8/30/12

Today was a very fun day of human geography! We read a piece by Elbert Hubbard where he talked about “A message to Garcia.” Basically he talked about how lazy people are nowadays (this was written in the late1800’s) compared to the olden days. People used to strive for greatness and work hard to do the best they can in jobs and school and now people are lazy and do the bare minimum work. The only inspiration there is for a job is not getting fired. I completely agree with his entry and understand what he is trying to say. We need more people who will not just do the work or tell someone else to do the work but to do more than necessary and even be an over achiever. After the discussion of Hubbard’s piece Mr. Schick gave donuts to the people who were answering questions. I ended up answering a question and chose a chocolate donut! Eventually Mr. Schick gave everyone a donut and we ended the class with a discussion of the honor pledge and of how wrong plagiarizing is and the consequences of it. I am already looking forward to class tomorrow. 

8/29/12

 Today was very very boring. We opened the class as we normally opened, with a prayer, and the whole class forgot what to say back ( Let us rejoice and be glad.) So we had try it again. The goal for the class was to make sure everyone was to get there blog up and to send their URL to Mr. Schick's email. I already had my blog posted successfully so there was absolutely NOTHING for me to do but sit there and sometimes chat with a person near me. After what felt like hours everyone finally posted their blogs and emailed their URL. But it actually took the whole entire class period for everyone who couldn’t post their blogs on the first day, to finally post it today.  So besides writing our everyday blog we were also given one other assignment. To research some terms and find what they mean so here I go:

Arête- arête is a Greek word that basically means excellence of many varieties.

Polis- a polis is an ancient city-state in Greece.

Socrates- Socrates was an Athenian philosopher. He is famous for being the teacher of Plato and for making paintings that made his students skeptic.

The death of Socrates-  the death of Socrates was a painting by Socrates of his closing moments because Socrates was unjustly condemned to death . His paintings began to make people skeptic and the Athenian government were very unhappy so they gave Socrates the choice of exile or death. He chose death.

 The Socratic method-  the Socratic method was named after Socrates, who used a teaching method he made up where he would ask the students question after question in order to get them to use critical thinking and argue and debate with him in order to make them solidly confident.

The date 508 BC- the Klisthenis came to power and strengthened the Athen government.

Agora-  the agora was used for several things. It was basically a meeting place for any kind of gathering or assembly.

Idiot someone who prefers to keep to themselves and avoid public affairs. Some one who lacks professional skills.

8/28/12

Today in human geography we definitely got a lot accomplished. We opened with a prayer that expresses being grateful for the day present and then Mr. Schick did a short roll call.  We were then assigned seats and I, being the helplessly confused person I am, got my seat wrong the first time. After my seat confusion was all cleared up we dived into the lesson. Mr. Schick introduced us to the syllabus and pretty much prepared us for the year by telling us what we need for class(our tablet PC, a composition note book, pens, and a mind open for learning.) We were also informed that we had to write on our blog every day about the day’s human geo class, which I am looking forward too because I’ll admit I really like writing the blog. Human geography is definitely going to be a personal favorite of mine.  

First day at JC

My experience at John Carroll could be summed up into two words, fun and exciting.  Now I know the words fun and school aren’t supposed to be able to fit in the same sentence but I couldn’t help but enjoy my experience at JC. I came into the school eager to get started and we began our day with a parent/student breakfast. After greeting my friends and meeting a bunch of new people we all gathered in the auditorium where several people made a speech about what we should expect in our future as a Patriot. When that ended we were all sent to our advisories where I met Mr. Iacchei who will be my advisor for the next 4 years. The fire alarm interrupted the advisory session but it was only a drill so we could learn where to go in case of an actual fire. After we went inside we had a quick snack in the cafeteria and then split up into groups and visited four different classrooms where we were given various speeches on recycling, and the library rules, and the dean of discipline made a speech, and we also had our pictures taken. When that was wrapped up we had lunch in the cafeteria and we then had a run through of our Wednesday schedule. This involved constantly ripping my schedule out of my folder to see what room I was in next and hoping I wasn’t late! Finally at the end of the long day we had a short wrap up in the cafeteria and everyone said their goodbyes unless they had practice for a sport which in my case was volleyball. Over all it was a fun and exciting experience and I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.