The Langrehr Schick Overthrow Duo

We continued to work on our partner google slides today on our countries and leaders. Cody and I are almost done our slides but I ran into one thing that keeps on blocking me from getting done. Mr. Schick said we need to find out if the president of the country could be over thrown from their office. I researched for an hour the night before and nothing came up for impeach or even assassination. Either people must really love their Putin or Putin loves keeping them quiet about it. I find it kinda creepy that no straight forward answers pop up when I research about his impeachment. I told Mr. Schick that I had a dilemma with one of the topics we had to research and I explained all of it. He said that he would research it himself on his computer and if no one had impeached him yet, that him and I would do it ourselves. He sat down at his computer scrolling for a few minutes on his computer screen as I had the night before. He said that it looked like we were heading to Russia to impeach Putin. I don't have my passport ready yet but we'll get around to it. I just can't believe no one wants to over throw Putin really badly. There are so many reports in America about people starting petitions to take down Obama but it never happens. That doesn't even happen in Russia and I think Putin tying up a few loose lips about it. I don't know but the whole thing makes me feel a bit suspicious. But worry not Mr. Schick and I are taking care of it. Also Cody has done a great jobs on the slides he did in the project. I haven't done as much as him because I've been in such road block because of the whole keep quiet situation with Putin. I plan to make that up by doing maybe the last three slides tomorrow and writing up the presentation script and bringing in props for our presentation. I think besides a little goofing off, this project is going really well for Cody and I.

Russian Presentation

Today, Mr. Schick told us that we would start off the new quarter with a new power point presentation. We could not use the power point app already on our computers, we have to use Google Slides. Google slides is really cool because you and your partner  can work on something at the same time. The slide they're working on just appears on your screen and saves automatically. Mr. Schick picked our groups for us and I was paired up with Cody. Then we got to pick a number out of a hat to see who got to go first in picking their country. I won the first pick and Cody and I picked to study Russia. I think the President for this country is really easy to study because he is all over the internet. Putin is pretty well liked by his people I haven't read one bad thing about him so far. But I plan on finding something that would cause the citizens to want to throw him out of office. This would be helpful because I need to list ways the citizens could throw Putin out of office besides killing him off. The slides must contain the name of the country you're doing and they're kind of government. Also you have to include how long they have existed under their present form of government. Then how long their present leaders have been in office and how long they are supposed to stay there. I don't think this project will take too long but it will take up most of our classes this week. I hope this presentation turns out well for Cody and I.

Pop Quiz

Today we had an unexpected pop quiz on the leaders of the countries we've been focussing on. I was really scared when I heard about the quiz at firs. I felt better when I found out it was matching and multiple choice. I was really proud that I got an 87 considering I didn't study. I would know this so quickly because Mr. Schick only had to walk down the hall to grade them. The Scantron tests are so easy to grade all you have to do is put it in the machine then it puts in the grade. Our class got the highest average out of all of them. Turns out section 6 was the worst out of all and ours had an average of 76%. I know it doesn't sound too good but compared to the other classes, it was amazing. I think it was because our class engages more in our class discussion. This makes us remember the things we say about the presidents and leaders which helps on the quizzes. I wasn't as worried as the other classes were because I knew I paid attention in this class. I have to say the only difficult thing for me to do in this class is turn blogs in on days I'm not sure I should. I plan to work on that over time because these blogs cost a lot for our grades. Considering it's the end of the quarter, I've really been thinking about my grades. I hope to do well throughout the year in this class because I want to expand my knowledge on the subjects we study in this class. I mean I didn't even know who some of these leaders were before we started this project. Now I know a Nobel Peace Prize leader and one who has a super hero named after him! I have already learned so much from Mr. Schick's class and I'm super excited for the rest of the year. This is definitely one of my favorite classes I've ever taken and hope to keep my good grade in this class.

Headaches and Homework

I wasn't able to make it to Mr. Schick's class today because I had a terrible migraine today. I had it when I woke up today and thought I'd just take my health test and then go home. After a nice long nap in the dark for 5 hours I was feeling much better. So I thought it would be time to check up on the classes I missed. I checked for Human Geo, Spanish, and Math and got all the work together. Surprisingly, it wasn't as much as I was expecting. I thought I would expand on the facts that I stated in my last blog about the strong leaders. I noticed there was a pattern between most of the leaders. The one's that had a very structured educations know how to lead their countries more intelligently. Some of those leaders had many degrees in important subjects such as Politics and Economics. Having studied these subjects for so long taught them how to keep a hold of things for they're country. I also believed the leaders that had a tragedy in their lives drove them to better their lives by being inspiring leaders. But some of those leaders take power to the wrong extent and use it in the wrong way like Bashar. I forgot to mention a few things about the President of Mexico, Mr. Nieto. Mr. Nieto is not an all fine and dandy guy if you ask me. He was still voted into office after a huge scandal that he did not deny which I think is absolutely insane. He fathered two children from two different women while he was married to someone and they still elected him? Why would people want someone who's personal life is so out of order to run your country? Also, why would women vote for this guy if he cheated on his wife with two other woman? I think that is so disrespectful and I would never vote for someone who would do that to their loved ones. If they can do something that betraying to their family, what are they capable of doing with the country. Some of these leaders have some special quirks and good traits but some just don't know what to do with their power. We need to truly think about our values and how our leaders are going to guide us to them.

