5/30/13

Exam Review

Guns, Germs, and Steel

• what did the Papua new Guineans eat...Sago
• what was wrong with sago...it goes bad very quickly and it is not very nutritious
• What was Jared Diamond's theory on the advancement of civilization...geographic luck
• how many domesticated animals were there..14...none of these animals lived in Papua New Guinea

Ancient Civilizations

• First successful civilization...Mesopotamia
• What are the two main rivers...Tigris and Euphrates
• Where is it now...Middle East
• What was the difference between history and prehistory...things started to be written down in prehistory
• The Sumerians...wrote in cuneiform
• When you take dry land and water it...irrigation
• First written laws...laws of Hammurabi

Egypt

• What was life surrounded on...the Nile River
• What was rare about the Nile..it flowed south to north
• What was the part of the Nile that had the richest soil...the Delta
• What were the king of Egypt known as..Pharaohs
• What were the Egyptian known for building... pyramids
• When were the most pyramids built...2500 BC (4,500 years ago)
• What did slaves do...served the wealthy

Greece

• Tarquin the Proud...tyrant
• What were some differences between Athens and Sparta...Athens had a navy: triremes and Sparta had an army on land
• Who made the decision to build 200 triremes...Themistocles
• What was the capital of Greece...Athens
• What was Athens famous for...the Parthenon
• Pericles ruled when the Parthenon was built
• What was the organization of city states who were in it to protect themselves... the Delian league
• Who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey...Homer
• What was the Iliad about...the Trojan war
• What was the Odyssey about...a war hero who is trying to get home and running into all of these spectacular beings 
• The people that predicted what was going to happen in the future...the Oracle
• The unexamined life is not worth living...Socrates
• Alexander the Great was 20 when he became king
• Who was Alexander's father...Philip II
• Philip II was 32 when he died
• Who was Alexander the Great's mother...Olympias 

Rome(30 questions)
Middle Ages (125)

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

5/29/13

We took a test today. I think I did very well.

5/24/13

Feudalism- describes the governmental system and the relationship between landowners and warriors

Feudal compact- when a knight pledges his loyalty to a lord and the lord gives the knight some land

Fief- the land that is given to the knight by the lord

Vassal- the honored position the knight held

 
Knight- the “body guard” of the lord

Homage- a vassal paid homage to their lord- taking their hand and speaking a pledge of loyalty

Serf- they were bound to the land, forced to do back-breaking work such as the iron plow. They were also in charge of internal colonization

Barons- lords of large territories who usually paid homage to a king

Peasantry- farmers or serfs- the common people

Estates- there were three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and the common people

Manor- Large plantations which were owned by a lord or a lady of the manor

Three-field-system- rotating your crops, so only two fields out of three were actually growing things. The other one was resting.

Internal colonization- when the serfs were put in charge of what to grow and when to grow it

Suburb- the area outside of the walled in city

Guild- a group that was centered around one thing, such as making weapons. People joined it to become experts and buy things from the people inside the group.

Master- the top skilled person In the guild. They would have to create a masterpiece and go through apprenticehood and journeyhood.

Journeyman- a man that was pretty much a student in a gild. He is higher than an apprentice.

Apprentice- an apprentice assisted a master in order to become a master

Masterpiece- a great work of art in whatever craft a master made in a gild

Water mill- a mill...for water

Iron plow- the awesome and amazing tool that farmers used to plow their fields

5/23/13

Today was Thursday, our long mod. We went over a feudalism power point. It was pretty interesting. Especially the iron plow. We talked about the classes and we talked about serfs. I found the relationship between a knight and a lord interesting. A knight pledged their allegiance to a lord, serving him until he died or retired. The knight's land would then go to his son or in some special cases, daughters. We talked about the peasantry who were the common people such as serfs and farmer. They didn't have very great lives but they were at least a step up from slaves. 

5/22/13

Today was our first class in the week. Monday was freshmen retreat which was really fun and interesting. On Tuesday we do not have class. So today we got out pop quizzes back. I got an 80, so I got one wrong out of five. I was pretty happy about that. The quiz asked questions like who started out in Gaul and is present day France...the Franks. Who was the tribe thats name represented destruction...vandals (vandalism). There was a map, the answer to that question was the Huns, that is the one I got wrong. The group that conquered Rome and took over Spain were the Visigoths. The group that settled in Britain were the Angles and the Saxons. I think I just about covered it!

5/17/13

My Notes
After Rome (500-700)
Germanic Kingdoms of Europe
-Germanic barbarians...warlords and their families who assimilated into Roman culture because the "nobles" or aristocrats of medieval Europe
-The Angles and the Saxons (from Denmark and northwestern Germany) invaded Britain and assimilated the native Britains
-Most of the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity in the Seventh century
-the most powerful Germanic tribe was the Franks
- but the real power lay with the "mayor of the palace" who were royal officials and nobles themselves
Eastern Empire
-from Eastern Empire to "Byzantium"
-the Eastern Roman Empire continued on while the west was now divided up by barbarian tribes
-when the emperor Justinian came to power in 527, he decided the reunite the entire Roman Empire by reconquering the western territories
-Justinian succeeded for a while but they were eventually overwhelmed
Its a Christian Empire Now
-Greek Byzantine emperors saw themselves as Roman Emperors and the needs of the Christian Church
-Byzantine preserved Greco-Roman architecture, philosophy ad writing despite much of it being non-Christian
-Justinian built the massive domed Hagia Sophia-the biggest church ever

5/16/13

I am having technical difficulties uploading my power point. I will ask Mr. Schick about it tomorrow.

