but I didn't know I had to blog.  I was absent because I was sick.  Every time I stood up, I had a huge headache and I almost passed out.  I also threw up about five times.  It was not a very good few days.  I'm better now, though, so you don't have to worry about me.

Spotify Extra Credit

I have 10 songs for the Spotify Extra Credit Project.  (Some are explicit.)

• Freedom of Preach (explicit) - Ludacris ft. Bishop Eddie Lee Long: pull force (religious freedom) 
• Imagine - Lohn Lennon: pull force (freedom)
• Let Me Believe - Shaun Canon: pull force (religious freedom)
• I Hate My Job (explicit) - Cam'Ron: push force (job labor)
• One - Metallica: push force (war)
• Chain Gang - Sam Cooke: push force (slavery)
• 9 to 5 - Dolly Parton: push force (job labor)
• Proud Mary - Ike &Tina Turner: push force (jab labor)
• Oceans - Jay Z ft. Frank Ocean: push force (slavery)
• The Freedom Song - Jason Mraz: pull force (freedom)

United Kingdom National Anthem

Click here to listen to the United Kingdom's National Anthem "God Save the Queen."


Lyrics:
God save our gracious Queen
Long live our noble Queen
God save the Queen
Send her victorious
Happy and glorious
Long to reign over us
God save the Queen

O Lord our God arise
Scatter her enemies
And make them fall
Confound their politics
Frustrate their knavish tricks
On Thee our hopes we fix
God save us all

Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour
Long may she reign
May she defend our laws
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice
God save the Queen

Not in this land alone
But be God's mercies known
From shore to shore
Lord make the nations see
That men should brothers be
And form one family
The wide world over

From every latent foe
From the assassins blow
God save the Queen
O'er her thine arm extend
For Britain's sake defend
Our mother, prince, and friend
God save the Queen

Lord grant that Marshal Wade
May by thy mighty aid
Victory bring
May he sedition hush
And like a torrent rush
Rebellious Scots to crush
God save the King


Description:
 The United Kingdom's National Anthem "God Save the Queen" sounds very similar to the United State's National Anthem "The Star Spangled Banner."  It has a very similar beat and they are both patriotic to the countries.  There are obviously very different lyrics.  "God Save the Queen" is a slower version, in my opinion, to "The Star Spangled Banner."

*I was having trouble putting the video on the blog itself, so I had to put the link on the blog.

Slumdog Millionaire

Today in Human Geography, we started watching the movie Slumdog Millionaire.   I remember seeing five minutes of that movie before this class, but I didn't know what it was about until today.   It's actually not a bad movie. It's basically about a teenage boy named Jamal Malik who went on the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."  After winning twenty million dollars on the show, people think that he cheated. The police in India are very corrupt. They hook him up to electricity to try to get him to talk. While they are asking him questions, there are flashbacks to the game show. While the host is asking questions, there are also flashbacks to his tough childhood, and that's how he knew all the answers. We're watching more of it tomorrow. 

Spotify Project

Today Mr. Schick wasn't in class today.  Mr. Connelly was our substitute teacher.  We worked on our Spotify project.  We needed to find songs on Spotify representing push and pull forces.  It was actually pretty fun.  I got to listen to music that I've never heard before.  Some of them were a little weird, but others were pretty good songs.   In the beginning, I had a little bit of trouble figuring out how to make a playlist, but I figured it out eventually.  I found a good amount of songs today, but I am definitely going to find more.  I think I'm going to like this project.

Cultural Geography

Today in class we talked about cultural geography.  Here are the notes I wrote from the PowerPoint that Mr. Schick showed us:

Cultural Geography

• Cultural characteristics are parts of groups in everyday life.  These 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.

Mr. Schick explained to us in Alabama how they have many things in common, but when it comes to college football, there is always a feud.  College football is huge in Alabama.  That is something that can divide a region.  Mr. Schick also talked about the examples I mentioned above, but mostly religion.  He asked us all to raise our hands if we would consider ourselves Catholic or Christian.  To everyone that raised their hands, he asked us to raise our hands if we got baptized when we were a baby.  When some of us raised our hands, right away he told us that we were already learning that from our parents.  We also talked a little bit about language, and some people said that they can speak a different language, and they do sometimes in their house.

