review day

Today in Human Geo, we only had 40 minutes for class. In the beginning of class, we went over our tests from last week and we turned in our essay. I remembered to print my paper out before class, which was good. This is my last blog before 2018 ends. I am a bit worried for exams because I don't really know what to expect. I am hoping they go well and smooth. I am really happy that our exams are before Christmas break instead of after because it makes the break more exciting and relieving. On Monday the exams I have are English and Bio, then on Tuesday, I have my Math and Spanish exam, and then on Wednesday I have a Bible exam and finally, my Human Geo exam.

last class to write our essay

Today in Human Geo, we had the whole class to finish and peer edit our essay. I am so glad that we had 2 days in class to work on this paper because it helped me stay focused while typing it. I used the time to my advantage and ended up finishing my paper today. Tomorrow when we have class, it is mandatory for us to have them printed at the start of class. If we don't turn them in tomorrow, our grade could end up dropping by 1 or 2 letter grades. I am planning on printing my essay out tonight so I don't forget in the morning.

writing the essay

Today in Human Geo, Mr. Schick was not in class. Instead of going to his room, we had Human Geo in Mrs. Gauthier's room. We had the whole class to write and proof read our essays for the final. I found the essay was a bit harder than I thought and I was working on it the entire class and only got half way done. I am planning on finishing it over the course of today and tomorrow's class. I hope we will get the whole class to work on our essays again tomorrow because that will be very beneficial to me and the rest of the class.

test on migration

Today in Human Geo, we had our test on the topic of migration. I found this test to be pretty good because it wasn't too difficult. I had remembered talking and going over what most of the questions on the test consisted of. The podcast we listened to helped me with the test because it helped relate what we were learning in a book to real life scenarios. I am glad that I looked over my notes before the test because I knew a lot more of the questions than I thought I would. The test was mostly on the vocab words we had written down, asylums, and other topics that we read about in this chapter. In Human Geo, we also have an essay due this Friday at the start of class. I know more about what I am going to write about after taking that test. Tomorrow in class we are going to talk about our essays and go over them and I am glad that we have time to prepare.

unauthorized immigrants

On Friday in Human Geo, we talked about unauthorized immigrants. Some of the immigration concerns in the US are border patrols, workplace, civil rights, and local initiatives. Some reasons that compel unauthorized immigrants to sneak into the US are new employment opportunities family reunification, and a better way of living. In my opinion, I understand why people immigrate into the United States illegally because its quicker, easier, and there is a low chance of being caught since so many people do it. I think the only real way to stop this is to create a border wall or have more guards around the border. I also think that with the new laws that have less reasons for people to receive asylum to the US, it could cause more and more people to illegally enter the US since its harder to receive documentation into the United States. These laws could then end up hurting us more than helping us in this scenario.

controlling migration

Today in Human Geo, we talked about the topic of controlling migration. Over the decades, countries have taken over the policies of selective immigration. They did this because more people want to enter the US than what is allowed by the quota. This means that countries allow people with specific employment placement and family reunions into their country more easily than letting just anyone in. In the United States, the Quota Act was passed in 1921 and the National Origins Act was passed in 1924. This marked the end of unrestricted immigration in the US. A problem that the US has faced because of these restrictions has been many unauthorized immigrants entering the United States by crossing the border without proper documentations.

packet about immigrants

Today in Human Geo, we talked about upcoming events and received a new packet that we were instructed to read in class. I found that I enjoyed reading the packet out loud, like last time, instead of everyone reading it on their own. We all read the packet and took notes on what we thought was important. I learned that the UN classifies countries to 4 types of immigration policies. These four policies are maintaining immigration levels, increasing levels, reducing levels, and no policy. I read that unauthorized immigrants are people entering a country without proper documents that are needed. A lot of this unrestricted immigration ended in 1921 when the Quota Ac was passed. These laws established maximum limits to the amount of immigrants. The immigrant percentages now are 8% in Europe, 13% in the United States of America, and 21% in Canada. I was surprised to see that Canada had a higher percentage than US, but I believe it is because the USA has a bordered fence around it while Canada doesn't.