5/17/13

Today we took a test. I think I did pretty well. I'll pray on it.

Questions for today - 5/13/13

1. How many edicts did Diocletian make?  Four
2. Who is the apostle who is responsible for the spread of Christianity? Paul
3. What is significant about Constantine's family? His family was catholic.
4. What is an edict? An official order
5. What was Diocletian's opinion on Christianity? He despised them.
6. What experience did Constantine have with Jesus? He saw the P with the X slashed through it in the sky.
7. Sum up what the four Edicts were about? They all had to do with punishing Christians
8. What was the Edict of Milan? Constantine gave Christians all of their rights back and he gave them land and property. "You can not persecute according to religion"

Important notes mentioned today

• How long did the Pax Romana last- 207 years
• Diocletian was the first emperor to willingly step down and hand off his power to someone else

5/7/13

Today is our long mod in Western Civ. So far we have changed seats and went over a power point. Mr. Schick sent us off on our own to answers three questions: What was Constantine's connection to Christianity? What did Constantine too to change the empire? And we have have to research how Diocletian persecuted the Christians. Here are my answers...
Constantine's connection to Christians: His family was Christian.
Diocletian: He sacrificed Christians to the gods and he completely took away their rights and tried to kill them all.
Constantine's recon structure : Instead of persecuting the Christians he gave them political and social legitimacy in the Roman Empire.

5/7/13

Today was Wednesday so usually the classes go by really slow, but they went by pretty quickly. Well anyway we got our tests back and I got a 90%. After we went over that we went over a power point Mr. Schick put together about Jesus and the start of Christianity and the life of Paul. Honestly I already know all of this because I have went to Catholic school my whole life so it is all really easy. We took a pop quiz; 5 questions long and multiple choice. I got a 5 out of 5, it was pretty easy. That's really all that happened this class, it wasn't a lot but we got really into the power point and we had a few questions about the test we previously took. Tomorrow we are learning about Diocletian and Constantine.

5/8/13

Today in class we talked about Diocletian and Constantine. I got up there and lectured about Constantine and how he hated Christianity and what he did to them. I switched off with Abby who talked about the four edicts he created. All of the edicts were made to punish, persecute, or humiliate the Christians. We even talked about how Diocletian punished this one Christian. First they whipped him, then they poured salt and vinegar in his wounds, and then they slowly burned him alive. Instead of looking at this with horror and fright, the Christians became more determined. Holding these idols that died for Christ as inspirations, giving them the name of martyrs. Then we talked about Constantine, who created the Edict of Milan. The Edict of Milan gave all the Christians back their land and their rights. It stated that people could not be persecuted because of their religion. Constantine is held as a saint in the Catholic church.

5/6/13

Today we handed in our essays. Lexie and I finished with 2,067 words. I am really proud! We really busted our butts and put a lot of effort and time into it. I am praying we get a good grade. After we handed that in we took the test. I am estimating I got 2 wrong, maybe 3. I think I did really well. I studied the power point for seriously, like an hour. I even read some of the textbook but I focused mainly on the power point. After I turned my test in we were supposed to read but I had to fix my blog because it finally started working again so I did that. I read outside when I got home. LO2 was about Christianity. It was funny to see the the historical side of Jesus and what the facts say. It seemed to me that most of the time they were on Christ's side.

4/3/13

Today Mr. Schick announced we were writing a 500 word essay for Pax Romana. We broke up into groups of two. Lexi and I split up the pages equally. We each have 9 pages. Lexi has LO1, LO2, and LO3 and I have LO4 and LO5. I got 121 words done in class and so far it is pretty good. We are aiming to write a thousand words each. Mr. Schick also announced we are having a test on Monday on the powerpoint he made. I think I will do well. The material is interesting and I am really into it, so we will see how it goes.

5/2/13

Today we finished watching the videos about Tiberius. I think it was really wrong of the senate to have killed him. Even though the power slightly got to his head I don't think he wanted to be kind and dictator. He pretty much wanted what Julius Ceasar did in the future. They both pretty much died for the same reasons. Tiberius was killed because the Senate thought he wanted to be king, and JC died because he declared he was Dictator for life. The only difference is Tiberius didn't actually want to be king. After talking about that we talked about Gauis Gracchus, Tiberius's brother. He tried to follow through with his brother's plans but the senate put a bounty, literally on his head. Whoever brought the head of Gauis would be payed in gold by the weight of how much the head weighed. The person that brought the head in had taken out Gauis's head and filled it with led I think, so he received no reward for trying to cheat.

5/1/13

Today I was not in school because I was sick.  

4/29/13

Today we watched the videos about Tiberius. I watched the first one at home over the weekend so I was already familiar with some of it. The videos showed how Tiberius was very different from most leaders. He took more of an interest in the plebians. He showed that he cared when his men knocked over some ladies cart and he made them repair it and give her and her son food and water. We met Octavius too. He owned latifundia and he admitted to taking the woman’s land that Tiberius had previously met and he also admitted to taking tons of other people’s lands. Tiberius stormed out in outrage and that is where we left off. Tomorrow we don’t have class so we won’t see the video again till Wednesday.