Test today

Everyone did the test today except me.  Since I was absent on Monday and Tuesday, I missed half of the presentations, so I don't feel prepared.  I tried to do what I wanted to do at my desk, but Mr. Schick made me move.  I didn't do that much in class.  I played 2048 most of the time.  After half of the class, I checked Twitter for a few minutes.  Why not?  I had nothing else to do.  After checking Twitter, I decided I wanted to listen to music.  Thankfully, most people were finished the test by that time.  I walked over to my desk and got my earphones.  For the rest of the class, I listened to music and did my blog.  I have to do the test tomorrow, along with two other tests.  Wish me luck.

Test

We have a test tomorrow.  I just found out today because I forgot to look on Mr. Schick's blog.  

Today we were reviewing the "National Leadership - Political Geography" PowerPoint that Mr. Schick made.  In the beginning, the PowerPoints in the "National Leadership - Political Geography" Powerpoint had to make their PowerPoint public so we could all view it without sending a request to look at it.  (Mine wasn't in the PowerPoint wasn't in Mr. Schick's PowerPoint.)  After everyone made their PowerPoint public, Mr. Schick talked about each slide that he made.  Did you know that four presidents in the US have been assassinated and two presidents were injured in attempted assassinations? 

I don't think I have to take the test until Friday because I was absent on Monday and Tuesday.  I hope I do well on the test.  Because I have an extra day, I'm going to study pretty hard the next two days.

Pop Quizzes and PowerPoints

In the beginning of class we reviewed the pop quiz we took about the countries' leaders.  It was basic facts that we had learned about the leaders.  I got two wrong, and I felt really stupid after I found out I got the two that I did wrong.  When we were getting the tests back, if we didn't get an A, he made a fart noise with his mouth.  I got the fart noise.  While we were going over the test, Mr. Schick told us a story about helping with the voting a few years ago.  What has he not done? After we went over the tests, we continued to work on our United Kingdom Geography PowerPoint.  We got a little bit done, as always.  It's a very slow process.  We got all the pictures for the backgrounds.  We got a little bit of information about the government of the United Kingdom.  Alyssa left for a little bit, so I helped my friend with her homework.  It was kind of productive.

Messing Around

Today in class we continued our PowerPoint, but everyone was basically messing around.  At first we tried to stay on task, but then we started sing: "A potato flew around my room before you came.  Excuse the mess it made."  Then, we started to listen to our selected country's national anthem.  I played a little bit of 2048 before class.  Mr. Schick plays 2048.  He saw my high score.  He laughed at my score.  Then, later in the class, he took out his phone (which we yelled at him for pulling out because you obviously can't have your phone out) and he showed me his score.  He had 50,000 points!  Sorry Mr. Schick for not being good at 2048!  After that, I tried to get back on track, but I asked Mr. Schick a question and he never answered, so I basically gave up.  I just listened to Boyfriend by Justin Bieber, which Adam played and sang for the rest of the class period.  What else was there to do?  I'll work on it more tomorrow and get more done.

United Kingdom Government

Today in class we had to make a slideshow about a certain state of your choice.  I was paired with Alyssa and we chose the United Kingdom.  We had to do it on Google Presentations, so we could change things and type on the same document at the same time.  I changed a lot of stuff that she put, and she got mad.  We were basically laughing the whole class and I'm pretty sure we were annoying everyone around us.  She would put something, and I would change it or correct it.  You got to do what you got to do to get a good grade.  She put a picture of David Cameron with One Direction, and I deleted it.  Eventually, we came to an understanding and we worked pretty well together.  When she made a mistake, I fixed it.  When I made a mistake, she fixed it.  We are obviously a really great group.

Pop Quiz

Today we had a pop quiz about the leaders.  I got 2 wrong, making my grade an 87%.   The test was thirty points.  Hopefully, my grade doesn't go down.  I don't think it will.  The questions I got wrong was about the "Most Powerful Woman in the World" and the leader who used chemical weapons on his people.  For one of the questions, I put the right answer, and then I changed it.  Moral of the story, go with your first answer, and don't change your answer if you think it's wrong, because it might not be.  I thought the test was pretty easy.  I got an 87% because there were 15 questions and it was 30 points.  But now that I think about it, I probably would've gotten the same score if it were fifteen points.  After everyone finished the quizzes, Mr. Schick graded them in around 3 minutes, and that’s how I know what I got.  I’m proud of my 87%.

