9/28/18

Today we had a very simple day in human geo. We finishes working on our maps while Mr. Schick took the time to read over our blogs and talk to us about what we could be doing better on them. My last few blogs have been all about maps so they are all pretty similar. I like learning about maps because I find it to be pretty interesting how different they can be in big and little detail. I've learned  a lot about maps throughout my years of geography and the time that I've spent learning about maps, I've learned more about maps within these two weeks of high school human geo. I hope we go deeper into maps because I like learning about compared to other social studies topics that I find very boring.

9/27/18

Today in class we got further into maps. We talked about different lines on the map and what they are called. We talked about the Prime Meridian which is the middle line of latitude located at 0 degrees. We then talked about the equator which is also located at 0 degrees but on along the lines of longitude. We also learned about the tropic of cancer and the tropic of cancer. The tropic of cancer is located above the equator and the tropic of capricorn is located under the equator. We had a shorter day at class so we didn't get to as much as we would usually would so after that we were given three maps and we were to table them with continents, oceans, and the important lines of latitude and longitude.

9/26/18

Today we talked a lot more about maps. This class wasn't  a discussion class like the past week of classes have been. We actually learned about the evolution of maps and measurements of maps. The earliest maps were reference tools which were simple navigation devices to show a traveler how too get from point a to b. The first world map was prepared by Eratosthenes (276-194BC). Then later improvements to the map were made by Ptolemy. We learned a lot about map scale. Map scale can be written out in three ways. Ratio/Fraction scale is 1/2,400. Written scale is 1 in=1 mile. And the graphic scale is what the bar line usually is called. Most of the time because earth has a spherical shape, it causes distortion on a flat map. It distorts the shape of an area, the distance can be increased or decreased, relative sizes of areas can be altered, and direction between points can be distorted.

9/24/18

One of the points the cartographers is that the two maps portray Greenland and Africa wrong. On the one map, Greenland and Africa are the same size but in reality Africa is really 14 times the size of Greenland. Another point is that Europe was drawn bigger than South America but South America has almost double the amount of land that Europe has. The next point is that Alaska appeared three times as large as Mexico when Mexico is larger by 0.1 million square miles. The last point is that Germany appears in the middle of the map but its really not. The lines on the map are shifted differently and positioned differently on the Peters Projection Map. These are valid points because they are true and scientifically proven. I don't think it matters that much because they're both maps that give an accurate demonstration of the world other than the fact that they are flat and both wrong.

9/20/18

Class today was annoying. It consisted of our class debating over false conspiracy theories for a whole class period. Some of these theories were debating over whether the earth is flat, which map is correct and if they are really both incorrect, some weird things about NASA, and if the world would appear upside down if someone took a space shuttle to outer space. My classmates overwhelmed Mr. Schick with multiple questions which allowed him to not teach the lesson that he had planned for the day. I find it kind of funny that my class takes this stuff that seriously too the point where it seems like there life depends on it. I've never had a class that takes human geo as seriously as this class.

Maps

Today we learned about the flat map of the earth. We talked about how the map that we are all used to is not actually correct. That map showed Greenland too be way bigger than it is and Africa to be way smaller than it is. Then Mr. Schick showed us a new map that wasn't to much different, but it was different enough for me to tell that there was a major difference between the two maps. We watched a show on Netflix that showed us the two different maps side by side and how each are different. It was actually weird realizing that all the maps I've ever seen are all false and that I'm just finally learning about this in my freshman year. I don't think this topic is too important to me because they really are the same thing and I found it kind of unnecessary to focus on two little differences.

9/17/18

Today in class we took our test on pretty much everything we've learned so far in these first couple of weeks. The main subjects on the test were A Message to Garcia, Elbert Hubbard, Arete, and Socrates.  I found the test to be reasonably fair because it did require some long challenging questions but if we studied and actually knew the answers then it was easy. I don't necessarily like writing two essay questions but it helps me learn the concept I'm writing about. The one thing I didn't really know that well is what arete is but good thing the test didn't require too many questions on that topic. I also had trouble of the polis question which asked for two different words that were different but had the same origin of polis. I put city and metropolis but I don't think I got that right. This also concerns me because he said this is gonna be one of the easiest tests we take all year so looks like I'm gonna need to study for every test we take.