4/26/13

Today did not go well…at all. I don’t think I have ever gotten such a bad grade. I really don’t know what I am doing wrong. I study pretty hard for these tests but most of the time I either just do alright or I do well. I am really disappointed. After I handed in the test I remember realizing that I had gotten like 3 wrongs, and the 3 that I got wrong were really stupid mistakes. I am so mad! The next test I am going to do a lot better though, I will take a lot more notes and I will study a lot harder. I think I have kinda just been floating by in Western Civ but I am going to take it more seriously from now on. MARK MY WORDS.

4/25/13

Today is Thursday so today was our long mod. We had our quest today and I am really scared to see what I got. I don’t think I did very well to be honest. It’s weird though because I always pay attention in class and I always take a ton of notes but when I get to the test it’s like I forget everything! I mean most of the stuff is really interesting but I also get really bored in some of it so I guess that just kinda makes it hard to study. I think I need to study from the textbook more though, not just my notes. I don’t know, maybe that is my problem. Well I am crossing my fingers for a passing grade. I’ll tell you how it goes tomorrow.

I HAD TROUBLE WITH MY BLOG, REMEMBER?

Just a reminder that all the above blogs are late but you said that was okay because I showed you all of these. Here they are^^^^^^

4/24/13

Today in Western Civilization Mr. Schick announced we are having a quest tomorrow. I think I know the material pretty well so we will see how this goes. We talked about how the rich got richer by taking the patricians farms when all of the men were at war. The Plebians would try to "help" out the Patricians by buying their farms and their lands, and "kindly taking it off their hands." When the men got back from war they would have no choice but to move to Rome with their families if their farms were sold. They went to Rome for more job opportunities. Rome back then was kind of the equivalent to present day New York.

4/22/13

Today was the longest Monday ever for some reason. Every class, except for Western Civ of course, dragged by so slowly. And then some classes I seriously don't even remember. We continued talking about the lyrics, I wrote about another half page of notes. If I wasn't so tired I could tell you what they said, but I forgot my book because I just wanted to leave school today! I don't know why. Well hopefully tomorrow is better. The only downside about tomorrow is no Western Civ though. :(

4/18/13

Today Mr. Schick gave us the best new that I have heard in a long time. The movie maker project is only extra credit. That is such a relief, but I have mixed emotions. I want to keep working on it but no one in my group wants to do it but me. The work will take forever and I am smack dab in the middle of doing my brain flex for science. I honestly don't know if I'm going to do it. I will work on it this weekend and I will decide then. After Mr. Schick gave us that news we started dissecting the Rome lyrics. I got a full page of notes. it is pretty interesting so far. I didn't understand a lot of the things in Mr. Schick lyrics but now that we are going into it more and I get to write it down things are better. It is going well so far.

4/17/13

Today in Lexi, Ricki, Maheer and I worked on the project for the lyric movie. So far I have all my pictures, Lexi almost has all of hers and Ricki and Maheer are..well...getting there. I tried the movie maker but it was really really confusing. The music isn't working right and it is hard to get the timing perfect. Once everyone has all their pictures it will be a lot easier, so I think I'm going to have to wait in order to not draw out the process of making the movie. So far...I don't know what is going to happen. It will be interesting. Well we will see.

4/15/13

Today in class we started off with a fire drills. The fire drill took FOREVER. Plus it didn't help that it was freezing outside and we had to stand their for like years! After the fire drill we came inside, Lexi and I asked to go to the bathroom, and on our way walking back Lexi tripped over my shoes into the door, and I stumbled after her. It was pretty funny actually. When we were all seated Mr. Schick explained our next project and we went to work. We were told to work in a group of 3...but we kinda have a group of 5. Hopefully he won't mind. Well we will see how it goes. Till tomorrow.

4/12/13

LO2
Allies and Colonies

• The Romans created a network of colonies along the Italian peninsula in order to create more control
• When an army was defeated there was always more soldier to replace them
• Roman colonists almost had the rights equivalent to Roman citizens
• The people that weren't actually considered Roman citizens, like the people in Italy, wanted to be in on citizenship
• Rome became an expanding, absorptive political entit

The Punic Wars

• Rome created a rivalry with Carthage
• Carthage is o the North Coast of Africa
• Carthage had an interest in Sicily, creating tension between Rome and them
• The Punic Wars- were located on land and/or sea. It was divided into 3 viscous parts
• First Stage: Rome forced Carthage out of Cicily since they tried to take control of it
• Second Stage: Hannibal, a Carthiginian general, invaded Italy. They defeated many Roman armies and almost totally defeated Rome, but thanks to the loyal allies in Italy and other Roman forces, Hannibal was defeated, getting overpowered by more man power
• At the end of the 2nd Punic War Carthage was weak and defenseless
• Third Stage: Out of fear of fear of the revival of Carthage, Rome took the upper hand while they could and they sold the citizens of Carthage into slavery.
• Rome had complete control of the Mediterranean