10-23 Class

This is late... sorry.  It was my mom's birthday yesterday, so I was celebrating with her and I completely forgot.  Anyway, yesterday in class we continued to talk about the world leaders.  We said more interesting facts that we had seen, and sometimes, we received a ding if it was good enough.  One fact that I thought was pretty interesting was Alyssa's fact.  She brought up that the prime minister of India (Narendra Modi) got married as a teenager, 17, and kept his marriage a secret for 50 years.  I brought up Angela Merkel's fear of dogs, apparently because she was bitten by one at a young age. In a much-publicized incident in 2007, Russian president Vladimir Putin used his dog Koni to psychologically intimidate the chancellor during a meeting.  Speaking of Vladimir Putin, Mr. Schick pointed out that he served as an intelligence officer in the KGB.  Jessica pointed out that Dilma Rousseff had cancer a long time ago, which makes her a cancer survivor.  I think that definitely helped her to be a strong person and help her in the race, but some thought it would hurt her.  Sorry again that this was late.

More Leader Facts

Today was Costume Day.  I dressed up as Spider Woman.  We went over what we learned about the leaders from the project yesterday.  Here are some things that I learned, whether in class or on the internet:

• My fact about Francois Hollande was wrong.
• Vladimir Putin, which was talked about a lot today, lived in an apartment with three other families and remembers hunting rats.
• François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande was born on August 12, 1954, in Rouen, France to a right-wing physician father and a progressive social worker mother. The family moved to Paris when Hollande was 13.
• Putin has a black belt in karate.
• Enrique Pena Nieto fathered two children with two different women while he was married and he still became president.
• Xi Jinping's father, Xi Zhongxun, lost out in a power struggle in 1963 and was banished and later jailed.
• Narendra Modi sold tea in a railway station before becoming prime minister.

Leaders Interesting Facts

• President Enrique Pena Nieto: Fathered two children with two different women while he was married; one son died as an infant
• President Xi Jinping: In 1969-1975, he worked as an agricultural laborer in Liangjiahe, Shaanxi. Xi is among the millions of urban youths who were "sent down," forced to leave cities to work as laborers in the countryside under Mao's policies.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi: Modi was denied a visa to the United States in 2005, but has been granted one since being elected Prime Minister.
• President Vladimir Putin: His wife and he announce their divorce at the interval of a ballet. He has two daughters, both in their mid-twenties, who are unknown.  He remembers hunting rats when he was living in an apartment with three families.
• President Joachim Gauck: Gauck was narrowly defeated by Christian Wulff in the Presidential elections to replace Horst Köhler in 2010.
• Chancellor Angela Merkel: She has a doctorate in physical chemistry.
• Prime Minister David Cameron: He is the youngest premier since Lord Liverpool in 1812.
• President François Hollande:He gained French citizenship after being left behind on a school exchange trip to Rouen.   François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande was born on August 12, 1954, in Rouen, France to a right-wing physician father and a progressive social worker mother. The family moved to Paris when Hollande was 13.
• President Dilma Rousseff: She joined the resistance and was eventually captured and taken to jail, where she was allegedly tortured.
• President Bashar al-Assad: He became president of Syria in 2000 when his father died of a heart attack.
• Prime Minister Stephen Harper: In high school, Harper joined the Young Liberals Club. He went on to find the Reform Party.
• Prime Minister Shinzō Abe: He was Japan's first prime minister born after WWII.
• President Reuven Rivlin: He's Israel's 10th president.

Project

Mexico
Presidential system, Federal republic, Constitutional republic
President Enrique Peña Nieto










China
Communist state, Socialist state, Single-party state
President Xi Jinping 







India
Federal republic, Constitutional republic, Parliamentary system
Prime Minister Narendra Modi







Russia
Federal republic, Semi-presidential system, Constitutional republic
President Vladimir Putin











Germany
Federal republic, Constitutional republic, Representative democracy, 
Parliamentary republic
President Joachim Gauck; Chancellor Angela Merkel

United Kingdom
Unitary state, Constitutional monarchy, Parliamentary system
Prime Minister Dave Cameron













