Friday September 29, 2012

I came to class today knowing that Mr. Schick was on a field trip with the Film Club, but it turned out to be a lot more than that. In my free mod right before this class, I read Mr. Schick's blog, saying that section 1 (that's us), would have a substitute while he was on the field trip. However, when we arrived, there was no one in the room! All of us were very confused as 10 minutes went by without anyone to teach us. A few of my classmates remembered a school rule stating that if no teacher was available, a student must contact the main office immediately. So a few students called the main office and told them that our substitute was not here. They said that they would fix the problem and send someone to look after us. A couple teachers stopped in occasionally to check on us as time passed. After a while, we got news that Mr. Schick just got back to the school and that he would be with us in a couple minutes. When Mr. Schick finally cam, he played "God Grew Tired of Us" for us to watch. In the movie, the lost boys have been in America for a while. They got small jobs to support themselves, like cooking burgers at McDonald's, and working in factories. Later, one of the lost boys, Panther, received a letter from his parents saying that they were having financial issues in Uganda. Panther is now working very hard in America so he can send money to his parents. I am curious to see what happens next in the film. 

"God Grew Tired of Us" 2

Today we watched more of "God Grew Tired of Us" in class. In the movie, the UN learns about a large group of boys who are running away from Sudan to avoid religious persecution. The UN decides to set up a refugee camp in Ethiopia, where the boys can live in peace. The refugees predict that they only will be there for a few weeks, maybe a month, before things get better and they can go back to Sudan. However, the civil war in Sudan rages on for another 10 years, and is still going on today. For 10 years, the boys had no choice but to stay in Ethiopia, for if they set foot in Sudan they would be killed. Later, the United States agreed that they would take a handful of the refugees and allow them to live in America. The documented 3 boys are among the few hundred who are selected to live in America. As they are travelling to America, the boys are amazed at the technology that they encounter along the way. They have never seen electricity before, and have never eaten food like Americans do. It was a bit funny when they were served a meal with and butter on the side, and they started to eat the stick of butter alone. It was a very interesting to see how they reacted to their new life, and I am very excited to see what they will encounter next!

  

Thursday September 26, 2012

Today, we got our tests back from the other day. Before he started to pass them out, he said that if we heard a bell sound ( him pressing one of those bellhop bells), it means we got an A on our test. If we didn't hear the bell, it means that you either got a B, C, D, or F. When my turn came around, I was glad that I heard the bell. I thought that I would have done worse because of this one set of questions I was unsure about, but whatever. We spent much of the class period reviewing the answers to the questions on the test. I didn't have many wrong answers, so it was a bit boring for me. During the entire class, people were talking while Mr. Schick was, and he had to keep reminding us to stop talking. After the 5th or 6th time, when the class kept talking, Mr. Schick actually left the room. It took a bit for the entire class to realize that the teacher left. Everyone eventually got it, and we stayed silent until Mr. Schick came back in. We now know that it is rude to talk over the teacher. After that whole thing was settled, we watched a bit more of "God Grew Tired of Us"

"God Grew Tired of Us"

Today was our first test in Mr. Schick's class. I made sure to study my blogs and review my notes so I would be well prepared for today. I thought the test was very easy, and I was very glad I studied. After everyone was finished, Mr. Schick told us about a video he wanted to show us. The title was called "God Grew Tired of Us" It is a true story about 3 boys who lived in Sudan during the late 1980s. There was a civil war in Sudan, and the 3 boys along with many others try to make their way out of Sudan to avoid religious persecution. We watched the first 20 minutes of it, and I was horrified at what I saw. Some people looked like skeletons with skin on them. Others were so skinny that they couldn't even walk! When I see these people it makes me realize that I take many things for granted. I am very interested about what will be in the rest of the video tomorrow. I also hope that I get a good grade on the test I took today.

Friday, September 21

Today's class period was a lot like Thursdays period. We still had a few groups who haven't presented their presentations to the class. We watched their presentations and they were very interesting. That part took up most of the period. When everyone finally finished presenting, Mr. Schick told us how to study for the Test he was assigning Monday. He said that it would be on everything that we have discussed since the first day of school. He told us that one of the main reasons for writing these blogs is to help us study for tests he will assign us. These blogs will tell us about what we did everyday in class. He said we need to review Socrates and A Message to Garcia, and the Did You Know video. His test will also cover some of the population terms we were talking about recently. I hope I copied down enough information about what we did in class.

