Alex's Western Civilization Blog

Today in class we took notes on a powerpoint on latitude and longitude. We learned that latitude is known as parallels and run in the east-west direction. We learned that longitude is a geographical coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. We discussed how inaccurate that map on the board is because it was showing how Antarctica is the same size as all of the other continents combined, and we know that this is incorrect. It also showed Greenland to be even bigger than it is on the Mercader map where it already is too big. Mr. Shick told us that we will eventually be quizzed on identify the latitudes and longitudes of the most significant parallels which are the arctic circle, tropic of cancer, equator, tropic of Capricorn, and antarctic circle. We also talked about how we will have a quiz on all of the maps of America tomorrow. I feel pretty confident with that test because I have practiced it many times, and I also had to label these maps

Today in class we took notes on situation. Situation is the location of a place relative to other places, for example, if you live in Bel Air and someone was to ask you where you live you would tell them that you live east of Baltimore. It helps us understand the location of a place that is unfamiliar to us by comparing it to a place that is familiar to us. We also talked about how different places around the world manufacture things and end up sending them halfway across the country. Mr. Shick asked us to look around our desks and see where our belongings were manufactured, and nobody had anything manufactured from the US. We learned that this is because the salary of a factory worker in the US who works 40 hours a week is 8 times more than the salary of a factory worker in China who is working the same amount of time. We also talked about how eventually there will be robots and machines that will take over all of these jobs. We talked about whether or not having self-driving cars is

Today in class we took notes on site and situation. The start of class was delayed because Mr. Shick's wifi wouldn't load and it took 10 minutes to come back on, so we just got to relax for 10 minutes. We went over how the site describes the physical characteristics of a location. Some of characteristics of site are  climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation.  He asked us if we had ever moved before, and what were our thoughts when we moved. We talked about how our decisions were based on things such as location and resources around us. Mr. Shick also told us that Bel Air has the same latitude as North Korea and that they probably have the same periods of seasons as us. We also talked about how each place has its own things about them that separate them from over locations. For example, crabs are almost only eaten in Maryland. We talked about how we don't find eating crabs weird because we grew up with them, but someone who is from Maryla

Today in class we went on a website and labeled every country in North and South America.

Today in class we were given time to write the differences between the Mercator and Peter's Projection maps. On the Mercator map, Greenland and Africa appear to be the same size, but Peter's Projection map shows us that Africa is actually 14 times larger than Greenland. On the Mercator map, Europe is larger than South America, but South America is 6.9 million square miles and Europe is  3.8 million square miles, and Peter's Projection map accurately shows us that. Mexico is 0.1 million square miles bigger than Alaska, but Alaska is drawn 3 times larger than Mexico on the Mercator map. In the Mercator map, Germany looks like it's in the middle, but it's actually in the northernmost quarter of the earth on Peter's Projection map. The Mercator was made in 1569 and the Peter's projection map was made in 1855. On the Peter's Projection Map, the east-west lines are parallel and intersect north-south axes at right angles. Peter's Projection Map Mercat

We started out the class today by rewatching the Gall Peter's Projection map video, and we played a game called "ok, stop", where someone would call out ok stop during a point in the video where they had a question or a statement to make. After rewatching the video, we had a discussion about whether or not we agreed with the video's suggestion about flipping the map upside down. I personally don't think that it matters which direction the map is in, because they are both accurate. Then, we were handed back the tests that we took on Friday that were on excellence. We went through the whole test, by having everyone go in a line and state the correct answer, and if we got an answer wrong, we could write down the right one so we would know it in the future. When we got to the essay parts on the test, everyone stated the main facts that should be included in the essay in order for it to get full credit. We also had a discussion about whether or not we thought Socrates

Today in class we watched a video that compared the standard map that we use and the peters projection map. It showed us how the peters projection map is a lot more accurate than the map that we use. The countries and continents on the map that we use are placed and sized unrealistically. The video we watched also suggested that we look at the peters projection map upside down. We had a discussion as to why we don't look at it that way, and the conclusion was that people are just used to looking at it the way they have been and nobody wants to change it. We also discussed why people don't use the peters projection map, and we had the same answer about how no one wants to change it, not that it's wrong. Today was the first time I had ever heard about the peters projection map, and I find it interesting that the map that I've known my whole life is wrong. I personally think that more people should use the peters projection map since it's more accurate.

