End of the Week Blog

Today was our last class of the week even though it's Thursday. Tricky, I know. We have off Friday and I’m extremely happy because I’m probably going to waste the day sleeping on my couch. Why did I say probably, I’m defiantly going to do that. Anyway, today we just spent the entire class talking about random things that are completely off topic and won’t be on our next test. My section was the only class that had class today so Mr. Schick didn’t have anything planned. We talked about a philosopher named Play dough who wrote a story about these people in a cave who could only see what was being played in front of them. People behind them would convey images on the wall, and these prisons were forced to watch them. One prisoner got away and had to adjust himself to the real world outside the cave. This whole story kind of relates to modern day stuff like television and school. 

I really hope I did good on that test......this is a terrible blog title

Today we took a test on all the stuff we learned about Ancient Greece. It was really easy and it was open blog so that helped. I’m not sure if I got all the answers correct because some of them were the questions from on the worksheet that we did for cyber day. We all had the answers completed on the worksheet but nobody knew what the right answers were. The only question I struggled with is “what does a Greek city-state most resemble out of the geographical features listed” or something like that. I put cities because it literally has the word inside it. Also because when we made the videos for Sparta and Athens, we used Baltimore and Los Angles as our examples and those are both cities. On the worksheet though, I put counties because……well I don’t remember why but if it turns out to be counties I think I might cry. 

Test Review Day

Today in West Civ we watched the part 2 of the video once again to really sink it into our minds I guess. We have a test tomorrow and it’s about that video. It’s also on some worksheets we did and some other stuff. I’m just going to make a huge study guide of all the information I guess. Anyway, we have class 2^nd mod tomorrow so I’m going to be overly tired. That’s never good. Maybe I’ll take a short nap during first mod to save up some energy. I’m sorting of hoping I do well on this test because it’s the beginning of the quarter so I don’t want to like totally fail and then have a bad grade. I’m pretty sure I understand most of the material we learned but then again I said that last time and ended up getting a 73%. So maybe this time I should review a little, or a lot. 

People of Ancient Greece

Today in West Civ. we talked about the people of ancient Greece. Here are my notes:

Aspasia: (more of an escort than a hooker)

Had a big influence on the government

Was beautiful, well spoken, and intelligent

Wrote most of Pericles’s speeches

Pericles:

Ruled Athens for 30 years during its peak

Feel in love with Aspasia and left his wife for her

The parathone was “his baby”

Percile’s hubris caused him

Isagoras- last dictator before democracy, Athenians started revolted against him and kicked him out of Athens.

Cleisthenes- smart enough to look into democracy. Ostracized for being too annoying

Darius- leader of the Persians and planned to attack Athens

Xerxes- Son of Darius, new plan to attack with 1 million men 

Pheidippides- sent to go get help, ran 26 miles to go get help for the battle at “Marathon”

Salamis- Athens sent a “traitor” to convince The Persians to go into the stream so that they could attack

Delian League- all city-states that give money to protect Greece (not Sparta)

Perciles wanted to attack Sparta so built walls around Athens

The ships brought in the plague and it spread through the water supplies

Plague- 1/3-1/2 of the people died from the plague

Pericles got the plague and died LOL

Getting Stuff Done!

Today we spent the first part of class helping Mr. Schick grade all of our projects. He got confused with all the story boards and such. My project was done by Hailey, Lynda (aka Ellie) and I. Mr. Schick graded our project today in class and we got 90. Then Hailey and I studied for our math test, which was stupid because we didn't do well on it anyway. After that we spent the rest of the class watching this video about near death experience on the road. It literally was an educational way to spend West Civ. class. All these car accidents were caught on film somehow. In every clip, a person would almost die by getting hit by a car and then all of a sudden be perfectly fine and just walk away. See, if that were me I would just die of shock or something. These people just got up and walked away like nothing happened. Anyway, it was a good class even though we did absolutely nothing productive. The title of this blog is deceiving. 

Class in the Gym

Mr. Schick wasn’t in class today because of some teacher meeting he had to go to. Some lady came down and took attendance and then took us up to the gym were we had to spend the remainder of the class. Let me tell you, it was like being in jail. It was cold, and the seats are so uncomfortable. We couldn’t talk so it was awkwardly quiet. Mr. Schick wanted us to work on the 30 questions on his blog. All the questions were pretty easy. After everyone finished we basically just sat there…..in jail. Yeah, it was that bad. So I think we are having a test Friday so I’m going to post some study guide stuff to my blog tomorrow that way just in case we can use our blogs on the test, I’ll be ready. Hopefully the test won’t be that hard because I dislike challenging tests. 