Sharing our Google Documents

Today, we presented to the class all of our Google documents. My groups document was about Nigeria. Others included Indonesia and India.Our group was the second or third group to present. Each of the members of my group shared what they wrote in the document. When I was presenting my portion of the document, I found that I made a typo when writing it. I pointed it out and told people to ignore it. I get nervous when I am speaking in front of a lot of people, and my face started to get red. Mr. Schick asked if I was alright, and I said yes. He then asked me if I was going to cry (as a joke), and I responded by saying no in a high voice. My voice cracked, and everyone laughed including me. I thought that we did pretty good presenting. I was also interested by the other presentations people gave. I am also glad that Mr. Schick postponed the test he was going to give Friday, to Monday. That will give me extra time to study about what we learned.

Nothing Important

Today in class, we had an assignment we were supposed to do. We were supposed to make a powerpoint about Nigeria. That's all.
:D

Population

Today in class, we dealt with the topic of population. We took notes on the different populations of various countries, and learned about life expectancy, Net Migration Rate, Total Fertility Rate, push and pull factors, and so much more. I was surprised to learn that it took more than 10,000 years for the total human population to exceed 1 billion. Now, it only takes about a decade for the total human population to increase by 1 billion! I also found out that most of the increasing population is coming from developing countries: like countries in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Whats also interesting, is that for the population to remain at a constant rate, the Rate of Natural Increase (RNI) must stay at 2.1. You would think it would be 2.0 because their would be a direct replacement from the parents, but the reason it is 2.1 is because some of the people wont make it to the age where they can have kids. Plus, you add the factors of war, starvation, and crimes to all of that. We also learned about what pushes a person into a country, or out of one. Currently, there are about 7 billion people on this planet, and it is likely to grow to 8 in the next 9 or 10 years. I hope we will be prepared.

What is a "Record Player"?

We came into class today ready to share what we thought was the most interesting facts in the video we were assigned to watch. I mentioned some of the interesting facts in my previous blog. We had a very interesting discussion about what was in the video we saw. Mr. Schick told us that half the stuff that was in the video didn't exist when he was a kid. He said that there were no such things as i pods and cell phones when he was young. Back then, you had these big music discs that you put on a big record player. You also had a home phone that was attached to a cord, plus it was fairly large. If you were to go back in time about 25 years, they would think you were crazy when you told them that you will be able to take pictures, or surf the internet on your phone. They would also think you were crazy when you said that computers would be in every home in America 25 years from now. If this much can be accomplished in 25 years (music discs to i pods), think of how much will be accomplished in another 25 years. We talked about what we thought would be in the near future. One person suggested that there would be microchips installed into peoples brains, and you could play music by just thinking about it. The next generation of kids will think it is crazy that we had i pods everywhere, when you can just listen to it in your head instead.

Did you Know?

Today in class, we had a big problem with the blogs. When Mr. Schick told us to open our blogs, almost every-bodies said that it was under review for being a potential span threat. I was surprised because it was working fine the previous night. We spent about 1/3 of class time trying to fix the problem. Eventually Mr. Schick told us to deal with it and to access our blogs from his. We continued to review the answers to our homework from Tuesday, and dealt with topics like Gross Domestic Product (or GDP), the Net Migration Rate (or NMR), and the population of various countries. With the last 5 minutes of  class left, we also watched a video that showed interesting facts about today's society. I thought the 2 most interesting facts of the video were: "The 25% of India's population with the highest IQ's... is greater than the total population of the United States. Translation: India has more honers kids than America HAS kids." And, "There are about 600 tweets per second on Twitter." It is really amazing to see how much we have accomplished in the in the last 2000 years. It makes you think what will the future be like.

Reviewing Answers

Today in class, we went over last nights homework. Since our homework was a very lengthy subject, we pretty much spent the whole time reviewing answers. That however, doesn't mean that it was a boring class day. We learned about interesting topics that are going on in the world today. Like the fact that Iran and Pakistan have control over nuclear weapons, share borders with each other, and are not very good friends with each other either. We also learned other things, like the reason Saudi Arabia is doing so well is because it is sitting on one of the largest oil reserves in the world, and that the United States imports and consumes more oil than any other country in the world. Besides the fact that we reviewed or homework, we didn't really do much else. I was looking at Mr. Schick's blog today, and I noticed that their was a video link for a video section 1 watched today. I am very curious to know what that video is about. I am interested to know what tomorrow has in store for us.

