Today in Class... Exam Review Day. 12/13/16

Today is exam review day. Well first we went over the test and I made the dumbest mistakes but that's okay. I mean its not okay but there isn't really anything I can do about it now. After we went over the what was going to be on the exam and how many questions were going to be on each part. It doesn't seem like it is going to be too hard or anything. The only thing that is a little concerning is that we have to write two five paragraph essays. That's ten paragraphs all together plus 100+ questions. I just hope that during my studies I haven't missed any important information.

Today in Class... Test Day. 12/12/16

Today in class we took our test on environmental geography... part 1 (I think). I think I did pretty well on it because all of the questions were pretty much just common knowledge and stuff. Obviously there were some things that weren't but we went over in class and as long as you paid attention you should've been okay.

Alright this just in, Mr.Schick is going to run the scantrons through the scantron thingy right now! Once he gets back he is going to tell us all our grades. Turns out I didnt do as well as I thiught I did. I thought I did well enough to get an A, but I got an 83%. I hate when this happens, I think I did really well on a test and then I end up doing not so well on it.

Okay so I'm at my house doing homework right now and I just got this email from Mr. Schick sayign that he curved everyone's test 4 points. It brought my grade up to an 87%. Still not the best but better than before. THANK YOU MR. SCHICK!!!!!!

Today in Class... Climate Change #3. 12/9/16

Today in class we finished the power point and our notes on climate change. We did a brief review on what we had learned about yesterday, which were the highlights of the Bill Nye video, and we also discussed a few other things. We looked at the opposing views of people who don't necessarily believe in/about climate change. They may think that climate change isn't a thing, its not humans fault, there are no consequences to climate change, or proposed solutions are ineffective/expensive. We also talked about how oil companies advertise that climate change isn't a thing, but they also prepare for the rising sea levels just in case their rigs break. The last thing we had talked about was Donald Trump electing Scott Pruitt. He elected him to be the leader of the EPA. He is oen that does not believe in climate change. He has also tried to sue the EDP multiple times but has never been successful.

Today in Class... More on Climate Change. 12/7/16

Today in class we continued on learning about climate change. We watched a second video about it and it was by Bill Nye (the science guy). His video had more of a visual explanation which actually helped a lot and also gave more information on the effect of climate change. Some of that information includes: 11/ past 14 were recorded as the warmest years on record, the sea levels have risen 6.7 inches, and since 1994, the earth has lost 400,000,000,000 (4x4x4 mi.) tons of ice glaciers each year. We also discussed some solutions that people can do to reduce the pollutants that are hurting our environment. There were the obvious solutions that everyone has heard of which was to recycle/reuse, ride a bike, walk, use public transportation, and turn of electronics. There were some that I was not familiar with which were to eat less meat, and to eat locally grown foods. I was kind of confused with these two but then I started thinking. We should eat less meat so then due to less meat consumption, farmers wont have to breed as many cows, which will lower the rate of cow poop per day, which will then lower the percentage of methane in the air, because methane is 10% of the greenhouse gases in the air. Also, I think they want us to eat locally grown veggies so that we wont have to ship veggies from across the country to anywhere else because those big 18-wheeler trucks burn a lot of gas which produces a lot of pollution.

Today in Class... Environmental Geography. 12/5/16

Today in class we started our new topic on environmental geography. The subtopic that we focused on was climate change also known as, "global warming." We watched a video that explained, using big smart people words, how climate change works. In the video it explains that the earth's temperature keeps rising rising due to this "greenhouse effect." The greenhouse effect is a naturally occurring thing that keeps some heat in the earth so that it doesn't completely freeze from the utterly cold atmosphere in space. Us humans are making is greenhouse effect backfire because of our daily actions. Driving cars, using factories. really anything that involves burning anything, releases unnecessary carbon dioxide and methane into the air, which then gets trapped due to the greenhouse effect, therefore making the earth warmer than usual. Because of the rising temperatures, ice glaciers are melting, which is causing the sea levels to rise. If the heat continues to rise, and the glaciers continue to melt, the sea levels will end up rising so much that areas will become flooded. We will also end up with more frequent hurricanes and servre droughts. Some species, including us, may be unable to adapt and in the long run, many many years from now, may become extinct. Long story short, because of us humans and our ignorance to face the facts, we are ruining our only home and may end up killing ourselves and everything else around us.

