Class on Friday

Today we had a dress down day and in Mr. Shick's Human Geography class we didn't do much. Some kid took my seat, don't even know his name, so now I'm sitting in front of Caleb. I think I'm supposed to be writing about maps but I've been writing about maps for the past week and I don't know if I can acknowledge you with any more knowledge that I know about maps. I've told you everything I know basically. Equator's on the 0 degree line, Capicorn is below the equator and Cancer is above. I'm from Ireland and England (my ancestors). The Mercator Map is wrong the Peter's Maps is right/more accurate. Greenland isn't actually that big and everything that I knew before about maps became a lie.

Class on Thursday- More apt Maps

In class today Mr. Shick was late so Robert stood in the front of the class and started "teaching." After Mr. Shick came in and Robert sat down we learned more about maps. I found where the equator was on the map and that it's at 0 degrees. I learned the 5 oceans are Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern. The 7 continents are South America, North America, Antartica, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Asia. I learned where Capricorn and Cancer were located on the map. I didn't know that Ireland was next to the UK on the map because I forgot from 7th grade social studies.

Contemporary Mapping

In class on Monday we talked about more mapping and longitude and latitude.

-Shift from simply a tool that provides location reference to a tool used by geographers to communicate complex geographic phenomena.

Map Scale

-Level of detail and the amount of area covered on the map depends on its map scale.

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Geographic Grid

-System of imaginary arcs drawn in a grid pattern on Earth's surface.
        -Meridians are arcs drawn between the North and South poles. Each is numbered, according to a system known as longitude.
                     -values range 0 degrees (prime meridian) to 180 degrees east or west longitude.
-Parallels are arcs drawn parallel to equator and at right angles to meridian. Each is numbered, according to a system known as latitude.
                    -values range from 0 degrees (equator) to 90 degrees at the right angle of the meridian.

-Points on Earth's surface can be communicated by referring points of latitude and longitude intersection.
-Ex. Denver, Colorado's location is 40 degrees North latitude and 105 degrees west longitude
-Further accuracy can be achieved by dividing each degree into 60 minutes and each minute into 60 seconds.
-Ex. Denver, Colorado's state capital building is 39 degrees 42'2" North latitude and 104 degrees 59'04" West longitude.

Telling Time

-Earth is a sphere divided into 360 degrees of longitude
-Divide 360 by 24 time zones (one for each hour the day) equals15 degrees
-Each 15 band of longitude is assigned to a standard time zones

Greenwhich Meantime (GMT) is....

-Located at the prime meridian (0 degrees longitude)
-Passes through Royal observatory at Greenwich England
-Master reference time for all points on Earth

Map's Monday's Classwork

On the Mercator map everything is placed wrong. On Peter's map he fixed it. He fixed all the proportions to where now everything should be scientifically correct. For example, Greenland should be 14 times smaller than Africa on the real map that we used growing up, but instead it's only 2 times smaller, fooling everyone that there's a lot more extra land in Greenland. Alaska should only be slightly bigger then Texas while it looks like it can cover half the United States. South America should be longer and skinnier and on the real map, it's smaller and shorter. This new map still has me on edge and I'm gonna need time to adjust to it.

World Map Portrayed Completely Wrong

I had class first period on a D day. In class we discussed the world map and how it's portrayed completely wrong. I learned that Greenland is way smaller and shouldn't be almost as big as Africa. Africa should be way larger and skinnier and longer. United Kingdom is portrayed too big when it's actually a smaller island. The world map I grew up looking at, Alaska was the size of about 1/4 of the United States, well that's actually wrong. Alaska is only a bit bigger than Texas maybe even twice the size of Texas. This really confused me and made me angry. It bothers me even more that we don't actually use the real world map and kids are still learning that the Earth looks completely different. Also when you look at the map, Antartica looks really huge and long but in reality it's just a small island at the top of the globe. Because maps are flat and the earth is round when you unravel earth into a flat surface it makes Antartica look a lot larger than it actually is. ALSO, that reminds me, IT'S ALL UPSIDE DOWN. That's what really got me. Everything on the earth should be flipped upside down and it's really confusing. I think we should start teaching kids the new map now before the whole world thinks of it as something different that it isn't. I'm really upset that the Earth actually looks like that, it's like something that I've believed in for so long isn't actually real. Rant over, you can go back to reading everyone else's posts.

Soccer Game/ Absent

I wasn't in class today, I had to leave early for a soccer game. We won 11-0, against Gerstell Academy, if you were wondering.

First Test: Socrates and Ancient Greece

We had our first test today. I don't think I did well because I didn't know the answers to like 3 questions so I had to guess. The test was on Socrates and Greek Mythology and when the first democracy was established. Which is 508 bc by the way. It was funny when no one could get the pencil sharpener to work. That's all I did in class.

Test Review and Class Discussion

Today in class we reviewed on Socrates and his trial and defense. We are going to have a test on Monday on Socrates, Elbert Hubbard's A Message to Garcia, and Athenian Democracy. We talked about senior unity day and what seniors do on that day. We talked about why it said early dismissal on the calendar and we then figured out because it was a D day. We talked about how Mr. Shick is going on a field trip to the museum in Washington, D.C. In the museum there are newspapers articles and journalism tips and they're taking a coach bus. I'm not sure what else to talk about since all we did was talk about the same things we learned for the past couple of days.