CIA World Factbook

Today, Mr. Schick told us about the CIA website, and how useful of a site it really is. It has loads of information about various countries around the world and current events that are taking place. Mr. Schick wanted us to look up the answers on the site to the following questions he gave us. The questions and answers are posted below.

1. What is the population of the United States? 313,847,465

 

2. What are the five largest countries in the world, by population? China, India, United States, Indonesia, and Brazil

3. What is the population of Pakistan? 190, 291,129

4. What kind of government does the United States have? Constitution based Federal Republic (Democracy)

5. What is the unemployment rate in Zimbabwe? 24.9%

6. What is the largest country in the world by area? Russia

7. What country has the third greatest number of airports? Mexico

8. What country has the greatest number of exports? China
9. What country exports more oil than any other? Saudi Arabia
10. What country imports more oil than any other? United States
11. What country consumes more oil than any other? United States
12. Can women serve in combat roles in China’s military? Yes
13. What is GDP? Gross Domestic Product
14. What country has the highest GDP per capita in the world, and how much is it? Liechtenstein/141,100
15. Is the US in the top ten for GDP per capita? No, it is 11th
16. Most of the countries with the highest birth rates can be found in what continent? Africa
17. 11 of the top 12 countries with the highest number of deaths from HIV/AIDS can be found in which continent? Africa
18. What other country is in the top ten? India
19. Where does the US rank in HIV/AIDS deaths? Number 18
20. Is the US #1 in number of cellular phones? No, it is third.
21. What percentage of the US is Roman Catholic? 23.9%
22. What percentage of Mexico is Roman Catholic? 76.5%
23. What is Net Migration Rate? The amount of migrants per 1000 of the population.
24. Does the US have the highest Net Migration Rate in the world? No, Qatar does.
25. What is the current population of the entire planet? 7,021,836,029 people

The top two questions I find the most interesting are numbers 21 and 22. I would have thought the exact opposite. That the United States would have more Roman Catholic people than Mexico would. It is very surprising to find the difference in percentage rates between the two countries.

Writing Notes on Notes

Today in class, Mr. Schick taught us how to be prepared for the rest of the semester. He taught us how to take notes fluently and accurately. He started by taking about the topic "Illinois" , and we had to take notes on what he said. He talked very fast, and it was fun to hear what peoples notes were like. Some peoples notes were very inaccurate from what he had even said. I volunteered to read my note taking aloud in front of the whole class. Mr. Schick was also telling very interesting stories from when he was a kid and in school. One of his stories was taken place during his birth. It was a cold December day in Chicago, and Mr. Schick's mother was pregnant. She was trying to find a hospital in which she could give birth from. However, all of the hospitals were full. She eventually found a run down hospital that was in a sketchy neighborhood. It was in an unfamiliar place and it took a while to get there. (Does this story remind you of anyone?)

Another story that Mr. Schick told us was in his collage year. One of Mr. Schick's professors was a very brilliant man. He wrote a few novels and textbooks, was a very good tennis player and mountain-biker, and was very smart and athletic. However, he had had a stroke right before the school year had started. When he had finally returned, he could not do the things that he used to. He could not pace the room and give meaningful lectures. He now had a cane and his talking was slurred. He could not do the things he loved, like play tennis and mountain-bike. He was also very mean to the class he taught. He would occasionally give 'Bs' and 'Cs' to papers for no particular reason. So, a few people and Mr. Schick planed to talk to him and ask what he wanted from them, and they voted Mr. Schick to talk to ask the question. So the next day, Mr. Schick asked what he wanted from them, and he responded by telling them he wanted to do the things that he used to do. And he asked Mr. Schick if anyone in the room can give him that. Mr. Schick's question didn't really help, because he just continued to be mean. (I think I learned a lot from Mr. Schick's note taking tips because I was able to tell you all of this.)