Conquering an Empire
The first Roman provinces- the former possessions of Carthage in Sicily, Spain, and Africa
They were ruled as conquered lands by proconsuls
Proconsuls- governors- from the Latin words for "stand-in for a consul"
The provinces did not get to share in the benefits of Roman order until Augustus after 27 B.C.
In the previous 250 years the Romans had unified most of Italy
Rome started looking into the eastern Mediterranean to expand even more
Interests were in Greece
Greece city-states asked Rome for help in resisting the king of Macedonia
Rome sent an army
the army was only supposed to secure the liberties, but they got involved with the political affairs in admiration of the Hellenistic culture

4/11/13

Today in class Lexi and I did our pixton about Romulus and Remus. Romulus and Remus were brothers who were abandoned by their father. They were supposedly, by legend, raised by a she wolf and then Faustulus and Loba found them and raised them till adulthood. Romulus and Remus killed Amulius and then reestablished power with Numitor, their grandfather. Romulus decided to start his own empire and name it Roma after him. Remus started picking on Romulus, telling him his walls were too small. Romulus was so mad that he killed his brother in anger. Romulus continued with his empire, but all the people that lived their were criminals. They were not enough wives for them so they threw a party with a neighboring Italian tribe, the Sabines. During the party the men from Romulus's empire started taking the women for the Sabines. The Sabine tribe was so mad that they declared war but the women that grew fond of their husbands in Romulus's empire put a stop to it. Romulus then ruled with Titus Tatius.
P.S.- the link for the pixton is on Lexi's blog.

LO1 NOTES

City-State and Empire: The Roman Republic

Italy and Its People

• Italy started to grow and become stronger when tribes started moving in with them
• Little tribes were formed in Italy
• The Latins settled near Tiber River
• Eventually Rome was formed by the Latin tribes
• The Etruscans- non-Indo-European immigrants who came to Italy around the ninth century from the east
• North of Rome the Etruscans gained control of the territory
• For a time the Etruscan king conquered and ruled Rome
• This is where Rome adopted things like gladiatorial combat

The Roman Republic: The Senate and the People

• The Romans created their own political system
• Rome's government used to be modeled after the Etruscan's government
• A senate would advise the king
• The Senate was made of patricians
• Patricians- upper-class citizens who belonged to the oldest and noblest Roman families
• When a king died, a successor came from the Senate
• Around 500 B.C., the Etruscan ways were overthrown
• A republic government took over
• Republic- in reference to ancient Rome, the system of city-state government in which decision-making power was shared between the Senate and assemblies of male citizens
• The republic took on neither a Greek-style democracy nor an oligarchy, but an even mixture of both

Patricians and Plebeians

• Plebians- The Roman common people, including workers, small farmers, and wealthy people who were not patricians
• It had to be hereditary to belong in the Patrician society
• In the early times of the Republic, it was run by a Senate
• In the senate their were consuls, two senators who led the government and military for one-year terms and appointed their own successors
• the point of them was to avoid the government transitioning into a monarchy
• In times of emergency the Senate could appoint a dictator, a single leader with full decision-making powers, appointed for a maximum six-months term during times of emergency.

"Mixed Government"

• mixed oligarchic and democratic features
• widely admired
• ultimate leadership always was in the hands of the Senate

Things to know...

• The Romans not only imitated Greek civilization but they improved it.
• Italy was located in the Mediterranean sea, which is the "middle of the earth" so they were known as a very important country.
• The Latins, Etruscans, and the Greeks came to Italy.
• Our language came from the Latins.
• 
  

4/8/13

Notes

• Pausanius killed Phillip
• King Darius the third was ruling Persia
• Malaria, fever, alcohol poisoning
• The battle in India Hydaspus
• Alex conquered all of Egypt
• "to the strongest"
• Bucephulus
• 
  

3/21/13

Today in class we worked on our power point some more. Lexi and I got most of it done and Anna was absent. We are leaving her a little work so it is fair. We added a lot of more information and we added a picture to almost every slide. We have everything cited so I think everything is good right now. Hopefully we will get a good grade. We put kind of small bullet point so we can elaborate more, hopefully that won't be taken as a negative. I will probably check it again before we have to present. I think we are presenting tomorrow actually so I will have to check everything tonight and make sure we didn't spell anything wrong or we didn't follow directions somehow. I'm sure we didn't. It looks really good so far.

3/20/13

Today in class we were given partners to work on a power point about Alexander the Great. My partners are Lexi and Anna. We were given the the death of Alexander the great. We have to research how he is thought to have died and the aftermath of his death. So far I found a video on the most famous prediction of Alexander's death and written over about 4 facts on his death. I know Lexi has done a lot and I know Anna is doing a lot with the aftermath. We are doing really well so far! I'm pretty sure Mr. Schick said this was the only day we had to work on the power point in class. The rest we have to do it home. We got a lot done though so I don't think that should be a problem!

After Test Blog Assignment

Hellenistic-The Hellenistic Era  was when Greek civilization was the leading international culture but their way of life was also influenced by the peoples they ruled. Pertaining to or designating the style of the fine arts, especially sculpture, developed in the area conquered by Alexander the Great from the end of the 4th to the 1st century b.c., chiefly characterized by delicate and highly finished modeling, dramatic, often violent movement of forms in space, representations of extreme emotion, highly individuated characterization, and a wide variety of subject matter. 