Leader's Upbringing

The leaders in the blog before this had very interesting lives before stepping into office. Vladimar Putin in my opinion is a pretty awesome guy, I mean he's got a comic book character named after him. More importantly, what's strange about Putin is that his family has no record of ancestors besides his grandfather. He had a couple of horrible deaths in his family like his grandmother and his uncle's disappearance at war. One thing that might influence his presidential decisions is that he was involved in KBG as an intelligence officer. This might have taught Putin ways of protecting his country and being interconnected with others. Next we have Merkel, the first female chancellor of Germany in all of its history. Merkel was very educated and serious about her studies which might help in her office. A good education can better your decisions, especially if they are for an entire country. Prime Minister David Cameron is a descendant of King William IV which might have prepared him for his role in office. Living the royal upbringing could have prepared David for the prestige position for running the United Kingdom. Somethings that also probably helped him achieve his position along the way were his Honor Degrees in Politics, Philosophy, & Economics. Hollande's promises in his campaign look out for not only the upper class of the country, but the lower classes as well. Hollande had an experience of being a commoner at one point so he understands what it's like for those people. He took office considering all people of his country no matter how much they had. Dilma Rousseff is one tough cookie I will tell you that. Before stepping into Brazil's office, she joined the resistance movement against the military dictatorship and was arrested for it. While incarcerated, she was not only beat, but tortured and assaulted. I think this horrible experience taught her to tough it out and see where that takes you. I think she would be able to lead her country through very hard times with her persistence and determination. Bashar Al-Assad said he learned his awful ways of killing his own people from his dear father. When his father was in office and there was a religious issue in the country, he killed many civilians. I think it was either this or Bashar's brother's death that drove him to be such and aggressive leader to his people. Akinito is a very intelligent leader which is very essential for the country of Japan. When Akinito was a child, he was separated from his parents and was raised by chamberlains and tutors. I think this could lead him to make good decisions in office because he knows more about the world around him. Xi Jinping, the president of the country of China, is a working man you could call it. This humble leader once worked for other big leader figures as secretaries. I think he learned a lot from these great leaders he worked for and carried what he learned over into his own leadership. Shimon Peres in my opinion is one well rounded man with many accomplishments. He was head of Israel's Naval Services which shows he knows how to run his people and protect them from any harm. He was elected Israel's Parliament which I think showed him the ropes of the whole operation. Also, the man was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize! This definitely shows how great of a person Peres is and how well he can guide his country. Pranab Mukherjee is also another well educated leader which helps guide them in the right direction for their country. He has a degree in Political Science and taught the subject as well, which I think also shows good people skills. All these leaders have experienced something in their life that makes them who they are as leaders today. Good or bad it's important to see that they are people too not just a person who controls the government, but a person who knows what the world is truly like.

Part Two

Russia
Government: Federation
Leader: President Vladimar Vladimirovich Putin












Germany
Government: Federal Republic
Leader: President Joachim Gauck/Chanceler Merkel

United Kingdom
Government: Constitutional Monarchy/Commonwealth Realm
Leader: Queen Elizabeth II/ Prime Minister David Cameron

                                                                  France
                                         Government: Republic
                   Leader: President Francois Hollande

Brazil
Government: Federal Republic
Leader: President Dilma Rousseff

                                                                                         Syria
        Government: Republic Under An Authoritarian Regime
                                            Leader: President Bashar al-Asad

Canada
Government: A Parliamentary Democracy, A Federation, and a Constitutional Monarchy
Leader: Prime Minister Stephen Joseph Harper

Japan
Government: Parliamentary Government with a Constitutional Monarchy
Leader; Emperor Akihito

                                                                      Israel
               Government: Parliamentary Democracy
                           Leader: President Shimon Peres

Leader All Around Our World Part One

Mexico
Type of Government: federal republic
Leader: President Enrique Pena Nieto






China
Government: Communist State
Leader: President XI Jinping


                                India
                    Government:
              Federal Republic
                            Leader:
                         President
            Pranab Mukherjee

You've Got Grades Part 2

Today, Mr Schick handed back our tests that we took that week. I didn't get as good of a grade as my last one, but it was not a bad grade. I could've done better as Mr. Schick said and this motivates me to do well on the next one. I knew I had screwed up on the CIA Factbook part of the test, as I mentioned in my last blog. I now know how to get to the facts about the entire world, since Mr. Schick showed us how to get us there up on the big screen. This would've been a huge boost on my grade if I had known this going into the test. Then we went to the next page to discuss the matching vocabulary words. I got a perfect score on this page because memorizing vocabulary is one of my strong suits. One of my classmates helped Mr. Schick review the test too. We went over the next page very thoroughly asking many questions. I only got one wrong on this page which I was quite satisfied with. Many people were asking about the push and pull factor essay questions. Mine were about Syria, Lebanon, The United States, and Mexico. I explained why which one was which and how it got to be like that. Some people got these questions wrong because they referred to continents instead of specific countries. For example, Mr. Schick had said many people had put just Africa down for push factor. Then we flipped to the last section of the test which as I said involved population pyramids. I got all of these questions right because I find population pyramids pretty interesting. I just like how it can predict the population of future generations and how large the ones will be now. Finally, at the very bottom we discussed the two bonus questions. I didn't do either of these but I didn't get any points taken off for not answering them. Some people got a 104 on their test because they not only got a perfect score, but they got the bonus questions! I was really glad Mr. Schick went over the test so well so I can remember all the information for exams which aren't too far away.

