On Friday,  we continued watching the documentary "God Grew Tired of Us." They are still adjusting to the life in the United States. They don't see each other as much because they are working jobs and are at school. They feel very lonely because they don't get to hang around each other like they did before. Some of them even had problems with the law. They would wake up early and work really late and get like four hours of sleep and do that routine over and over again. John found where his family is and put school on hold so he could work so he can have enough money for them to come to the United States. He is trying to get his mother and sister to come to the states first. The guys that are in America are giving money to the people in Africa with the little money they have. They still remember where they came from and are trying to give back.

In the movie "God Grew Tired of Us" they were on the plane they were headed to America. They really are trying to adjust to what it is like in the United States. When they were eating they ate the butter packs separately from the meal. Once they get to the states they are blessed they made it here but they still remember the people back in Africa and they will never forget about them. They have been through stuff that is unimaginable.  It made them mature much faster. That is why they are trying to do something for the people back home. They have three months to find a job but now they are being helped by the state. The United Nations re just try to get them on their two feet. We are going to keep watching it Friday. I really like this documentary we are watching.

In class today we got our results from our test. On the test I received a ninety four. I prepared for it just like Dr. Hrabowski said to do in his speech. I listen to his advice and he gave pretty insightful information. I only got a few problems wrong but I made sure I corrected my mistakes so I know the right answers in case they are on the final exam. After we went over the answers on the test we went back to the movie we saw yesterday. This video still has me shell-shocked and it is very interesting to me. The boys are happy they are headed to America but sad the people they are leaving behind. It's kind of a bitter sweet moment. They have no idea what it's going to be like. They don't realize the different fields of jobs we have.

Today in class we did various things. First, we did the test on what we learned so far during the school year. I felt that I did well on the test because I prepared for it and studied. After everyone finished their test we watched this movie called "God Grew Tired of Us". The movie takes place in Sudan and it's during the civil war there. The boys were forced to leave because they would get killed at any age. 27,000 boys left, by the time they made it to Kenya there was only twelve thousand of them when they made it to Kenya. After ten years the United States decided to take some of the boys to the states. They are very excited about starting a new life. They never used electricity or didn't even know what an apartment was. This just made me think how thankful I should be and I am truly blessed.

Around the World

In class our groups were finishing up our project so we could present them to the class. After we did our finishing touches on our power points we started presenting them to the class.The first power point was about Italy. Italy is a well established country and they have quite a few people who are trying to get into the country. We saw how they were compare to the other countries. Their life expectancy is ranked eleventh in the world. Another country we learned about was Nigeria, it is a developing country. The birth rate of Nigeria is very high and the life expectancy is very low. Not to many people leave the country because they can't afford to leave the country. Right after that we were about to get into another class but the bell rang. When my group goes up we will be giving information about the country Indonesia.

To Many People

In class we took notes on population and migration. We wrote down different definitions like the Rate of Natural Increase and how the world is growing at a rapid pace. We also talked about the total fertility rate and it has to average out to be 2.1 for the population to stay the same.Also, we talked about life expectancy and how that women usually lived longer than men. We said that men usually do more dangerous jobs. Men don't really go to the doctors like women do, and also women usually stay home to help out their children. We also had to take notes on immigration and emigration , people leave the country because of push factors and will go to another country for pull factors. A lot of people come to America for various reasons but not as many people come because our economy isn't like it used to be. Here are just a few notes that we took in class.

Class Discussion

In class we had a discussion about the video on YouTube called “Did You Know?” One subject we talked about was Internet dating and how 1 of 8 couples met each other online. For one I would never do that because it seems like it is unsafe. You do not know who you are talking to and it could be anybody, they could be lying about their age. We also talked about how they prepare jobs for jobs that aren’t even invented. For instance, the I pad came out a few years ago and someone has to be prepared to do the job. We also talked about how people are buying the newest inventions more and it’s taking less time to get it. It took three years. It only took three years for fifty million people to have an I pod. We also wondered what a super computer will be like. Overall it was a good class discussion and we should have them more often.

You Learn Something New Everyday

Today in class we reviewed some of the questions from the world factbook. We talked about the HIV/Aids death rate and how it is a huge problem in Africa. Nine of the top ten countries were from Africa and the other country was India who was in the top ten for the HIV/Aids death rate. Also we talked about how the population of the world is up to seven million now. The world is always increasing and never decreasing. Do we even know if we have enough natural resources for everyone to use.  After we finished reviewing the world factbook we watched this video on YouTube called "Did You Know?" It had some pretty interesting facts, for example it said that China will be the number one speaking English country. Also in India there are more honor students than kids in America. Another interesting fact was that in 2049 there will be a super computer that is smarter than the whole human human species. All the facts were very interesting to me.

A Day to Remember

In class today we went over the factbook worksheet. We went over the the questions to make sure all of our answers were right. Then for a little bit we started talking about 9-11 since today is the is the eleventh anniversary. We talked about how it changed the United States as a whole. It just changed how we did things in our everyday life, from the airports to concerts. When I talk to people about it they say they can remember it like it was yesterday and remember what they were doing while it happened. After we got off that topic we went back to answering questions from the world factbook.One thing I was curious about was how we imported the most oil but we pay a lot of money for gas. Also why do we get so many stuff from China but there isn't a lot stuff made from the United States. After we finished the world factbook we just were getting ready for the next mod we had after Human Geo.