talked about podcast

Today in Human Geo, we listened to the rest of the podcast in class and then talked about our opinions of the podcast afterwards. In my opinion, I thought that the podcast was somewhat bias against Trump because it made him seem like he was an extremely bad person for not having as many exceptions for immigrants trying to apply for asylums in order to enter the United States. If anything, I think the law that Trump has made about accepting only around 50 people each day for court dates to receive an asylum is actually better for the United States. I believe this because some of these people entering the United States might not begin a job right away and the problem they had in their original country might be still prevalent in the US. I also think that this could possibly lower the crime rates or keep them the same. For example, if we allowed just anyone to enter the US, crime would increase greatly in my opinion. Even though people may not agree with everything Trump does or says, I think his law about asylums can most likely result in improving the US.

listened to more of the podcast

Yesterday in Human Geo, we listened to more of the podcast about migration, immigration, and asylums. We learned that Obama added domestic violence to the criteria that the US accepted asylums into the united states. Then, when Trump became president, he took that aspect of asylums away and began the concept of metering. This means that he made a law to reduce the amount of people entering the United States each day. I think this is a good idea for the most part because the people entering the United States might not start working right away and they could end up with no job and the problems they faced in their original country could still affect them in the United States.

podcast about asylums

Today in Human Geo, Mr. Schick began talking about his speech and debate class that he used to teach at John Carroll. I was confused how it related to our class until I realized he was trying to prepare our class for a speech a debate in our class. We began listening to this podcast that Mr. Schick seemed to really enjoy. I found it was interesting and I think next class, Mr. Schick is planning on having us actually go through with this whole speech and debate idea. I'm not sure how it is going to go, I am hoping it goes well. Some key things I got from the podcast were that people were given an asylum if their race, nationality, religion, political views, or social group were challenged. Before class, I barely knew what an asylum was. Now, I know that it is a save place for people that are not safe where they had currently been living.

new packet

Today in Human Geo, we began reading a new packet about migration. We had people read out loud and I thought it was very interesting. We read about what we had talked about in class yesterday. Some of the main topics were migration, immigration, and emigration. I found that the reading helped me to understand what we had learned and discussed yesterday in class. Another thing that happened in class today was when Demetri taught us a bit today. We all had questions about the western movement in America and he helped draw a map to show us what happened. I found that it helped me create an image in my mind and now I know what Mr. Schick is explaining when he talks about the western movement.

mobility

Today in Human Geo, we talked more in depth about the topic of migration. First we talked about mobility, which is the most generalized term that refers to all types of movements. Examples of this are driving to school, weekly shopping visits, and annual trips to see relatives. Another key word in this section was circulation. This is a short term and repetitive act of mobility. One example of this is college students traveling to their college in the fall and returning back home in the spring to see family. We learned that migration is a permanent move to a new location and Ravenstein’s Law is to see where migrants typically move in a region. We found that most migrants relocate within the same country, which is usually close to where they were originally living. I thought it was very interesting that around 9 percent of the world’s population are international migrants and that the US has the most foreign born residents in the world.

the actual pop quiz

Today in Human Geo, we went over the answers to the paper we had been filling out about population and wealth of different countries around the world. Then, we were told that we were going to have a quiz today and thought it would end up being really difficult. I had to get a pencil from my locker and we began the quiz. It looked extremely familiar and turns out it was a paper of the exact same questions that we had just answered. I found it went very well and I felt relieved once I had finished. We all were expecting the quiz to be hard because we hadn't had class in awhile it seemed. We also didn't have much time to look at our notes to refresh our memories on our most recent classes. Overall, I'd say this class went well and smoothly because I think we all had a pretty good understanding of what the quiz was about.