Wikipedia is Good

Today in class, Mr. Schick told us about how we can improve our blogs by making them better. He told us how we can add links to our blogs so we can easily access important sites that we will be using throughout the year. He said that by the end of the semester, we would have between 20 and 30 links attached to our blog! Mr. Schick also went over different sources that we can find our information from when writing research papers. He went over the "good" sites to use, and the "bad" sites to use. I found out that, to my surprise, Wikipedia was one of the "good" sites to use when finding information. I was always taught that Wikipedia was an "unreliable source", and that people can edit the site at any time and give people misinformation. Mr. Schick agreed that it is possible to edit on the site, but he thinks that such a HUGE resource of facts and information shouldn't be ignored. He said that Wikipedia is the largest collection of human knowledge in the world! Mr. Schick also said that you need to create an account on Wikipedia to edit, so that way no one can just edit the site as they pleased. Also, if you are caught giving untrue information on the site, you can be banned from the site altogether! Plus, teachers, historians, scientists, workers for Wikipedia, and other knowledgeable people are always checking the site. If they see that there is an untrue statement on the site, they can re-edit it and fix the mistake. Mr. Schick said that there is a very little chance that you will find an untrue statement on Wikipedia. He actually REQUIRES us to have Wikipedia as at least one of your sources when writing a paper for him. I may not use Wikipedia for other teachers, but I will definitely use Wikipedia for Mr. Schick's class.

Essay 3

The question for this essay was: Assuming that you think excellence is a good thing, write out a five-point action plan that describes how you are going to approach your career at the John Carroll School over the next four years.

My five-point action plan would allow me to be successful. I define success as: getting good grades, being involved in extra-curricular activities, and just being an all around good person. Step one toward my success at John Carroll would be to make good habits. I will try to get all of my homework done when I got home from school, and I would not procrastinate and study for tests even if they are not the next day. I will also try to make good relationships with my teachers so I can have a good school year, and not dread going to their class every day. Step two of my five-point action plan would be to get involved. I am already a member of the John Carroll band, and I plan to try out for the Tennis Team in the spring. Step three of my plan is to be outgoing. I will try to move out of my comfort zone, and to make friends outside of band or my classes. I will try to be a friendly person, so everyone enjoys my company. Number four to my action plan is to have fun. I will come in to John Carroll with a positive attitude, and always be ready to learn. Lastly, and the most important, number five is to do my best. I will always give 100 % effort in everything I do. I want to be remembered as someone who never gave up, even in the hardest of times. I want to be successful by being someone who can deliver a message to Garcia, or by being someone who fits the term arete. If I want to be successful at John Carroll, I need to be someone who cares.

Day 4, and Essays 1, and 2

The first week of John Carroll was tough. I already have a few research papers to write! I finally felt relieved that I would get a break from the work. But, I still had Mr. Schick's class to go through first. We reviewed the ancient Greeks and Socrates from the homework we had the night before. Mr. Schick makes anything sound interesting when he teaches it. He is so enthusiastic in what he does, and it makes his class fun, and I always walk out wishing his class would be a little longer than it already was. He sent us home with a few essays to include into our blogs.

 The first essays question is: Give your original definition of arete, and describe how Socrates and the ancient Greeks demonstrated this quality.

I believe that the true message of arete, is to give it your best shot, and never quit. Arete is not just getting something done, it's going above and beyond to get the job accomplished. Socrates demonstrated this characteristic by pursuing his dream. His goal was to teach the youth of Athens how to open their minds to the world. He wanted his pupils to be curious and ask questions. Socrates did not just teach, he enlightened the minds of the youth. As an example: He didn't give answers, he asked questions. It made people think twice about the littlest things. In my opinion, Socrates demonstrated arete by doing what no teacher or philosopher has done before, and by going above what he wanted to do.


The second essays question is:  Imagine that Elbert Hubbard and Socrates have time-travelled to the present.  Describe what they would think or say about life in America in the year 2012.

If Elbert Hubbard had time-travelled to the present, I believe that he would be pleased and dissapointed. He would have thought that his article had changed peoples perception of how things are done, because of its popularity in the early 1900s. He would see that with the new technology around, people can now do things themselves, and not have to ask others for assistance. But, he would also see that the technology has made people lazier. People are now put thing off until later, and some don't get anything accomplished throughout the day. On the other hand, Socrates would be very proud of the way humans have evolved throughout the years. He would be intrigued by how much we have learned over time, and how humans live in a world surrounded by technology. I am sure that both would have a lot to say about the present, and it would be very interesting to learn about what they think.

Essay 3 will be posted in the upcoming days.