I think the Athenians lost the Peloponnesian war because they weren't versatile. Their only strength was their Navy. They could put up a good fight over sea but that was about it. A huge army of triremes could only get you so far. They also had a huge number in deaths. Especially in men, who were fighting and losing most of their battles against Sparta. Plus about 2/3rds of the population died of the plague, including the leader of Athens himself. Without a leader Athens was "an unsteered trireme". They were bound to crash with no one at the wheel. Unqualified politicians tried to lead the city-state of Athens but that did not work out so well. Athens also had too many great enemies. They posed such a great threat when they were strong that their enemies took this chance to strike when they were weak. Persia actually combined forces with Sparta to end the Athenians. They Athenian's navy was destroyed and the grain that had been coming in on the boats was then cut off. The Athenians were sadly starved into surrender. Not a very fair way for the Spartans and Persians to win if you ask me. 

359- The king of Macedonia, King Phillip the second, takes control of Greece. 

Macedonia

3/16/13

In class on Friday we went over the review that Mr. Schick uploaded to his blog. I did some of the dates beforehand and I did all of the people. We finished the people and that is as far as we got. We went over a lot of important stuff such as the marathon and the Pelippinesian War. We went over a lot of people like Xerxes and Pericles and Cleisthenes. It took the whole class. No one talked this class, thank God. We ended up changing seats though because of how bad the class has been lately. I sit behind Victoria and in front of Abby.

9/14/13

Today in Western Civ we began our class by talking about the picture of Socrates drinking the hemlock. Everyone around him was crying and they were really sad but he didn't look scared at all. Then after that I thought we were going to watch the video, but we didn't. About half the class kept talking and they weren't paying attention at all. It was really rude. So Mr. Schick went out into the hallway and then came back after about 3 to 4 minutes and told us we had to work on our own, and do whatever we thought would prepare us for the test. I can't blame him. It's really annoying how disrespectful some people are, I mean don't they care about their grades at all? Well I don't really understand why the people talking can't just take notes and pay attention but now they are affecting the whole class. I'm hoping they will stop after this.

3/13/13

Today in class we watched more of the video. The video is really long but I honestly like it. The part of the video was mainly about Socrates. Socrates was an old man who was brave enough to publicly criticize the Greeks way of life. After he is arrested for this he is put on trial. They give him a chance to say he is sorry but instead he does the complete opposite. He tells the jury they should not be punishing but giving him free dinners for life and thanking him. He says that Athens is like a big and lazy horse and he is the horse fly. He has to bother the horse and constantly annoy it and sting it so it will get off its butt and move. After making that speech the jury votes and he is sentenced to death. There was only like a 20 vote difference between the people that voted him to live and the people that voted him to die. Socrates gracefully accepted his death by hemlock and perished proud and admired by his many young followers.

3/11/13

Today in Western Civilization we went over our most recent test. I did pretty well! I wish I did better but I am satisfied with my grade. I think I will do really well on the next test thought because the chapter we are studying right now is very interesting. I have written a lot of notes and I am understanding the timeline of events a lot better than the last chapter. I think it is because of the video. The video is really interesting and I have already taken over 5 pages of notes. Maybe more than 5 pages. I am looking forward to seeing more of the video on Wednesday.

3/7/13

Today was our long mod and we watched the video. I found it really interesting especially today. The video was mainly about Themistocles and the battle against Persia. So here is a summary of went happened:
The Persian army grew very big under the reign of Xerxes, who was now the king of Persia. The first thing Xerxes wanted to do was avenge his father and destroy Athens. The Athenians grew panicked, seeing how powerful the Persians were and realizing that they were the first and biggest target. In the Athenians panic they turned to the gods. They sent a few people to Delphi, where a priestess would read an oracle about what the Athenians fates would be. Myth was the god Apollo spoke through this priestess in Delphi, who was the most famous oracle of the Greek world. It was known as the center of the world. Greeks would come from far far away just to get one reading and in some cases people from outside of Greece would come to get a reading. The Athenians received bad news from their first reading. The reading said they were doomed and they needed to leave. News got back to Themistocles, who was the leader of Athens, and he sent more people for a second reading. The second reading said they needed to rely on the wooden wall to gain victory. The people did not understand and assumed they were doomed and began to panic again, but Themistocles saw it differently. He told the Athenians, this means we need to turn to the triremes, which were huge boats armed by tons of men who used brute strength to row the boat and ram into other boats. The Athenians then formed a clever plan under the instructions of Themistocles. The women and children were evacuated to Troizon, and the men stayed to arm the ships. A messenger was then sent to Xerxes, and he acted like a traitor. He gave Xerxes false information about the Athenians saying they were weak and if the Persians wanted to crush them they needed to go on boats through the Straits of Salamis. Xerxes was so excited about this news he didn't even think twice. So the Persians did just as the messenger said to do. But once they got there the Athenians were not unprepared, they were lined in wall of triremes. The Athenians crushed the Persians, and destroyed 200 of their ships. After that the women and children and men returned back to Athens where they made compromises with other Greek city-states to form the Delian League. Athens was the main power in the league and they made the government democracy. In the end of the video the unexpected happened. There was an annual vote for who was to be ostracized each year. Shockingly the people ostracized Themistocles. Humiliated and hurt Themistocles wandered from Greek city-state to city-state. He died in exile in Persia.