fake pop quiz

Today in Human Geo, we had a short class because of the two hour delay. Because of this, our class ended up only lasting for 35 minutes. We didn't end up doing very much since we had less time in class to work. We were handed a paper that looked like a quiz and we all thought we were about to have a pop quiz. This scared all of us because we didn't know anything on the paper because we hadn't watched the video yet. Once Mr. Schick told us it wasn't a pop quiz, we all were relieved and felt happy. Next, we watched a video about the worlds life expectancy and wealth throughout the years. I found it interesting how greatly the world has improved in both wealth and life span over just the course of a hundred years or so. Some key things I picked up from the video were that size corresponds with the population of a country and most people were located in the middle of the graph. On other part I found important was in the year 1810, people were averaged to only live for about 40 years. This greatly shocked me because now, we are averaged to live for at least 75 years or more.

going over quiz 3

Today in Human Geo, all we did was go over our quizzes. This was the quiz about the world fact book, birth and death rates, population pyramids, rate of natural increase, and total fertility rate. I was happy to see that I did really well on the quiz because I thought I had done well at the time. I only got a couple wrong, which was good. I also got one of the bonus points right and it gave me two extra points on my grade. The bonus point that I got right was the question about what the total fertility rate would have to be in order for the population to remain the same. The answer was 2.1 because the 0.1 accounts for the certain average of people who don't live to adulthood. I was surprised by how high our class average was because it was almost a 90, which is pretty good for about 30 people or so. Overall, I am happy with my grade and I think a lot of people did well too.

population concentration

On Friday in Human Geo, we talked about population concentration, populated areas, population density, and components on population. I learned that 2/3 o f the world's inhabitants are focused in 4 regions: East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Population clusters typically have flat areas with fertile soil, temperate climates, and are located near a body of water. Places that are sparsely populated are because of dry, wet, cold, and high areas. These areas usually have less people because they are considered "too harsh" for living. In class we also learned that population density is computed in 3 different ways: Arithmetic, Physiological, and Agricultural.

• Arithmetic Density is computed by dividing population by land area
• Physiological Density is computed by dividing population by farmable land
• Agricultural Density is computed by dividing population of farmers by farmable land

The final thing we talked about in class were the components of population. Geographers measure population change in a country or the world by using crude birth rate, death rate, and the rate of natural increase. 

quiz 3

Today in class, we took our quiz on the world fact book, population pyramids, and other similar topics. I found the quiz went very smoothly and I think I did pretty well on it! I am glad that we got the test over with today because I have a lot of other tests tomorrow. I thought it was funny how we had to doodle on the test, which counted as a grade. At first, I didn't know what to draw because I couldn't think of the things that I could draw because most of them were mental not physical things. I decided to draw the different population pyramids like the tree, cup, and box. I also drew arrows to represent push and pull forces, I thought that part of the test was very interesting and kind of made it more fun.

review for quiz on world fact book

Today in Human Geo, we reviewed for the quiz that is on Thursday. We practiced using the world fact book online and answering questions that Mr. Schick asked us. I found this to be relatively easy and I am not expecting the quiz to be too challenging. Along with the questions on the world fact book, we will need to know about push and pull forces for a country. Some examples we talked about in class were that Canada is an example of a pulling force because it has great health care for a cheaper price compared to the United States. An example of a pushing force would be war going on in Afghanistan or another war-torn area. Pulling forces are factors that make you want to go to another country while pushing forces are factors that impact your decisions to leave a country that you are currently living in. I am expecting this quiz to be relatively straight forward, but I am still going to look over my notes to remind me on certain topics.

population pyramids in certain areas

Yesterday in Human Geo, Mr. Schick showed pictures of different population maps on the board. I found it very interesting because we looked at what the world's population will look like in the future. It scares me a bit because I feel like by the time my age group is 60, the world will be over populated and I think it will be a huge problem in the future. I am not sure what the governments will do about this over population. We also were shown the population pyramid of Japan and it was shocking to see that Japan is actually decreasing in population. I wonder what Japan will do in the future for this decrease in population. I enjoy looking at these population pyramids because it helps me understand what is predicted for the future. I also find the pyramids very easy to understand and I like looking at the different types for certain countries and counties because they all have different shapes.