9/14/18

During class our plans were ruined because Mr. Schick's computer was not loading into Google. We were planned to have an oral assignment where there would be a slide on the board and one of us would describe the slide to the class. I am thankful we didn't do this because I don't like oral assignments. Monday's class will contain a test of all the things we have learned so far. I understand most of it but the only thing I really don't know that well is arete. I'm hoping it's a simple definition and it doesn't take me too much time to study. My classmates also talked a lot about how bad google is and that was probably half of the class. This weekend I am going to try and study for the test so I can start off human geography with a good grade. Mr. Schick just ended up giving us the last fifteen minutes of class just to do our blog so we didn't have to do it over the weekend.

9/13/18

Today we talked a lot about Socrates and what he did with his life. Socrates was a Greek philosopher and was credited with finding some of the western philosophy. We learned that he was a teacher to children and that he broke some laws of his democracy. He broke the law of pretty much abusing children and trying to provoke people to believe in other Gods. He basically was saying that there are other things to believe in other than their main God. His defenses were that he should be rewarded for free dinners for life and that there are more than just one God. The guy found him guilty in a very close vote but he would be sentenced to die. He was to drink poison hemlock and die over the course of an hour. In class we also took a vote and be basically said that if we were bake then then we would've proved him guilty but if this case was in modern times we would say he is innocent and that he shouldn't die.

9/11/18


Today we focused on the excellence of "A Message to Garcia". It was published as an inspirational essay in March of 1899. It became very popular and because of this it was reprinted as a pamphlet and a book. There were over forty million copies sold which was a pretty big percentage of the population back then. And due to most people around the world owning this, it was printed in thirty seven languages. It was also made into two movies, one in 1916, and the other in 1936. The title of this story also became known as slang of a way to say get the job done. The time frame happened in the middle of the Spanish American War. Garcia was a revolutionary seeking Cuban independence from Spain and Rowan was an army officer. The President of the United States at the time was president William McKinley. Class today was another note taking day that considered of going deeper into the importance of "A Message to Garcia" and the backstory.

     9/10/18


Today we talked about "A Message to Garcia" and the true meaning behind it. We went through some simple backstory such as the fact that this event occurred during the Spanish-American war. We also learned about what was going on in the United States and the president at that time and a bunch of other facts. We also talked about certain vocabulary that we may not have understood what it meant when we first read it. We also went into detail about what Elbert Hubbard was trying to prove to people when he wrote this story. He was basically saying that we need more people like the man who delivered the message to Garcia. We took notes on all of these concepts and the class mainly revolved around learning more about this story and learning more about Elbert Hubbard.

A Message to Garcia

While I was reading "A Message to Garcia", I had a little bit of difficulty figuring out what was going on. At first I was thinking that it was a man trying to deliver a message to a man named Garcia who no one had trace of. The man had failed his mission in trying to find Garcia and returns in a way that the author clearly didn't like. It then seems like the author goes on talking about how people shouldn't be like the man delivering the message and they should never give up on a task. I can also realize that this a very old piece of writing and the words used and the context they were given in made me think that. Half the time I felt like I was just reading words and not actually processing them. In my opinion, I just felt like this piece of writing was just a way for the author to tell people that they should not be lazy and that they should never give up on what they're trying to accomplish no matter how long it takes. I think this also says a lot about Elbert Hubbard and what he liked to write about. Overall I did not really enjoy reading this writing but I feel like most people would say it is a good story.

First Days at JC

        My first few days at John Carroll went pretty well. It is a whole lot different from middle school.
It is different in ways such as off mods, sports, organization, lockers, books, classes, and technology. Off mods are very helpful in my opinion because they can give me time to catch up on work or just chill out for a period. This year I am looking forward to playing football and basketball. Both of these sports require a lot of practice to keep up with the team. John Carroll also doesn't force us to have any  certain type of organization like middle school. I can arrange my papers a d work in any way I feel comfortable with. The lockers here are ok, but I feel like they could use an upgrade. I don't really see the point of having locks other than people getting inside your locker and doing something wrong but we don't really see that anymore. Classes here are pretty similar to middle school but the main differences are advisory and there are no teachers really leading you. We can also have our own computers and have our phones in school unlike middle school. I like this concept because in case of emergency we can call someone on our phones and the computers I feel like are for our own privacy and comfort.