3/4/13

Today in Western Civ we watched more of the video. I find the video very interesting. We took of from where we left off, the red light district. This is where all the pottery was made. It was a kind of dirty place with prostitutes and just bad people over all. The potters started selling their art after freedom was given to them. The part of the video that we watched was mainly about Cleisthenes though. After he came to power the Spartans eventually took over and sent Cleisthenes and his family away. I think the man was named Igoras who conspired again Cleisthenes and turned the Spartans against Athens (sorry for the names, I lent my notes to someone because they were absent). After a short period of time the common Athenian people uprised against the Spartans. The Athenian people won and they brought Cleisthenes back to Athens to rule. We left off at the decision that Cleisthenes had to make over how to govern the people, who were obsessed with power. So he was trying to figure out how to "control them".

2/27/13

Today in class Mr. Schick let us work on our tests if we didn't finish. I was so happy! I did not fill in some answers last time and it was such a relief to be able to ake my time and fix my wrong answers and fill in the unanswered ones. After that he gave us a Chapter 4 assignment which I am doing right now. Here are the answers to what I have so far:
1600-1100 BC- This was the Age of Bronze for the Greeks. It was an advancement in their weapons.
1200s- Rise of Hellenic Civilization and that was a part of the Dark Ages.
That is all I got today because I finished my test toward the end of class and I was making a big effort on only getting answers from the big. During the time I was looking in the book I couldn't fin any! So for the sake of just writing some down I researched those two online. I will definitely get more done tomorrow or the next time we work on it.

2/25/13

Today we had a test. I FORGOT TO SAY THE PRAYER. I was in charge of prayer and I forgot! I just remembered. Well the test...how did I do on the test. Well...let's just say I'm not very good at Western Civilization. I study really hard for the tests but I can't remember the dates or anything and I get the civilizations confused. I didn't know 2 shot answers so that is already 10 points off. I think I did really well on my essay though. Well I am gonna pray that I get a good grade.

2/23/13

Western Civ was really fun on Friday. We had a debate just like the Greeks used to have in their government. The debate was about if the Chinese students should be able to use their translators for the test on Monday or not. I was all for them being able to because it is only fair. If we were in China as American exchange students, we would need our translators. The only reasonable excuse for them not to be able to was that they had been learning the English language ever since they were four. But the argument for that was a lot of the kids in the class had been learning Spanish since they were four and they could never survive in a Spanish school. I think it was ridiculous that people even opposed the idea. It was really selfish. Considering that we sometimes have a hard time figuring out what they are saying, imagine how they feel when our whole class is talking all at the same time. Their were a lot of good arguments and it was an overall great discussion  The overall turnout was everyone voted on behalf of the Chinese students accept for 2 students. It was a pretty intense class.

2/21/13

Today is Thursday so today was our long mod. We covered a lot. The thing that interested me the most was when we talked about the old blind poet who would go around telling stories. I'm pretty sure his name was Homer. He wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey. I love reading so I think me and my friend, Savannah King, are going to read to Odyssey and see if we can finish it. The short and brief description that Mr. Schick gave about the Odyssey seemed really interesting and I am really curious to read it. I don't think I could fit it in my locker though if it is 500 pages.We talked a little bit more about the Dark Ages again and how Greece still came out triumphant. We finished the outline, which Mr.Schick posted on the blog. I will probably refer to that a lot. Especially for the test on Monday.

2/20/13

Today in Western Civilization we went over an outline on Chapter 3 that Mr. Schick created. It was pretty interesting and I think I understood the material well. We talked about Greek city-states, their boats, the Sea People, a little about the Dark Ages, and the Early Europeans. The thing I found most interesting was how they built their boats. They built kind of like a tip on the front of it so they could ram into other boats and either knock the boat over, stick a hole in the boat, or just injure some people and get close enough to either go hand to hand combat or set the enemies' ship on fire. We also talked about the oars and how they needed I think around 170 people to just row one boat. We ended on that note. I also thought the Sea People were interesting. The "Sea People" conquered the Mycenaeans but there isn't a lot known about them. That makes me really curious! I'll have to look up some stuff about it to find out more.

2/9/13

Today in class we went over grades. Mr. Schick expressed the importance of the blog. Blogging can be there difference between an A or a B or a C and a D. I realized that I have been slacking on my blog not with completion but with the times. I haven't gotten them in by 12 o'clock every night so I am definitely going to try harder. After that Maheer, Ricki, Lexi and I presented our power point because ours was the only one presentation ready I think. We read our slides and went into it a lot more. We talked about the Sea people and we got more into the life of a warrior back then in 2000 B.C. I think we are finishing our presentation tomorrow.Western Civilization flew by though because I was really anxious for lacrosse tryouts at the end of the day. Hopefully I did well on my part of the power point and lacrosse tryouts!