population pyramids

Today in Human Geo, we talked about population pyramids. Population pyramids are used to analyze growth or decline in fertility, mortality, and migration. On the left side of the graph is males, and on the right side are females. The three basic shapes of population pyramids are shaped in a Christmas tree, a box, or a cup. The Christmas tree shows growth rates are slow and it most likely means they are developing nations including Africa. Christmas tree graphs show a high birth rate and a short life expectancy. A box shaped graph shows low infant mortality and is a developed nation. Since everything is most likely equal in a box graph, it means there is a slow population growth and long life expectancy. The final common shape is the cup and it is known for having an extremely low birth rate. They have a shrinking population which can cause damage for the future jobs and professions that will be needed. Cup graphs also are developed nations with long life expectancies.

more about the world fact book

Today in Human Geo we talked more about the world fact book and found many new things about it. We are planning on having a quiz Tuesday about navigating the world fact book. There will only be 15 minutes to finish the quiz, but we are allowed to use our laptops. I am very glad that we are able to use our laptops because they will be extremely helpful during this. We will need to know crude birth and death rates, net migration, rate of natural increase, push and pull forces, and certain populations of different countries around the world. I might need to use the world fact book a bit more to practice but I am not expecting this quiz to be too difficult so that is good.

world fact book

Today in Human Geo we discussed the world fact book and I think it is interesting because it shows a multitude of information all in one website. I decided to write about Australia because I have always wanted to visit there because it is on the opposite side of the world. Australia has 23,232,413 people in their country, which I thought was important to note and it is the 56th largest country in the world. People living in Australia are predicted to live for about 82.3 years, I found it is longer than the average for the United States. Australia's economy is mostly based off of natural resources, energy, and food. They are known for extensive reserves of coal, iron, copper, gold, and natural gas. My final fact that intrigued me is that the area of Australia is 7,741,220 sq km and it is the seventh largest country in comparison to the world. I think that the world fact book will be very helpful to me in the future when I have research papers about certain countries or areas around the world.

migration

Today in Human Geo, we talked about birth rates and death rates per 1000 of the population. We learned that the net migration rate is the difference between the number of people entering and leaving a country during the course of a year. There is net immigration and emigration and a good way to remember it is immigration is going in with an i and emigration is exiting and has an e. There are also many ways for migration, for example if people have a pushing force like a civil war, environmental degradation, unemployment/under employment, or religious/ethnic persecution. Other reasons people could migrate would be a pulling force including better economic opportunities, better health services, religious freedom, or political freedom. At the end of class, we began discussing the total fertility rate which is the average number of children born per woman. We found that in order for the population to remain steady, its TFR would have to be 2.1. Anything over would cause an increase in population, and anything under would cause a decrease in population.

life expectancy

Today in class, we went over our test from a week ago and I got a 100 so that was good! I found a lot of the questions to be easy because I had remembered going over most of them in class. Today was the first day Mr. Schick had exploded so that was something....new. After that chaos, we began talking about life expectancy which is the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year. The highest life expectancy is in Monaco, located near the Mediterranean Sea. They have a life expectancy of 89 years old while the US has a life expectancy of around 79 years. I think it is shocking to think that in Chad, people living there are only expected to live til their 50's.

population

Today in class we talked about population. There are over 7.5 billion people on the Earth right now and the population is currently increasing by over 73 million each year. I think this is crazy to think about because soon enough there will be about 10 billion people in the world. I don't know what will happen if the world gets over populated. I wonder if in the future, governments will start to limit the amount of babies being born, like in China. I think this overpopulation will definitely be a problem for the future because 90% of the population growth is taking place in underdeveloped countries where most of the families can't provide for their children. Also, the children in these developing countries will not get the health care and education that they need in order for success.