Today in class we had a quiz on the excellence powerpoint. I thought that the quiz was pretty fair, and I felt like I came prepared for the most part. There were a few questions that I wasn't totally sure of, but overall I felt like I knew most of the material on the test. I think the main thing that helped me with the test was all of our discussions during class because I learn better when talking about things rather than just copying them off of the board. I also feel pretty good about my essays too because I took my time and tried to explain my answers as best as I could. I don't think I would change anything about the test, but maybe I would study my notes a little more just so could be even more sure of my answers. After the test, we were able to use our extra time to write our blog posts.

Today in class we started out by briefly talking about our parent's stories of 9/11. After that, we finished going over the excellence powerpoint. The last few slides were about Socrates and his life. We learned that he was a common man, but he fought heroically in the Peloponnesian war. He started to teach the children in Athens at the Agora. He would teach them through the Socratic method. In class, we had our own mini Socratic discussion on guns. Some people gave their opinions and views on gun laws and we just listened and let them talk, nobody argued against anyone's point. Then walked talked about the two capital offense crimes that he committed and how he was found guilty by a jury of 500, 229 foun him guilty and 221 found him not guilty. After the trial, he was sentenced to the death penalty. Socrates had the chance to escape, but he didn't want to so he took the hemlock and died a long painful death. After going through all of this, the class was over and we have a

Today in class we had to look up the definitions of the Greek terms that were on the board. The definitions are listed below. Agora: an ancient Greek meeting place; used for markets and assemblies. The center of athletic, artistic, spiritual, and political life in the city/state. Polis: city-state; political entities ruled by their bodies of citizens. The origin of the words politics, metropolitan, and poll. The importance of the year 508 BC to the ancient Greeks: Cleisthenes was the leader of the democracy; first democracy in Athens. The first time in recorded history that the people had revolted against their own rulers and took over ever.  ex: united states (1776), France (1789), China (1851 & 1949) Socrates: classical Greek philosopher; one of the founders of Western philosophy. The death of Socrates: charged with two capital crimes and found guilty, he didn't want to try to escape prison, so he killed himself by drinking hemlock. The Socratic method: a coop

Today in class we continued going through the excellence powerpoint. It was the last class of the day so I was pretty tired but I was able to keep up. It was also a D day, so our class was shortened. We also talked about how much technology has changed over the years and that one day we might have a chip in our necks that can play music through our minds. We also found out that we have a test on Friday on the material that we learned throughout last week and this week. During attendance, we were asked to say whether or not we wanted to keep our seats or not, and we were also checked for our composition books. I had my book and I said that I like my seat where it is. In the powerpoint, we went over some of the vocabulary words from A Message to Garcia , which is also going to be used on our test on Friday.

Today in Human Geography class we finished reading  A Message to Garcia . Before reading the rest of the story, we talked about how we should be like Rowan with our school, meaning that we will excel if we just do our assignments with no complaints or questions.We took turns going up front and reading a paragraph or two of off the board. After one of us would read a paragraph we would describe the meaning behind the paragraphs. Since nobody volunteered to read from the board, we had to choose someone ourselves. I was called on by somebody and I read a few paragraphs from the board. At the end of the story, we find out that Garcia ends up dying and the message never got to him. After reading the story, we went through a power point on excellence. It contained facts about the story and described the plot and characters. We took notes on the power point in our composition books.

Today in class we talked about how high school is going to be the toughest form of education that we will face. One of the main reasons high school is so difficult is because we are on the move from 6 am til we got home in the evening from our after school activities. We also started to read a little bit of A Message to Garcia . So far we learned that the president is searching for Garcia, but he is nowhere to be found, so they sent a man named Rowan to look for him. We can relate our discussion about the difficulties of high school to A Message to Garcia  because Rowan is sent with an extremely challenging task to find Garcia even though no one had a clue to where he was, and high school in high school we are also challenged to complete difficult tasks that are nearly possible to figure out. Even though it seems difficult both Rowan and us students try to complete the task at hand because that's what we are expected to do.

The best part of my first day at John Carroll was lunch because I got to see my friends. This was the best part because I didn't really know many people in my classes since we were all new, so it was nice getting to see my friends that I hadn't seen in a while. The worst part of my day was having to having to hear all of the class rules and guide lines in every class I went to. This was the worst part of my day because it got very tiring and repetitive of hearing the same thing from every teacher, but I understand that that's what they had to do because we are new and it was our first day. I like my seat that I was assigned because I like sitting closer to the front because I am near sighted and I have trouble seeing the board sometimes. I have glasses for distance that I don't wear much, so if I had to sit in the back row I could see, but it's easier sitting in the front row.