2/16/13

Yesterday was a half day so Western Civ was cut a little short. I think it was only about 10 minutes. We went over our tests, which I am really disappointed about. I did not get the grade I wanted and I studied fairly hard. I watched all of the videos and read the text book but I guess it just never really clicked. Well I did my best. I will just have to ace the next test hopefully. After that we talked some more about our Google document power points. We have to finish them over the weekend. There are only 4 topics I think and I am doing Athens. Hopefully everything will run smoothly.

2/14/13

Today in western civ we worked on our power point of LO-1 and LO-2 in our groups. We got a lot done. We finished our part on LO-1 and we have already assigned each other categories for the slides we are to do in LO-3. We should finish the written portion today and then we might add more pictures and designs. So far we ave gotten a lot done and still had fun. We have talked about Stonehedge, and the Dark, Ages, and the Early European Barbarians. It is really interesting how the word barbarian was used back then and how it is used now. Back then it meant you were a sophisticated high class European. Now it is the complete opposite.

2/13/13

Today in human geo we had a sub because Mr.Schick was out. I think she was a French teacher because she kept saying things in French...I just kinda guess from that "little" hint. Mr. Schick sent directions with her and posted the directions on his blog. We got into groups of 4, my group was Lexi, Maheer, Ricki, and I, and we had to make a Google document. The Google document is supposed to be about the main points in LO1 and LO2. So far I have made 2 slides. One on megalithic structures and one on the Stone hedge which is the most famous megalithic structure. So far the project seems like it will go smoothly, I am starting to enjoy this chapter a lot. I'm already eager for tomorrow's class.

2/11/13

Today felt really long. Even Western Civ which usually flies by felt pretty long. We talked about the Stone Hedge which is a Megalithic structure and we shared our theories about how we thought it could of got there. I was thinking maybe they layed out the stones and then they somehow got the rock that is on top of the 2 vertical rocks and then they tied ropes to them and hauled them up straight and somehow got them to stay using something that I have no idea about. But I think we settled with the theory that aliens did it. We then watched and discussed 2 power points. One power point was from the text book and the other was from Mr. Schick who made it himself. Honestly I don't really find this chapter very interesting. I found myself wandering off a lot and having to redirect myself. But sometimes I just get a rough start so it will probably get better and more interesting once we get more into the heart of Greece.

300 Word Reading Assignment

Intro to Chapter 3
The intro began with how the Greeks started as European barbarian people. It continued talking about Greece's classical culture. Greece dabbled in art, government, science, and many more things that we will read later in the chapter. Speaking of government Greece's city-states were the first to get the people involved in government.
LO1
Greece was a start of a much more sophisticated class. Megalithic structures were being built, such as the Stonehedge, and a well-organized civilization began to form. Slowly the civilians of Greece started abandoning their earlier barbaric ways until those barbaric ways could not even be remembered anymore because of the new technologies and advancements that had begun to form. The civilization of Greece started to not just work on how to survive anymore but they started creating tradition and they took in Indo-European influences. Indo-European origin was seen through the language that was spoken. Competition started to form throughout men, who centered there lives around strength and victory. The people used gods and goddesses as their way of worship. Even though these new opportunities of wealth and success started turning up, the main job was still farming. Villages and farmsteads were made for the farmers so they could become more of a community. Tribes started to form to create a group all about kinship and for people with common interests. Tribes would sometimes fight each other or they will rise up against warrior kings. Another chunk that made up the civilization were European barbarians. European barbarians were people who spoke the Indo-European language and they were skilled in farming, metalworking, trade, warfare:over all they were a well balanced and organized group of people. A funny thing about the word barbarian is how the social eye view it. They view it as unintelligent kind of good for nothing beings but scholars viewed it as more of a common word for the well balanced Indo-European civilization. Overall so far in the reading we have read about a lot of different groups that I can't see some of them getting along very well but I guess I will see more about it later in the reading.

The test and this weekend's assignment

AHHHH! I just saw the assignment right now and I didn't bring my book home and I didn't know we had to blog about the test. -___- Ugh, Now I am going to have 2 late assignment...great. Well about the test. It was a lot more challenging then I thought it would be. I studied really hard though so I will accept what ever grade I get because I know I did my best. I'm not sure how well I did on the essay. I think my short answer was longer than my essay.I regret not elaborating more on my essay. I'm just over all disappointed in my essay. Hopefully I'm exaggerating and it's not as bad as I think it is! Well I'm kinda eager to see my grade on Monday slash not so eager. Well until Monday then!

2/7/13

Today was our long mod in Western Civ. We reviewed for the test that we have tomorrow and Mr. Schick informed us that everything is on the website so we can pretty much do all of our studies online. Since this is the first test in Western Civ I really wanna ace it. It is really interesting material so it isn't a burden or anything to study it. I like talking about Egypt and their mummification process and their pharaohs and all of their gods and goddesses. It is really interesting. The videos with John Green are really funny and enjoyable and the PowerPoint and the prezi is pretty straight to the point so this shouldn't be terribly hard to study for. Well I hope I do well! Wish me luck!