World Factbook

1.      The U.S. population is 313,847,465

2.      Top five populations:

·         China : 1,343,239,923

·         India : 1,205,073,612

·         United States : 313,847,465

·         Indonesia : 248,645,008

·         Brazil : 199,321,413

3.       The population of Pakistan is 190,291,129

4.      It is Constitution-based federal government.

5.      Zimbabwe’s  unemployment rate is 95%

6.      India is the largest country by area.

7.       

8.      China has the most exports.

9.      Saudi Arabia has the most oil exports

10.  The United States gets the most imports on oil.

11.   The United States consumes 19.15 million per day.

12.   Women in china have just been able to work in combat.

13.   GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product

14.  Liechtenstein does and it is $141,100

15.  No the United States are ranked number 11.

16.   The country that has the highest birth rate are From Africa.

17.   HIV/ Aids can be found in Africa the most.

18.   India is the only country that isn’t from Africa on that list

19.  The U.S.A is ranked number 18 on HIV/ Aids death.

20.   No, the US is ranked number three in most used cellular devices

21.   Nearly 24% of the US is Roman Catholic

22.   In Mexico 76% of the people are Roman Catholic

23.   The people entering and leaving a certain country.

24.   No the US is ranked 26 in the world.

25.  The population of the world is 6,973,738,433.

·         One interesting fact is that we import the most oil but yet gas prices are extremely high.

·         Another fact  is that there are more Roman Catholics in Mexico

 

 

How to Take Notes

Today we went over what good note taking is. We also learned the definition. It is a thought fragment, which will become a complete thought. We also talked about how it is unnecessary to write down everything you hear and see.  It is also bad to just jot down a couple notes. To show us how to do so the teacher read this short paragraph we had to write notes about it. It made you realize you have to be real focused. After we took notes we had to write a mini blog about it. If you wrote down good notes it was easy to write the blog. You already had your thought you just had to make it a complete sentence. After we finished that class was just about over. Mr. Schick was just telling us when we have class again. Then the bell rung and we got to go.

Today in class we talked about websites that are good to do research on. We had this discussion about Wikipedia whether this was a good source or not. It is a good and bad thing; you can always see where they get the information from and you can update the encyclopedia. It is also bad because anyone can change some of the words to make it false. We also said if it ends in “.gov”, it is a pretty secure website. If it’s a blog or some ones opinion on something you should not use this as a source. Another thing was, if the website was too basic it probably means anybody could have made it, unlike a website like NASA where they put time and effort on it. You just have to be cautious with the websites you use and make sure it is pretty legit. That pretty much wraps up what we did in class today.

Vocabulary

We went over some vocabulary words in class today. Like the word arete, it means to have excellence in whatever you do. Another word we learned was polis, it was an ancient city in Greece. We also learned about Socrates, Socrates was a philosopher who believed in making your own decisions. The death of Socrates was quite intriguing. When he was founded guilty of his charges he had to choose his death ,  so he decided to drink the poison so it would be a quick death.The Socratic method was a way students to ask a lot of questions until they fully understand what it is about, it is still used today. We also talked about the year 508 B.C. when the people revolted against the leader, this was a very crucial part. Another word was agora, it was where everyone met at and they gathered there to do different things. Lastly I learned that if you didn't vote you were called an idiot because you finally are able to help make decisions where you live and you don't take advantage of it.

Essays

1.      The definition of arête to me is to do well or have greatness in whatever you do. Just to be successful in the things you do and strive at. Socrates did that exact thing, he was a philosopher and his intellect and writing was very upscale. He taught people to make their own decisions and make. He thought it was his duty to speak to people and fill them with more wisdom.  Some of the stuff he said was controversial to Athens but he kept his beliefs. Ancient Greece showed arête because they built a democracy where people could help decide what they did in the city-state. They also strived to have a well-built military. They want to have a strong government and be a well-respected country.

2.      If Elbert Hubbard and Socrates came to America of the year of 2012 they would be fascinated. They would be amazed how strong our government is, how we have all these checks and balances so no one branch could dictate the country. They would also be impressed how strong our military is and Socrates would agree with our Democracy. Also Socrates would love how people make their own decisions. Elbert Hubbard would think that some people are lazy and there aren’t enough Garcia’s. They would be amazed by our technology and how advanced we got. Overall they would be impressed with the things we do today.

3.      Well I’m always going to be focused in the classroom and make sure I stay on top of my work. I will also ask for help if I need it for anything, I realized that academically it is more demanding and if I don’t ask for help I will just fall behind. Also I need stay real organized for all my classes, have binders and folders neat and ready for all my subjects. I have to balance out my academics and extra-curricular activities, as a student athlete I know I have to put academics first or else I can’t do anything else. I just have to prioritize and do what’s best for me. Last but not least I have to be responsible, just ask for the work when I have been out for school or do something related to my extra-curricular activities. If I do all these things for all four years I will be pretty successful and will have a bright future.