Today in NC#3... We Lost. :(

Today in North Carolina we had a game at 9:00 AM this morning. Because my dad is one of THOSE soccer dads, he had me get up at 5:30, then we left at 6:00. Like I don't know about you but that seems a little excessive to me. We were supposed to meet at the field at 8:00 and I got there at 7:00. We were literally the only cars in the parking lot except for the people that worked at the park. Anyways we lost the game 2-0. I had a pretty good game but the team as a whole played really crappy and we gave up two stupid goals. We had many opportunities to score, but we just never finished our chances.

Today in NC#2... We Won!

Today in North Carolina we had a game at 10:00 AM this morning. We were all pretty nervous because National League is the highest level of soccer you can play on a club team. The next level is college. It was pretty cool because we did this whole thing were both of the teams walked on the field and then we did the national anthem. But yeah we won 4-0 so we had a pretty good start to our tournament. One down, three to go.

Today in North Carolina... Its So Warm! 11/30/16

Today I wasn't in school again because I am in Wilson, North Carolina for another soccer tournament. It is so so so warm and humid here I love it. Yes, I like the humidity, Basically all my day has consisted of was waking up at 3:30 and driving for five hours, then eating some breakfast, and now doing homework. Luckily this blog is the last thing I have to do so now I can just rest and hydrate for my game tomorrow.

Today in Class... More on Culture. 11/29/16

Today in class we continued to take notes on culture... kinda. First off I'm pretty sure that Mr. Schick showed us a different slide then the slide we were looking at the day before because the layout looked different. I don't know maybe it was just me. Secondly we looked at a slide that showed the different counties in the country and what name they called soda by color coding. Mr.Schick was basically just trying to show us how culture worked with a real life example.

Today in Class... Culture. 11/28/16

Today in class we started a new unit which we will be tested on on Friday. This unit is on culture... a basic look at the basic elements. Culture is basically groups of people that share their knowledge, have shared behavior, same traditions, same beliefs, etc., that are passed down from generation to generation. Some examples would be: speech, religion, food, music, sports allegiance, etc. These can all be narrowed down into for main groups:

• language 
• values, norms, beliefs
• social activity & interaction
• arts & sciences

Today in Class... Test #3!...or 4? 11/17/16

Today in class we took our third test... or maybe it was the fourth. Anyways, I feel pretty good about it. There was one section where we had to match the countries with the description of the country and that caught me a little off guard. But I used my previous knowledge and some common sense to do my best. After the test I used my laptop to search the questions that I could remember and I got them right so I don't think I did too bad on that part. After that Mr. Schick let me go to my locker to get my math stuff so I could study for the test that I had next period. I definatly think that I got a 100% on that test (or close to it) because I went back and checked all of my work and made corrections to the questions that I would've gotten wrong.

P.S. Thank you Mr. Schick for not having the different forms of government on there because Kate and I were really struggling with those when we were quizzing each other.

Today in Class... World Leaders and Test. 11/16/16

Today in class we finished our world leaders notes. It was pretty intense (well just as intense as note taking can be) because we had to go over nine countries in one class. That might not sound like a lot but with the class I'm in, as many times that we get off topic, it is a lot. Two classes ago when we first started taking notes on the world leaders we only covered four countries because of how many times we had gotten off topic. We again went over the test, and to be honest, I think this will be one of the easiest tests we will have taken this year. It is all matching and there will be no essay portion of the test, therefore there are less opportunities for me to screw up and make stupid mistakes :). Thank you, Mr. Schick.

Today in Class... Studying. 11/15/16

Today in class Mr. Schick wasn't there. Earlier in the day or maybe it was over the weekend he sent us the link to his world leaders slide that we were going over in class yesterday. Our sub told us that we could make changes to our slides or study or do something related to what we have been doing in class. Of course most people didn't do that but I decided that I should study. I looked over the notes that we took yesterday and I also looked at Mr. Schick's slide. What I didn't do but probably should have done was copy the notes into my notebook which would've made the most sense to do. Oh well I can still do that tonight I guess.