2/6/13

Today was really fun! We played this pyramid building game that had multiple stages that had to be completed. The stages were things like picking who you wanted to work for you to build your pyramid, and how you wanted to treat your workers food wise and break wise. Every time I thought I finished I ended up having disaster strike or I picked my workers wrong. I was partnered with Abby and we were both struggling through it! We ended up getting our pyramids built around the last 10 minutes of class. Abby was first to get hers built and then about 2 minutes later  finally successfully built mine. We received 8 points out of 10 for credit since we finished in class. The people that finished first (Ricky and Maheer) received 10 out of 10 and the people that finished second (Katie and Nicolette) received 9 out of 10. The rest of the class would recieve 8 out of 10 if we finished in class. If you didn't finish in class you had to play the game at home and take a screen clipping, then place it on our nightly blog. Overall I thought it was a fun day. Tomorrow is our long mod but it will probably be fun. Until then!

4 day weekend

Today was a lot of things. It was our purple Thursday  our long mod for western civ, and our last day of school until our 4 days weekend. When we get back to school it will be Tuesday so we won't have western civ till Wednesday since we don't have it on Tuesdays. I feel like we haven't had a Monday in like months! But that is a good thing because I hate Mondays and Tuesdays are my good days. We have Monday off because Arch Bishop Lori gave us it off for the Super Bowl. So now we don't have to worry about staying up late then having to go to school the next day. My sleeping schedule is going to be so messed up after this 4 day weekend -_-. Well can't wait for Tuesday where I'm sure everyone will be sharing their opinions with each other about the results of the super bowl!

1/30/13

Today in class we had a "pop" quiz today. Mr. Schick was gone for about 20 minutes taking pictures so we had time to study but I don't think I did so hot because I was absent the day the power point was presented so I didn't have too many notes. After the pop quiz we were given an in class assignment but we only had 6 minutes so I am finishing it right now. We have to read pages 20 to 29 and we have to take "light notes." This means only write down what really pops out to you and what you really think is important, not just every little  thing. So I have to finish that now so everyone have fun finishing their homework!

Was Jared Diamond right with his theory of "geographic luck"?

Yes. I totally 100 percent believe this is true. The textbook says you need a successful system of cultivating plants, taming animals, and the ability to create technology that will help the plants and animals adapt to human needs (this is called the agricultural revolution). Well how can you have these things if you're little is set up in the middle of a desert that is suffering from drought. The cultivation of plants would be impossible considering there would be no soil and the land would be so dry that it would be impossible to plant anything, the desert would be deserted (pardon the pun) of animals because there would be no food, especially if the animal is a herbivore and there are no green life anywhere, and the technology that you make would be completely useless since you have no plants or animals...enough said. What a successful civilization needs is luck. Geographic luck to be specific. You want to have your civilization in a place like the fertile crescent where you can raise sheep and cows and horses and use them to their abilities. You can use their fur/wool to make clothing, you can use them for a food resource, you can use them for whatever they produce such as milk. And then they have babies and the process starts all over again. You need a place where you can plant wheat to make bread. or corn, squash, yams, rice, etc. The list is endless. You see if you don't have geographic luck maybe you will be forced into becoming a migrant worker. In my opinion I'd much rather settle down and have some time to make some pottery and stuff because I have a system worked out and I have extra time to do things like that. I would want to have time to learn from other civilizations about how they run their little village and I would want to have time to trade with them and become an advanced civilization for my day (And I'm acting like if I lived a long long time ago). So that is why I think Jared Diamond is right and I think if the textbook had a voice it would also agree.

1/24/13

Today in class I was assigned a seat. I sit behind Ricky and in front of Tim. We watched a video on John Green and then discussed it more. The video was about domestication and the ups and downs of agriculture and the early civilizations It was a very entertaining video and it was definitely a lot to take in. I think I got the jest of it though. I know a lot about John Green because Savannah King (my BFF) always talked about him so his name was very familiar to me when we watched the video. I'm actually really looking forward to class tomorrow so see everyone tomorrow! : D

1/23/13

I wasn't in school on this day because I went to PA to visit my poppy for his birthday. We redecorated this room to make it feel more homey and I ended up getting a job at his home! A few times a month I'm going to drive up to PA to get involved with the activity center so the nice old people won't be bored all day. So I get to see my poppy more, and get more service hours, and I get to do fun things with them. THEY ARE SO ADORABLE!!! I'm so excited!

1/17/13

I know this blog is late for anyone reading it but my computer had been in the tech lab for a couple of days. So what did we do on Friday? Well I'm still getting used to Western Civ and being in a new room with a new class but so far I like it. We did some reading in the textbook and we highlighted a couple things. We talked about prehistory- the time before things were written down in history. We also talked about how civilizations started to form and progress in food supply and how to build shelters. Well after more than one civilizations formed they started to learn from each other. So they either collaborated and exchanged information and traded with them or they went to war and just tried to completely take over. Overall it was a pretty interesting class.

First Day of Class

Today was our first day of Western Civilization. We received our textbooks and wrote our names on our books. After that Mr. Schick explained about the blog. I had the blog from last semester in human geo but I had to make a new one for Western Civ. He explained to everybody that we have to blog every night, 130 words, before 12 o’clock, every night, for the rest of the semester. The blog is really important, as it was last semester, so I’m going make the best effort to post every night again. I designed my blog and I’m still trying to find out how to get the fish tank -_-. I need the fish tank. At the end of class, after I sent my URL to Mr. Schick’s email, Mr. Schick answered people’s questions and I started my blog since I knew what to do because of having him last semester. It was an overall easygoing and fun class.