Quizlet

Today in West Civ we first talked about what we are going to do tomorrow because Mr. Schick has to go to some meeting. We are supposed to report to our class and then a sub will come and take u sup to either the auditorium or the gym. Then we are “assigned a very important assignment” to do for the time we have. I am such a nerd that I already did the assignment. After we got that all figured out, we went over the quizlet notes from some junior who studied for this test. It basically had all the answers for the assignment so I guess that’s helpful. Mr. Schick said that we are probably going to have a test Friday. Hopefully we do because I think that we are all ready and plus I need to raise my grade for this quarter. Our test is going to be on the two videos, the 58 point quiz paper, and the 30 question assignment from cyber day.

P.S. i just figured out how to type in this cool font!

Cyber Day Questions

1.     Mostly fertile lands is not a characteristic of Greece

2.     Approximately ¾ of Greece is covered by mountains

3.      The word barbarian was originally used in the ancient world as a word that came from the Greek "barbaros," which originally meant "Non-Greek."

4.     A megalithic structure is a Massive rough-cut stones used to construct monuments and tombs.

5.     The term tribe refers to a social and political unit consisting of a group of communities held together by common interests, traditions, and real or mythical ties of kinship.

6.     Tribes were governed by chieftains, warrior kings or queens, and tribal leaders choosen by warriors.

7.     The Greeks were the first European barbarians to make contact with civilization.

8.     The United States is the modern-day country that would not be considered a member of “western civilization”

9.     The Ionian Sea is located just west of the Greek mainland

10.  The Aegean Sea is located just east of the Greek mainland

11.  Grain, vines, and olives were the major crops the Aegean people lived on.

12.  Minoan was a civilization that arose on the island of Crete.

13.  The Mycenaean civilization established settlements along the Greek mainland’s southern shore and on some islands

14.  The Mycenaean civilization built massive walls to protect themselves from attack

15.   The Dark Ages was a period of Greek history in which the population dropped, ships no longer sailed, and writing fell out of use.

16.  Following this time period, the Greeks joined the Phoenicians as the leading commercial and seafaring nation of the Mediterranean.

17.  In historical writing, the letter “c” might appear before a date, as in “c. 1500 BC.” It means around, about or circa.

18.  By 600 BC, Greek city-states dotted the coastlines around the Mediterranean Sea. These were called colonies.

19.  Although they varied in size, ancient Greek city-states most closely resembled counties

20.  Oligarchy is a form of government in which a small group of citizens dominated, and the power of the majority was limited in various way

21.  Democracy is a form of government in which decisions were made by the majority of adult male citizens.

22.  Tyranny is a form of government in which a self-proclaimed dictator held power.

23.  Monarchy is a form of government in which power is held by a single ruler, and is often passed along from father to son.

24.  Spartans used Oligarchy as their government system

25.  Spartan males began their military training at age seven

26.  Athens was the wealthiest city-state in the ancient Greek world.

27.  The Acropolis was the high fortified citadel and religious center of an ancient Greek town

28.  Peloponnesus was the name of the southern peninsula where Sparta was located

29.  Triremes were massive fighting ships with three banks of oars, used to ram or board enemy ships

30.  A hoplite was a heavily armed and armored citizen-soldier of ancient Greece.

Short answer

1. You recall the time period when the Greek population dropped, ships no longer sailed, and writing fell out of use.  What years did this period begin and end?

   The Dark Ages lasted from about 1150 BC to 800 BC.  It lasted for about four centuries

  2. During the time period when writing fell out of use, the poet Homer is said to have told stories of the Trojan War, and of a war hero attempting to return to his home.  What are the titles of these two stories?

The title of these two stories were “The Odyssey” and “The Iliad.” They were memorized and probably sang instead of just saying it.

3. The word “Mediterranean” originally meant _____________________ .

“Mediterranean” originally meant center of the earth. (“Medi” middle) (“terranean” earth). The Greeks believed the sea was center of the world because they basically survived off of it.

4. What were prominent and long-established Athenian land-owners called?

They were called the Aristocrats and they usually ruled the city-states.

Ancient Greece Video Part 2

Today in west civ we watched another video about ancient Greece. Mr. Schick wasn’t here today so we had a sub and had to go to a different room. I think Ms. Snook was our sub but I don’t have her for anything so I’m not sure if it was her. This video was still narrated by Liam Nelson, who narrated the last one. Some of the answers on the worksheet that we couldn’t find in the last video were in this video. Even though, I have already googled pretty much all of the answers anyway. This one focused more on Pheidippides and Pericles. It also talked about the battle at marathon, and how Pheidippides ran all the way to Sparta from Athens to ask for help. Sparta refused to help and later Pheidippides’s run influenced the creation of present day marathons. It took him 2 whole days to run Sparta. Who has the ability to run for 2 straight days? I’ll tell you who! Pheidippides. 