Today in Class... More on World Leaders. 11/14/16

Today in class we took hand written notes on world leaders. But first we talked about the test. So we came to a conclusion that the test will be on Thursday which is just dandy because I have two other tests that day. One in Spanish and one in Honors Algebra 2, just perfect timing. So on the test we will have to know the thirteen countries that we did our slide show on, the leader of those countries, some background information about the leader, and what type of government that country has. Yeah so I will be doing a bunch of studying and reviewing these next few days. The notes that we took were just to correct our slides that we made and to also give us the information on the world leaders' backgrounds.

Today (Not) in Class... Soccer Tourney Again! 11/11/16

Today I was not in class again! I am currently in a soccer tournament and had a game which was in the middle of the day, so my dad let me take off. I don't even have a clue about what we were talking about in class today, but I pray to God that it wasn't about Donald Trump or anything political again because I just simply would not be able to handle another one of those conversations. They fire me up way too much and people assume things and talk about that when in reality they have no clue what they are even talking about. They will hear someone say something negative about the person they don't like and then assume that information is 100% correct and continue to spread that. I'm getting hot just thinking about another one of those discussions, especially now that President-Elect Trump has won. The only thing I can say now is something that I read on a sign outside of a church... Pray for America. She needs it now more than ever!

P.S. I really hope we start talking about Justin Trudeau again and I know Kate hopes the same lol

Today in Class... What the Heck Happened Last Night! 11/9/16

Okay so my mind is completely blown. I know I said in yesterday's blog that I thought it was an even race, and I wasn't lying about that, but I really thought Hillary would pull out a win. Ironically yesterday we were talking about the electoral votes and popular vote and Hillary won the popular vote! In my opinion (and many others) she should technically be president because most of the country wants her! Anyways this blog is supposed to be about what I think Donald Trump will do as president. To be honest, I have no clue. I don't think he does either. I know that he will have to do something with the so called "wall" he said he was going to build because that is what got a lot of heads turned to his direction. I think he was just bluffing and saying that to get votes, but now that he has won he will have to at least propose it to congress to say that he at least tried to build it. I don't think that he will get rid of Obama Care though. I know he promised it, but I don't think he will. I definitely think he will change it a lot but not get rid of it because it would leave way too many people without insurance which would make a lot of people hate him even more. I also don't think that he will put Hillary Clinton in jail like he said he would. I think that was the biggest bluff in the world, but you never know because apparently literally anything can happen in this country now a days.

Today in Class... Election Day! 11/8/16

Today is election day! I am nervous, scared, excited, and relieved all at the same time. Nervous and scared because I think at this point they both have a pretty equal chance at winning and because our country could possibly be in the hands of someone who has no idea what he is getting himself into and has no experience with anything like this whatsoever. Excited because our country could be in the hands of the first female president ever (not that that is the only reason I would want her to be president, its just a plus :) )! Relieved because the campaign will finally over and man was it a long time coming! In class we talked about electoral college. I would only like to say three things about that. A) I don't understand why this is a thing. B) If you are going to have this "point" system, then at least have it so that the candidates split them reasonably if it isn't won by a landslide. C) I feel that if a person wins the popular vote, then the majority of the country wants that person as their next president and that is how it should be.

Today in Class... Election Predictions! 11/7/16

Today in class we discussed our early voting predictions. Well I guess we didn't really discuss them but we wrote them down. Mr. Schick came up with this chart that has predictions for the next president, the electoral votes, and the popular vote (%). On Mr. Schick's Veracross website on listed five websites that we could use to make our predictions. I personally used fivethirtyeight.com and 270towin.com to make my predictions. My final results were that Hillary Clinton is going to win, the elctoral votes were going to be 288-250, and the popular votes are going to be 49% to 46% (which leaves 5% of the country to the "others"). I probably won't get my exact predictions right but I do think it will be a tight race, neck-and-neck. I think this is the kind of race where every vote counts.