another test pt 2

Today we took our second test in Human Geo. I found the test went very smoothly and I feel very confident about my answers. I studied longitude and latitude, the different types of maps, and time zones. I am glad that I knew those topics because thats mostly what the test consisted of. One of only questions that I am unsure of was the question about how El Paso got its name. I thought it was because of its origin because it is a Spanish name. But, in Spanish, El Paso means the pass so it could have been named that because of its physical features. Overall, I feel really good about that test and I am glad that I studied.

review game

Today in Human Geo, we reviewed some more for the test on Friday. Demetri taught the class again today and we played a game to help us go over some questions he thought would be on the test. I thought the game was really helpful and it made me understand more of what our test is going to be on. Overall, the class was kind of loud but pretty productive. For example, Mr. Schick kept having to quiet us down but we still ending up getting our studying and review done. I think we should play this game more before tests because it helps our class understand the material in a more fun and engaging way.

review for test on 10/19/18

Today in Human Geo, we did a review for our test this Friday. We went talked about how the prime meridian is exactly opposite of the international date line. We also talked about finding out the time for different places around the world. Each time zone is separated each 15 degrees longitude and there are 24 time zones on Earth. From the east of the international time zone, time is an hour ahead and so on and from the west, time is an hour earlier and so on. I am thankful that we are able to use our maps with the timezones for the test on Friday because it will help a lot.

in class assignment

1. Eratosthenes is known for making the first accurate measurement of the circumference of Earth.
2. Another thing Eratosthenes is known for is being the second head librarian of the Library of Alexandria
3. Eratosthenes also created a mathematical technique that shows a way to find all prime numbers to a specific integer.
4. It would be 7:00 am in Oregon.
5. It would be 3:00 pm in Greenwich.
6. It would be 10:00 am in Toronto.
7. The time would be 3:00 am at the South Pole.
8. Five toponyms named after physical features are Iceland, Greenland, Rocky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Long Island.
9. Five toponyms named after Native American places are Iowa, Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Connecticut.
10. Five toponyms named after important people are Washington D.C, Baltimore, Virginia, Georgia, and Louisiana.
11. Five toponyms that have a religious affiliation are San Fransico, St. Paul, Santa Fe, Bethlehem, and San Juan.
12. The coordinates for Baltimore MD are 39.2904° N, 76.6122° W.
13. The coordinates for Quito, Ecuador are 0.1807° S, 78.4678° W.
14. The coordinates for Taveuni, Fiji are 16.8414° S, 179.9813° W. 
15. The coordinates for Christchurch, New Zealand are 43.5321° S, 172.6362° E.
16. The coordinates for Juneau, Alaska are 58.3019° N, 134.4197° W. 
17. Geographic Antipode is the point on Earth that's located directly opposite to a specific geographic location, which would be the farthest point in the world from that specific location.
18. The antipode of Beijing, China is Greenwich, English.
19. Shoalwater Western Australia, Australia is the antipode of Bermuda.
20. Augusta, Western Australia, Australia is the antipode of my house.

culture

On Friday in Human Geo, Demetri taught the class again and I learned a lot. We talked a lot about culture. Culture is the body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together decide the certain traditions of a group of people. We learned there are two different types of culture; what people care about and what people take care of. Geographers study these both to figure out why main ideas and values produce a certain culture in a particular place and to figure out the production of material wealth, including clothing, food, and shelter that humans need for survival. We started talking about the topic, "why are different places similar?" We talked about scale which is the relationship between the portion of the Earth being studied and Earth as a whole. This is related to globalization which is a force/process that involves the entire world and results in making something world wide in scope.