Greece Worksheet

Today in west civ we went over the worksheet we took notes on for the video. Not all the questions were in the video but I just googled them. Fun Fact, google is named after the number (10000000000000…….) with a million 0’s. They named it this because they wanted it to be so widely spread. Anyway, the worksheet basically took us the entire class because we have A.D.D and can’t focus for more than 30 seconds at a time. Mr. Schick told me that, the other day, his blog was posted at 9:11. Coincidence?  I think not. The curse is spreading obviously. We are currently learning about ancient Greece and most of the stuff is very interesting because it shows us how life was back in the day. All the stories about the kings, and hero, etc. are kind of fun to hear except sometimes they can be disturbing. Like the story about Oedipus Rex. Just…..gross. 

Oedipus Rex

Today in West Civ. we watched the last presentation for the Athens and Sparta project. After that Mr. Schick told us the story of Oedipus Rex. He was a man who was told by a sage, when he was younger that he was to murder his father and marry his mother. He tried to avoid this fate by leaving and staying away from everything, but I mean come on its basically impossible to avoid fate. Anyway, he ended up killing his father in a fight about road rage, and didn’t realize it was his father until much later. Meanwhile, he fell in love with a woman who he did not recognize as his mother. Once he realized that what he had done, he speared his eyes and went blind to avoid the look of shame. This story is actually quite disgusting, but I can see how it would be very dramatic to perform in a Greek theater. The Ancient world didn’t have TV or radio so they spent their time watching amazing plays performed by amazing actors. 

Athens and Sparta Commercial

Today in West Civ we presented our projects to the class. My group went last so we had time to watch other people go which is good, because going first sucks. It’s like all this pressure on you because your first and it gets intense. Anyway, I think my group did pretty well on our presentation. We did our best and I think we will get a pretty decent grade. The other groups also did well with their videos. I’m pretty sure everyone in my section made a video instead of a storyboard. The video was more fun but it took forever. It was harder than it looked trying to get music in the background. I watched some of the other section’s videos and they were pretty good. Most people picked Athens over Sparta, but both were equally good presentations. I thought that was a pretty fun project and it taught us a lot about ancient Athens and Sparta. 

End of the Video

Mr. Schick wasn’t in class today so we had class with Mr. Perry. We all just watched the movie on our laptops and took notes on the worksheet. It was actually pretty hard to finish the worksheet but I think we all did. Here are some of the notes from the worksheet today.

-        Aspasia was a trusted associate of Pericles, and may have even written some of his speeches

-        Odysseus was a war hero who had many adventures while trying to return home after the Trojan Wars.

-        The Olympics were a sporting competition where the common man could actually compete against aristocrats

-        Cleisthenes was recalled from exile and asked to build the world’s first government of the people

-        Pericles rose from the ranks of the common people, and took steps to increase the naval power Athens.

-        Epics are long narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds

Athens Project

Today Mr. Shick let us work on our projects in class. He isn’t going to be here tomorrow because he is going on the senior retreat. So tomorrow I think we are going to watch the video again tomorrow about the ancient world. Mr. Perry is our sub. So today my group, Hailey, Ellie and I, worked on our video and storyline. It’s was actually harder than I thought to do this project. Hailey did her best to make a good video but turns out she just used pictures of the same things at different angels. I will probably have to completely do it over, but at least she tried. The only problem is, that it is really hard to download music to the movie maker app so I have to figure out how to do that. Anyway, I think our project is going to turn out pretty good and I’m excited to present

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday and we had class right after mass. The ashes usually stay on for a while but then they just wash off or sometimes I accidently rub it off which is probably unholy. We continued to watch the video from yesterday about the ancient times. The fact that they have Liam Neeson as the voice person just makes it amazing. The video is currently about all the city states of Greece and how they fought against each other. If you think about it, it’s kind of like states fighting states. Technological they are all united in one country, but I guess they don’t think that way. Anyway, Mr. Schick moved our due date for the project to Tuesday which is great because now I don’t have to rush. Let’s just hope I don’t procrastinate because I tend to be good at that. 

Watching a Ancient Greece Video

Today we spent the first part of class watching Mr. Schick’s video he made for us on cyber day. It basically consisted of him talking back and forth with his horses and such. Kind of weird if you ask me. Anyway, then we got a study guide that had all these questions on it. We all thought we were having a pop quiz, turns out we are just watching a movie and answering the questions as we go. So, I really need to start working on that project that is due Friday. I mean I already started somewhat, but knowing me I probably will literally wait until the last second to finish. Let’s hope I do really well on this because I need to lift my grade.

Cyber Day Class......

This is the blog for Monday’s class on cyber day. O wait! That’s right we didn’t have class on Monday, but for some reason we were supposed to write a blog. That’s a bunch of baloney if you ask me. Anyway, on Monday we were assigned to work on our projects that are due Friday for the Sparta and Athens commercial thing. I want to do Athens because I think it would be more fun. I’m not really good with the whole movie making thing so hopefully it turns out well. Then again, I could just write the storyboard but I want to get as many points as possible because I don’t want to fail.