Websites I used:

• http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/?ex_cid=rrpromo
• http://www.270towin.com/
• You can also just click on the text in the paragraph above

Today in Class... I Went to Mrs. Heflin. 11/4/16

Today in class while everyone else finished their research slide, I went down to see Mrs. Heflin. Mr. Schick, you probably already know what happened with the soccer team and I don't want to repeat it because it isn't my buisness to tell. Sarah is one of my closest friends in this school and what she tried to pull yesterday scared the life out of me. Not to mention I was right there the entire time everything was happening... I held her up so she wouldn't fall. I really just couldn't be in class and I needed to talk. On the other hand I did finish my slide right before I started writing this blog actually. Whoever ends up reading this blog, I know you don't know the story of what happened, but please pray for my friend Sarah Meyerl because she needs it now more than ever.

Today in Class... More on World Leaders. 11/3/16

Today in class, at first we discussed how the Cubs finally won the World Series! Then Mr. Schick assigned us more work to do. We had to add more to the work we did on the World Leaders and had to use the World Factbook for it. Well technically I guess we didn't have to but he recommended it. Just about the entire time me and Kate were not on task at all. We were looking at pictures of Canada's Prime Minister and oh my gorgeousness. Sadly another class mate looked up his age and he is my moms age. That made it kinda weird. But I mean hey, if you look good then you look good.

Today in Class... CUBS!!! 11/2/16

Today in class we discussed the Cubs game Mr. Schick went to. He showed us a video of him on a plane full of other Cub fans basically having a full on pep rally while the plane was descending into Chicago. They sang take me out to the ball game and there was not a single person that was not singing the song. He also showed us pictures of the night of the game and explained what was happening at that exact moment of every single picture. I would just like to acknowledge the fact of how idiotic I am. This whole year when they were talking about the Cubs in class, I thought they were talking about ice hockey. THIS WHOLE TIME!!! Then once Mr. Schick showed us a picture of the team, everything made so much more sense haha.

Today in Class... Country Assignment. 10/28/16

Today in class we finished our notes on Independent States. All independent states have their own form of government. This is basically what our assignment is over. Mr. Schick has given us 12 countries that we need to research. We have to find out their form of government, who their leader is, and the leaders title. We are also to include a picture of the leader. This all needs to be in google slides and we have to be sure to invite Mr. Schick so that he is able to make changes to our assignments.

Today's in Class... Discussion. 10/26/16

Today in class we just had a really big discussion. We talked about how society shapes the way people think and act. For example we talked about how Disney channel characters act this certain way and talk about certain things which cause kids to act and talk in different ways then they should. Emma was talking about how her six year old sister watches all these Disney shows that are meant for like preteens and now she talks about having boyfriends. When I was her age I thought boys were nasty and the thought of hugging one of them grossed me out. We also talked about how certain news stations favor certain political parties and try to tell people what their thoughts should be based on their own biases.

Today in Class... Late Let Again!

Today in class I was late yet again. I only made it to like the last ten minutes of class so I don't really know exactly what we were talking about but asked Abby if I could take home her notebook and copied her notes. So according to her notes this is Population and Settlement part 3. Her notes talked about how getting a college education isn't the only way to get a job. She also talked more about population pyramids and how they help people predict future population patterns. If I missed out on anything else please fill me in!

Today in Class... Test Review. 10/21/16

Today in class we received our tests back that we took yesterday. Turns out the questions that I talked about in yesterdays blog... I got them wrong. Yep I know... awkward. I got an 82% on the test and it dropped my overall grade from a 90.58% to a 87.19%. I was pretty upset and according to Mr. Schick it was obvious. Once I explained to him about why I need all A's and about training in Brasil for a week, then he understood. I mean it is what it is and if I cant change it or do anything about it, then I guess I will just imagine pictures of what Brasil's soccer fields would look like in my head while I'm in my backyard lol.

Today in Class... Test Number 2!