review on section 1

Today in class we had a review day and went over the main ideas of section 1. Some of the main ideas covered in this section were maps, gps, telling time around the world, location, and regions. Eratosthenes created the first world map and Ptolmy had some additional improvements later in history. There are mainly three different maps of the world that we use today, Mercator, Peters, and Robinson. We talked about the distortion caused when mapping the world because it is hard to map something spherically shaped like Earth on a flat surface. This can affect the shape of areas, distance, size, and direction between points. Latitude and Longitude are used to describe where areas are located. The Earth is also split up into 24 different time zones and each 15 degrees of longitude has its own time zone. We learned that the prime meridian passes through Greenwich, England and is the master reference of time for all points on Earth.

pop quiz

On Friday, we had a pop quiz in Human Geo. I've realized there are a couple things I need to look over because I definitely did not get a 100 on that quiz. In my head, I always thought that longitude went side to side and latitude went up and down. In reality it's the other way, so I'll definitely need to remember that for the next tests and quizzes in the future. I also got the nation date line mixed up with Greenwich, England because I thought that the date line meant standard time reference. Now, I'll know for next time that the date line passes through 180 degrees longitude and the standard time passes through Greenwich at 0 degrees longitude.

regions

Today in class we talked about the different types of regions on the map and how we name them. Mr. Schick let students teach the class for today and I think it made class more fun and engaging. We should do that more often because it was fun and we were learning at the same time. Demetri also did really well and I think he should always teach the class. This week has been really fun because of spirit week and I think that is what also made class more fun.

kneeling for the national anthem

       In class today, we went over our tests and the questions we had for it. After that, Mr. Schick started asking us questions and was interested in our responses. This was how Socrates taught his students and I thought it was really engaging and I found this method really interesting. We talked a lot about the NFL players kneeling for the National Anthem and I do think that this is somewhat similar to what Socrates did in Athens. I believe this because the NFL players are attempting to protest what they believe and that was exactly what Socrates did when he told everyone that they should be thanking him for what he did instead of punishing him. The big difference however, is that Socrates was punished by death and the football players would be punished by being off the team.
       I don't think what the players are doing is right because it comes off as disrespectful but it is working because everyone knows about it and it is a peaceful way to protest. I think it is better than maybe a march or something because this is probably working more effectively and it is peaceful with out any fighting or anything like that. I don't have a certain side that I am defending because I think that both of the reasons that people brought up in class about this situation made sense.

gps

Today in class we talked about the GPS and how we use them today. They are very convenient to use for directions when you're in the car, pilots use them to navigate, and our phones use them to find a location of a place. We also talked about the cons of finding location and how our phones are tracking where are. I think this is a problem because there can be many things that could go wrong if someone gets a hold of where you live and if they find out your personal information. This could be very dangerous in the long run and could cause many problems with technology. We also labeled a time zone map in class today.

catch up day

Today in class we had time to catch up on late assignments and finish our maps. I found this day really helpful because I had a lot of work to do and I won't have to do as much on the weekend. Labeling the maps has helped me learn more about them and understand where the continents are placed. Mr. Schick also checked our blogs to see if they were good enough, hopefully mine is good.

drawing maps

Today in class, Mr. Schick came in late and everyone was very talkative. We had a shorter class today because of the community bell and we labeled different types of maps. We found the equator, tropic of cancer and capricorn, the prime meridian, the seven continents, and the five oceans. I enjoyed doing this because it was interesting to see how the maps were printed differently. I thought it helped us learn the maps and understand where things were placed.

longitude and latitude

Today in class we talked about longitude and latitude on a map. We also learned about why we have different time zones. These are some notes:

• geographic grid: a system of imaginary arcs drawn in a grid pattern on Earth's surface
• meridians: drawn between the north and south poles (longitude 0 to 180 degrees)
• parallels: arcs drawn parallel to the equator (latitude 0 to 90 degrees)

the points on Earth's surface can be communicated by referencing latitude and longitude

• for example, Denver is 40 degrees North Latitude and 105 degrees West Longitude

further accuracy can be obtained by dividing each degree into 60 minutes and each minute into 60 seconds

Earth telling time

• Earth as a sphere is divided into 360 degrees of longitude
• divide 360 degrees by 24 time zones, which equals 15 degrees
• each 15 degree band of longitude has a certain time zone