Class Notes 12 September, 2018

Today we learned more about Socrates:

• He lived in Athens which was full of brilliant people
• People started to question the Greek gods because of him. Athena ----> birthed from Zeus' forehead??
• Socrates would get them to think and ask questions that would question their beliefs and teachings
• He was then charged with 2 crimes: corruption of the youth and impiety (not believing in the gods)
• His defense simple was he, "It's my job to be the gadfly to the lazy sluggish horse that is Athens." "I should actually be rewarded with free dinners for life."
• He said that it isn't a crime to get people to think about their own beliefs and feelings
• 500 male citizens found him to be guilty and 221-279 found him not guilty
• Then he was sentenced to death my poison hemlock
• He had an opportunity to escape but refused, proving his loyalty to Athenian democracy

We then learned about the word "idiot" and what it's Greek meaning was:

• Idiot- In Athenian democracy it meant someone who is self-centered
• Idiots were born and citizens were made through education
• Declining to take part in public life, such as democratic government of the polis, was considered dishonorable and idiotic 

Class Notes 11 September, 2018

Today we learned more terms the ancient Greeks used. They also started lots of stuff like the first democracy.
Agora- gathering place, market place, the center of life. exp: Athens, Greece
Polis- political entity ruled by the bodies of citizens

508 BC- first democracy was formed
I learned, that was the first time citizens revolted against their rulers/kings/pharaohs
since then:

• U.S. (1776)
• France (1789)
• China (1851 & 1949)
• Russia (1917)
• Iran (1979)
• Egypt (2011)

plus many many more.

Synergy is a cycle of Democracy and Excellence. When you have democracy you achieve excellence by working together as a country to vote for who we think will run the country best.

Also learned about Socrates

Socrates was a man who heroically fought in the Peloponnesian War. He had a working class background and battle field experiences which is probably why he viewed the world in the way he did. He thought that everyone rich or poor should be treated equally. He would ask students various questions to understand their beliefs and knowledge instead of pushing in what he thought was right. This leads to how people use the scientific method today, you start with you're hypothesis and then take it step by step from there. 

Class Discussion 10 Sept. 2018

Today in class we talked about Elbert Hubbard's A Message to Garcia, and found out that;

• written in 1899
• took place during the Spanish/American War
• America was on Cuba's side because if Spain won then they would be right next to Florida and attack us at any moment
• Cuba was trying to gain independence from Spain
• Nowadays if someone asks you to do something you try to get out of it or find an easier way. Back then if someone told you to do something you would just do what they say without complaining.
• You should do the right thing without being told
• A Message to Garcia was published to be an inspirational essay
• Sold up to 40 million copies
• Translated into 37 different languages
• Became a popular slang initiative which is still used in the military today
• McKinley was the 25th president and was assassinated by an anarchist - no rules or government

Aretè- is excellence of any kind, the act of living up to one's potential. (greek)

Biggest human potential is our knowledge. We can think unlike any other living thing on the planet. For example: Bird's can fly and they have the knowledge of knowing how to fly, but we can make airplanes and helicopters and do stuff way beyond flying. The highest human knowledge would be knowledge about knowledge itself. 

A Message to Garcia

I read A Message to Garcia and didn't really understand what he was talking about. I remember going over it in class and how it was about Elbert Hubbard ranting about how people don't do their own work and aren't hard working like they should be. I've always tried to live by, "work for what you want in life to succeed on your own," but he puts it in a different way. Since this letter was written in the late 1800s, it makes a little sense that I don't have a clue what he's talking about. The last paragraph was the only thing that I really understood well. The last paragraph explains that he has respect for the man that works hard no matter what. When the boss is around or isn't around he still does what he's told and knows what to do. I've been inspired to work for what I want since I was about 12. When I was 12 years old, I got my first job working a snowball stand every summer. I've always paid for the things that I want like my phone and it's service bill, and I save money now for a car when I turn 16. This applies to me in high school now because you should always work hard on your own projects and homework yourself. You shouldn't earn the grade if you just took someone else's work. This keeps me going that I should also always work hard on the soccer field. I never want to let my team down so I will always run the extra mile for them. "I know it's hard sometimes but you'll get over it." -Lil Uzi Vert

In conclusion, I now understand that Elbert Hubbard was trying to say that you will succeed in life if you aren't dependent on others all the time; or maybe a more 2018 version that you aren't dependent on your phone or the internet.

First Days of School

The first day I came to John Carroll in uniform was freshmen orientation day. On orientation day were showed all our classes and met all our teachers. It's weird having almost all male teachers because at my old school we didn't have a single one. So far so good. I had 10 people from my middle school come to John Carroll so I knew some people right away. I only still talk to about three or four of them but I made a lot of new friends from soccer. I have soccer practice every week day after school and I'm starting to get really tired. For example, I fell asleep today after practice and didn't wake up til 9:00 p.m. On the first day of school I wasn't really nervous at all. I still get nervous when teachers point me out in the class but I really don't know why. My face just gets red and I stutter even though I feel completely comfortable. First class was health and wellness with Mrs. G. Second class was Spanish 1 with Mr. Canter. Then I had advisory. I've never done a homeroom or advisory like this before so I thought it was already fun. The kids in my advisory are really talkative and like to include me in the conversation. I think I'll become friends with some of them cause we might have a lot in common. After that I had intro to bible and lunch. Lunch was probably what I was most worried about. I didn't want to get there too late and have no where to sit and have to wait in the really long lunch line. When I got in I saw one of my friends and stood with her while I paid for my lunch. The cafeteria was crowded with a lot of people and I couldn't find anywhere to sit. Finally my friends found a spot so we could all sit and eat there and eventually a lot more girls came over and sat with us so it ended up being all good. I had patriot transitions and human geography after that. Then my last class was biology. In all the day was pretty good even if it feels really long and tiring. I like hanging out with my friends and getting to know new ones. I'm proud to be a new patriot.