Today we took our second test of the year! I feel pretty good about it. The questions were just about all multiple choice, but the ones that weren't were pretty self- explanatory and if you have any common sense then you could figure it out. I got a little confused on the population pyramid, but in the end I remembered that i had looked up Germany's population pyramid one day and realized it was letter C. Then I looked back to one of first questions that I had answered on the front which was what the population of the US and used my common knowledge about the baby boom that we had and put the two together and realized that it was letter B. Then the last option left was letter A for Sudan.

(if i end up getting those wrong then this will be awkward...lol)

Today in Class... Reckless Driving. 10/18/16

Today in class we talked about Mr. Schick's experience with a very angry driver yesterday. He asked us why we think that people have so much anger and feel the need to scream at you when you aren't going as fast as they want to. i personally think its because of they way us Americans are brought up and the kind of environment we live in. we think that the world revolves around us and think that if we are in a rush to get somewhere, then everyone should somehow read our minds and move out of they way for us. That's just what i think though. then we went on the CIA website again to just try and find some interesting facts and to practice using it for the first part of our test on Thursday.

Today in Class... Radio Interview. 10/14/16

Today in class we listened to a radio interview that was discussed current events of what we have been talking about. In the radio interview, they interviewd a woman who stated that she thought that being a kid in the fifties was a lot better than being a kid now. We had discussed this in class and what we thought about it. I think (along with many others) that she can't really compare being a kid now to being a kid then. For one, she isn't a kid now so she has nothing to compare it to. Also the two generations are brought up in two different worlds so there really is no way to compare the two because in my generation we have all this technology that they didn't have back then.

Today in Class... Population Pyramids.10/12/16

Today in class we talked more about population pyramids. We also had a lot of shadows in class. I met two of the shadows, both of which play soccer and are going to try out for the team next year! I introduced them both to Coach Howe and she invited them both out to our game next Wednesday so hopefully they can come out, meet some of the girls, and cheer us on! Anyways, we talked about how in developed countries, there is a low death rate and low birth rate, so the population stays just abut the same. There are low birth rates because women are busier now with college and career opportunities, and there are low death rates because developed countries have more medicines to keep people alive longer and they don't die of things like starvation.

Today in Class... Something About Graphs.10/11/16

Today in class, I didn't really know what in the world we were talking about. For starters I wasn't here yesterday so whatever they went over yesterday in class I am behind on. Secondly, I came into class a good fifteen to twenty minutes late because I had an orthodontist appointment. When I came into class, they were watching a video about population with something about graphs. I copied a friends notes but they weren't that good so I am going to get another friends notes tomorrow and see if that helps me understand what we are talking about any better.

Today Not in Class... Soccer! 10/10/16

Today not in class, I was in VA playing in a soccer tournament. We did pretty well for only having three practices together and not knowing each other that well. On Saturday and Sunday, we won both of our games and beat the number one team in the country! Unfortunately today, we lost 2-1 to a New Jersey team. It was a tough loss, but from here we are only going to go up and continue to get better. We finished in second place, even though this was only a showcase tournament for colleges to get a look at players.

Today in Class... Interesting Facts. 10/7/16

Today in class we discussed interesting facts that we discovered while exploring the CIA World Fact-book. I thought that it was weird that only less than five perecent of the world spoke English as their first language. I was expecting it to be at least like maybe twenty percent. I mean think about it. The US speaks English along with England, Canada, Australia, and maybe more. I mean maybe my mind just doesn't comprehend how many people live in other countries or something but I don't know that was just something that surprised me. We also talked about how we should format out paper that we will be writing this weekend. Pretty simple stuff all the basics really. Well now I'm off to bed. Have to rest for my big tourney this weekend!

Today in Class...More CIA World Fact-book.10/5/16

Today in class we worked on part two of our CIA Word Fact-book project. Again, me and my partner decided to split the work load 50/50 so that we would both do an equal amount of work. I'm pretty sure this assignment is due tomorrow but Emily and I already finished it so it isn't an issue. We also got assigned our first paper which needs to be no less than 750 words, and is due on Monday next week. I guess I will do it in my hotel this weekend on my breaks between games.