Greenwich Mean Time is 

• located at the prime meridian 

• it passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich England 

•  it is the master reference of time for all points on Earth

organization of cartographers for social equality

            In the video we watched in class, they made many points on why the maps should be switched. The first reason was because the Mercator projection gained European attitudes and created an ethnic bias against other 3rd world countries. I think this is unfair because we should be learning what the map looks like in reality, not what the Europeans perceive it as. This map was originally made to help European sailors, it wasn't made to learn about in a classroom setting.
           In the video, the cartographers also compared the size of Greenland to Africa. In the Mercator map, Greenland looks as if it is half the size of Africa and I've always thought Greenland was really big, but in reality, Africa is around 14 times larger than Greenland. I think this is crazy how we've been using the Mercator map to learn the whole time, even though its very different from the real world. For example, many countries on the map aren't even placed in the correct spot and everything is distorted, while we had no idea.
           I think the points the cartographers made in the video are extremely valid and make sense. I don't know why the map hasn't been changed even though it has been wrong and bias for thousands of years. I think if we did switch the maps it would be very beneficial and better for learning about in a classroom environment. If we ended up making the southern hemisphere at the top of the map and the northern hemisphere at the bottom, it would be confusing but it would help continents that have been overlooked to finally have people learn more about those areas. I believe schools should start enforcing the Peters projection map because it would help teach students where the continents are correctly located and how big their sizes actually are.

mercator and peters maps

Today in Human Geo we talked about the maps and what the different types mean. There is a map called The Peters Projection Map and The Mercator Projection Map. Schools have used the Mercator Map for a long time but in reality, it is less accurate than the Peters Projection Map. The Mercator Map has had bias measurements of the countries because the Europeans created it originally to make traveling easy for them. Which caused European countries and the United States to appear larger than some of the 3rd world countries, even though its not actually the correct size. I find this interesting because its weird how I have been learning the sizes of countries wrong this whole time and had no idea.

maps

In class today, we talked about maps and began learning section 1.1.1, 1.1.2, and 1.1.3. They key issues we began talking about were:
How do geographers describe where things are?
Why is each point on Earth unique?
Why are different places similar?
Why are some human actions not sustainable?

map: a 2 dimensional or flat-scale model of Earth's surface, or portion of it
cartography: the science of map making
       
         2 purposes of maps;
         - reference tool for navgation
         - communication toll to show human activities or physical features

In early mapmaking, maps were only used as reference and navigation tools. The first world map was made by Eratosthenes (276-194 BC). Maps were revived during the age of exploration and the age of discovery. In class today we also learned that the middle of the earth was believed to be the mediterranean.

test today

Today we had our first test in Human Geo. The test was about The Message to Garcia and Socrates. I feel like I did pretty well because I knew most of the topics on the test. We had to write an essay about life or Socrates trial. I decided to write my essay about Socrates' trial and outcome because I knew a lot about that topic.

first test on monday

Today, we had a shorter class and talked about what is going to be on the test on Monday. We are going to have to write an essay thinking about the topic, "the unexamined life is not worth living." This means that you should live life to the fullest and do good things in the world. I think this is a good thing to live by because it can make your life more interesting.

socrates

We talked about Socrates today and found out he was charged with two crimes for teaching young people different lessons that the government didn't agree with. He took the blame because he didn't think anything was wrong with what he was teaching. Later, he had the chance to escape prison, but he decided to take his punishment to show that he agreed with Athen's government and laws. I think that was the right thing to do because he is now he is respected.

democracy

Today in class we learned that Mr. Schick’s wife has three horses and we learned about Democracy, Excellence, and Socrates. I enjoyed talking about how if there is democracy in a country there is excellence because the people enjoy making decisions for themselves. This will then cause them to love and appreciate their country because of the decisions they were able to make. I thought this was true because people will be more supportive and love their country if they get a say on what is going on around them and in their lives.