France
Unitary state, Semi-presidential system, Constitutional republic
President François Hollande




Brazil
Presidential system, Federal republic, Constitutional republic
President Dilma Rousseff











Syria
Unitary state, Semi-presidential system
President Bashar al-Assad










Canada
Federal monarchy, Constitutional monarchy, Parliamentary system
Prime Minister Stephen Harper





Japan
Unitary state, Constitutional monarchy, Parliamentary system
Prime Minister Shinzō Abe














Israel
Parliamentary system
President Reuven Rivlin

Political Geography

In class, we took notes about political geography.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Terms:

• Country: an identifiable land area
• Nation: a population (group of people) with a common culture
• State:
• a population under a single government
• synonymous with "country"
• Nation-State:
• a single culture under a single government
• a nation which has the same borders as a state

_________________________________________________________________________________

Nation:

• a group of people with a shared identity
• think of it as a culture group
• Nations are culturally homogeneous groups of people, larger than a single tribe or community, which share a common language, institutions, religions, and historical experiences

_________________________________________________________________________________

Independent State:

• Has space or territory which has internationally recognized boundaries. (boundary disputes are okay)
• Has people who lie there on an ongoing basis
• Has economic activity and an organized economy.  A country regulates foreign and domestic trade and issues money.
• Has the power of social engineering, such as education.
• Has a transportation system for moving goods and people
• Has a government which provides public services and police power
• Has sovereignty.  No other state should have power over the country's territory
• Has eternal recognition. A country has been "voted into the club" by other countries.

Review for the test

Today we got our tests, which I didn't do that well on by the way.  I got a seventy one percent on it (oops).  I'll do better on the next one (I hope).
Anyway, we went over everything, which was very helpful for me because we will be seeing the information again on the exam in December.
Today was kind of an upsetting class though because Mr. Schick yelled at us.  A few people were talking while he was reviewing the test and he went off.  It was like a bomb had exploded.  Then he left the room for a few minutes and when he came back, we were all quiet and made sure not to talk or disturb Mr. Schick.
Despite everything that happened in class today, I did get a lot of information for the future tests and quizzes.  I hope I do better on other tests than I did on this test.

Makeup Tests

Today in class, people who were absent on Friday took the test.  I let Rosemary use my laptop for the first ten minutes because she didn't have hers.  (For the first ten minutes, you needed the CIA Factbook.)  For basically the rest of the class, I watched Gossip Girl on Netflix because I had nothing else to do.  It was a pretty good episode.  After it ended, I played 2048 and listened to music.  Obviously, the class was very productive for me.  It was probably one of my favorite Human Geo classes ever.  I'm sure it'll be more productive tomorrow, but today definitely wasn't.  Some people slept and Mr. Schick had to wake them up.  Other people listened to music, like I did for some of the class.  Other people did homework they forgot to do.  It was an amazing class.

Test

Today we had a test.  I don't know how good I actually did on it, but I hope I did well.  I had no idea what the bonus questions' answers were, so I didn't write anything.  What is the Rat of Natural Increase for the world?  Apparently, you just know what it is.  I also didn't finish the front.  We had ten minutes to do 12 problems.  I finished 10.  I think we should've done 12 questions in 12 minutes.  The test wasn't that hard, it was medium, in my opinion.  Others might say it was easy, and some may say it was harder.  I didn't use Quizlet this time, like I did with the last test.  I wish I had, but I didn't have any time to make it.   I'll make it for my next test.  I have a pretty good grade in Human Geography, so I hope this test doesn't bring it down a lot.

More Review

      In the beginning of class, someone played music.  I'm not exactly sure who though.  At the end of class, Adam played music that I didn't know.  We always have a lot of music in our Human Geography class.
     Today Alyssa had a shadow.  We basically just went over more stuff for the test.  We learned what the total fertility rate, even though I already knew.  We looked at Mr. Schick's blog, and he told us to look at all of his blogs and the videos on his blog.  Also, Mr. Schick told us to open the CIA Factbook right when we got into class.  We are going to have to do twelve problems in 10 minutes, and then we close our computers and use nothing but our brains.  We can't use our blog this class, so I have to study a little harder for this.
      The test is on Population and Settlement.  I have been studying the notes given and the PowerPoint made by Mr. Schick on his blog.  I hope I do well on this.