Today in Class... Is the US the Greatest? 10/4/16

Today in class we discussed weather or not America was the greatest country. The first thing we did was take a vote on weather we were the greatest country or not and the majority of the class thought we were while others thought we weren't. then there were those who were like me, and didn't raise their hand at all. I didn't raise my hand because I don't think there is a 'greatest country' or 'number one' because we all have our flaws and imperfections as well as our positive attributes, and they all even each other out. Anyways, then we watched a video which basically stated all the reasons why we aren't the greatest country and how we have gone downhill. Then we took a vote after the video and most people changed their minds and thought that we weren't the greatest but some people stayed with their original opinion. Again I didn't vote because I still don't think we can ever prove if there is one country that is better than all the others in evey aspect.


P.S. I forgot what Mr. Schick's question was at the end of class but I said that we shouldn't focus on being the greatest country and being better than every other country but that we should focus on being the best us we can be. Just like for an athlete, you shouldn't be worried about being the best on the team, but you should just focus on getting better everyday and beating the you from yesterday, and then if you look and see that you are the best on the team then just say "okay cool", but don't just be satisfied with that, keep going to get better and better. If you are really concerned about being the best, have that mind set then you will be the best no matter what even though that's not what really matters. You will be the best and better if you keep striving to be better than before.

Now reread that, but just change the nouns and pronouns to make it relate to our topic and it should make sense. If it doesn't I will be more than happy to explain it in class.

Tdoay in Class... Population Project 9/30/16

Today in class we worked on an assignment that is also homework. it is about what we have learned so far about population and everything that goes along with it. Me and my partner decided to do our presentation in a slide and we split the assignment 50/50 so I do five slides and she does five slides. this project is due on Tuesday but I will probably finish my part tomorrow so that I will have less work on Monday.

Today in Class... Total Fertility Rate. 9/29/16

Today in class we discussed finding the total fertility rate or TFR. The TFR is the average number of children born per woman. The populations stability is based off of this. In order for the population to stay the same, the TFR needs to be 2.1. There needs to be that point one to even out the deaths of babies who are born, but die very shortly afterwards. If the TFR is above 2.1, then the population will increase, but if it is below 2.1, then the population will decrease. The world TFR is 2.42, therefore the earths population is continuing to increase over time. In Nigeria their TFR is 6.89! They are a developing country and developing countries tend to have higher TFRs. On the other hand there are places like Japan which is a developed nation and is aging who's TFR is well below the average at 1.4. It all really depends on the country you are looking at and if they are really developed or not.

Today in Class... I was Ms.Miller! 9/28/26

Today in class I was teacher for like 15 minutes! So basically Mr. Schick told me he was going to involuntarily volunteer me and told me to raise my hand so I did. Once I did he "called" on me and then told me I was going to reteach the lesson from yesterday because we had a transfer who needed the notes. It was a little weird and he said I did a good job but all I did was read off the slide then call on other people to explain it. After that we went over more about population and how we measure migration. I would explain that more but I am wayyyyy to tired, my eyes are about to fall out of my head, and we have a tough game tomorrow against McDonough.

Today in Class... New Unit 9/27/16

Today in class we started our new unit. It is called Population and Settlement. Today there are more people on earth then there have ever been... EVER! There are more than 7 BILLION PEOPLE on earth as we speak, or at least as I type haha. The population increases by about 73 million people each year and 90% of this population increase happens in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. We also learned about life expectancy and the US is number 42! I really wasn't expecting that. The last thing we discussed how population is measured but we didn't get to talk about it that much.

Today in Class... We Got Our Test Back!!!! 9/26/16

Today in class we got our tests back! Mr. Schick explained to us how he hands out his tests before he started to distribute them. He explained to us how he calls us up one by one to receive our tests and if he rings the bell then you have received an A. If you don't hear a bell it doesn't mean that you did bad it just means you have anywhere from an 89-0. If he rings the bell twice an calls your name then you have received 100%. I got a little panicky when the pile of tests in his hands because he kept stepping further and further away from the bell but then when he saw my paper he walked backwards toward it and rang it! I was actually so relieved because I wanted to get an A so badly. I'm very happy with my grade and cant wait for the next chapter!

A Few Days Ago in Class #2... Video 9/19/16

In class we watched a video called Did You Know 2016 that had a bunch of random facts and also what I consider predictions for the future. One of the facts that caught the attention of our class was the one about how in the year 2020 there will be more than 10 million self driving cars on the road. That is the year I graduate. To think that it might be 'the norm' to have a self driving car is a little weird and scary at the same time. Weird because I only know of one company that makes self driving cars and ive only seen one my whole life plus they are really expensive so I don't know how they are going to make the cars cheaper. Scary because if it is a self driving car then it has a computer system and gps system that is linked up with some major big data base somewhere. All of these things can be hacked into. If a terror group finds a way to hack into that system and they get all of our cars to crash into each other or lead us to one big mass bomb massacre then we would be screwed. Unless of course they can come up with a manual override that can ignore the hack then that would be awesome.


Late

A Few Days Ago in Class... Test. 9/15/16

In class we had taken our first Human Geography test on our first unit. I am really hoping I did well especially on the written parts since those were worth a lot more points. If I do really well that makes my parents happy which makes me happy! If I have anything below an A, that makes my parents upset which makes me upset.... When they are upset it makes my life a lot more miserable than it has to be and I also need to bring up my grade in class right now anyways so crossing my fingers I did really well!

Late

Today in Class... Shadows! 9/21/16

Today in class we had two students with shadows. in the beginning of the class they introduced themselves and told us on fact about themselves/. Once that was all finished we had a discussion about the video we watched last class. We discussed self-driving cars, over population, and whether or not our country should help others in need or just focus on our country and what our 'issues' are.

Today in Class... Debate or Study Hall? 9/16/16

Today in class we had the choice to either have another debate on a topic we would decide on or we could have a study hall and do some homework so that we wouldn't have to do it this weekend. After various ideas and opinions were thrown out, we had already lost like half class time. We had then finally taken a vote and majority ruled on study hall which I was very happy about because I had a test next period in Intro to Bible. Good news! I aced it! Therefore the study hall was very much worth it.

Today in Class... Debate on Kaepernick Protest 9/14/16

Today in class we had another debate! This time the debate was on Colin Kaepernick and his protest on police brutality. Colin Kaepernck took a kneel during the National Anthem in one of his NFL games and has continued to do it every game since. Some people in class agreed with what he was doing and when/where he was doing it. Others disagreed with what he was doing and when/where he was doing it. Then there were the odd balls that agreed with what he was doing just not when/where he was doing it. I agreed with what he was doing and when/where he was doing it. He was simply using his freedom of speech in a way of which he really didn't speak, he just kneeled. Someone in class said that there are people fighting for our country so that we can have freedom of speech and we sholdnt "disrespect it or abuse it." I completely disagree with that statement. They are out there fighting for us so that we can use our freedom of speech. If we don't use it then they are out there fighting for nothing and that's what I consider abusing it. If we have people out there fighting for us and men out on the line dying everyday for us, why wouldn't we use it. Why wouldn't we let their fighting have a purpose and mean something...?


P.S. I could go on for forever but my brain is about to explode from everything that is running through my head on this topic.

Today in Class... More About Socrates. 9/13/16

Today in class we continued the discussion, PowerPoint, and note taking on Socrates. The PowerPoint talked more about what he did, who he was, and why he was tried. Socrates was a Greek philosopher who lived and taught in Athens. Athens was a place of gathering for many people from many places. Everyone would meet in Athens to trade and share idea, knowledge, and new findings. Socrates wouldn't teach his students new ideas or what he thought was right or wrong, he would just get them to question why they thought a certain way and to explain what their reasoning was. This didn't really settle well with some of the citizens in Athens. They accused Socrates of corrupting the youth, and impiety (not beliving in the gods). During the trial Socrates defended himself and he told them that he actually should be receiving free dinners for life because he believed that what he was doing was such a good thing. He was found guilty and was sentenced to death by hemlock poison. He had the opportunity to escape but he belived in the Athenian democracy so much that he decided to stay and take his punishment.

One thing that Socrates said was, "the unexamined life is not worth living." Its a quote that really gets you thinking.

Today in Class 9/9/16

Today in class, we didn't really do much. Mr. Schick just wanted check our Bloggers to make sure that they we set up correctly. He called every one up to his desk one by one and checked their accounts. When I was called up, he told me he liked how I was doing things on here and then showed me how to delete the extra blogs I had made. Then for the rest of class everyone just basically talked to each other and got to know one another better. Towards the very end of class, everyone on my side of the room took pictures with photo booth on a Mac including Mr. Schick.

Today in Class..Debate! 9/7/16

Today in class we took notes and talked more about A Letter to Garcia and ancient Greece. In the slide show that Mr. Schick was showing us, it talked about how Letter to Garcia became a book, movie, and a term that people used to use. The book essay sold over 40 million copies. It became a movie twice, once in 1916 and again in 1936. The book it turned into stretched from three pages to 37 pages. In class we also had a mini debate on LGBT marriage. It was interesting because there were only two people (who were brave enough anyways) that were against it. Mr. Schick picked on two people one who was for and one who was against, and listened to both over their opinions on the topic. He then used the Socratic Method to have them think about why they thought what they thought and to see if they could support their opinions. I found it interesting because sometimes they didn't really know how to answer his questions and it really got them thinking about why they were on the side they were on.

Today in Class 9/6/16

Today in class we talked and did multiple things. First Mr. Schick made sure that we had all sent him the correct link to our Blogger accounts and it turns out only seven people did it right. After that we went over the essay, “Letter to Garcia,” and talked about how that applied to our lives. We as students must be efficient and persistent about our work, and to just do it. (By the way, just remember that it took place during the Spanish-American War… TEST QUESTION!) We shouldn’t ask questions about why we are doing a task but we should just do it. We also talked about Socrates in Ancient Greece. He was a philosopher who eventually died from a forced suicide. He was put on trial for corrupting the youth of the city-state and not acknowledging the gods. He chose not to have anyone represent him, but he represented himself. He eventually was tried guilty and the punishment was the forced suicide. They put poison in a drink and made him drink it. (Today was also my birthday:) )

How to be Successful This Year

How I Am Going to be Successful This Year

1. Be proactive in every aspect. Always stay on top of your school work and turn it on time.

2. Stay in communication with your teachers. Let them know if you will be out one day or why you couldn't complete an assignment, etc.

3. Ask for help. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it and also if you want to have someone study with you.

4. Always ask questions about what you are learning. If you ask questions, it will help you to understand want you are learning a lot more.

5. Keep an open mind. In high school people come from many different back rounds so it is important to say open to other people's views and opinions.

Message to Garcia Thoughts

Today in class, we read the short story, Message to Garcia, by Elbert Hubbard, and discussed how it still relates to our lives as students in modern day, even though it was published in 1899. This story relates to our lives because, with being in high school now, and a lot of us being involved in afterschool activities, we have a lot on our plate. We constantly have to stay on top of our work alongside having practice or some other activity right after school. It is up to us and nobody else to keep up our grades and excel in our extracurricular activities. For instance, if one of us has a game and we need to leave school early, it is up to us to let teachers know that we will be missing their class and to get our makeup work. If we fail to do that there are no excuse and the blame falls on us, and no one else but us. As students we need to be responsible and we need to stay on top of everything that is expected of us.

First Day at JC

              My first day at John Carroll has been exciting and stressful. So basically it started in the morning when I was getting everything ready for school. I had to make sure that I had everything for both school and soccer after school. I was so bust worrying about everything that once I got here I realized I had forgotten the most important thing in my room. MY LAPTOP!!! So I had to text my mom to go all the way back home and get it for me. Then since the line of cars coming into the school was so long, I was late to my first class which is never a good start. I also forgot my summer reading assignment in my locker for English class which again isn’t a good start. But as the day has gone on it has just gotten better and better. I am really looking forward to the rest of this year!