Test Tuesday

Today I finally took the test of Migration and Population for Human Geo. The first part of the test was really nerve wrecking cause you only have ten minutes to complete that section. I think I did okay but that was probably my weakness of the test. I missed four questions because I couldn't find the percentages of the languages of the work. I had problems locating information about the entire world not just one pin pointed country. I also couldn't find the producing number for oil for some countries which made me mad because I had seen it doing homework once. When the ten minutes was up I moved onto the vocabulary section which was pretty easy. It had a word bank which made things a lot easier for me. Then I had to do MATH on my HUMAN GEO test which wasn't exciting for me since I always mess up easy math. I'm pretty sure I did alright on that part of the test because it involved mostly statistics. The next part was easy peasy lemon squeezy for me. You had to list two push factors of a country and two pull factors of a country. I chose Syria and Mexico for my push factors because they both had problems in their country making people want to live somewhere else. I chose the United States and Lebanon because they have a safe environment with job options for people. The final part of the test was on the population pyramids we had learned about. I'm pretty good with the pyramids for some reason so I think I did fairly well on that part of the test. The pyramid only had the labels of A, B, and C. There was no labels of gender or country and that is what the questions were asking about. I hope the test goes okay for me and if not I'll study even harder on the next subject to do better on the next test.

Retreat

On Friday, I went on the last Freshman retreat with my religion class. I know this isn't about Human Geo but I thought since I didn't take the test Friday I should at least blog about something. On retreat we started out in our big group doing ice breaker games. We introduced our selves to new people and played games to get to know one another. Then we went inside of Saint Margaret's church and sat down and were introduced to our Junior retreat leaders. We were then separated into groups with the Junior leaders with 5 other kids. My leader was a girl named Nicolette who was so sweet, pretty, and fun to be around. We started off by drawing a poster to represent what represents a JC patriot. I was pretty proud of my groups poster when it came time to share it with the other groups. We had snacks and went outside to play some more games then ate lunch. Then we played a game called "I have mail for" which was really fun. After that we had to write our letters to our future selves. I took my time on my letter because I knew it would be important in the future to me. I'm so excited to open it in a couple of years and see how much I have changed throughout my years of John Carroll. After I finished writing my letter I turned it into Mrs. Sullivan and joined the rest of the groups. Then I took a picture with Nicolette and the rest of my group outside. Later, I took a picture with just Nicolette and I which turned out pretty good. I was kind of surprised when I was sad the day was over. I thought I was going to hate the retreat but turned out loving it. It was a great experience and I can't wait to go on more with my classmates in the future.

Beware Test Ahead

Today we went over the last few things that will be on the test tomorrow. Even though I won't be in class tomorrow I'm planning to take the test after school hours tomorrow. We mainly went over immigration and the population pyramid and changes that occur in it. We talked about illegal immigrants who hold up companies that wouldn't survive without them. Americans think that manual labor is so beneath them and they would never go sweat at work for a small pay. These illegal immigrants will take as many of these jobs as they can find. They came to the country most likely just to find some jobs that will support them and their needs. Even though these are low pay they think they're the best thing yet. Some people think that's why we don't search out all illegal immigrants that come to the United States. These people support so many factories and jobs and if we just kicked them out all of these companies would start to shut down. Then we continued on the information on the population pyramid. Mr. Schick said that we would have to identify certain countries based on the population pyramid. There would be a word bank to help us out but he said it would be pretty easy to identify each one. You can tell if a country is struggling to live longer or struggling to produce children. If the top of the pyramid is very narrow it is probably a country struggling with health care. This might relate to a nation in Africa which has many people dying at a younger age. If the bottom and top of a pyramid is narrow it probably means that the country is having a hard time producing children. Mr. Schick said this is true for the country of Germany who's pyramid has a bulging middle section. I feel well prepared for this test and hope it goes as well as my first test went and maybe even better.

Road to Success

Today we went over the information that will be on the test Friday. I was really glad our teacher did this because I felt like I didn't quite know what exactly was on the test. I now know I have to get more familiar with the CIA Factbook because we will have questions on the test for it. We will have ten minutes to look up the answers to the CIA Fact questions and then we will have to close our computers. Then we will start testing like regular with matching and definitions from vocabulary we have learned. I'm guessing there might be an essay but I don't remember Mr. Schick saying this. The main subjects of the test are Population and Migration. The blogs I've written so far on these subjects have helped me throughly understand them. My blog also helps study because I start to remember pin points of lessons from them. One example was my blog on the population pyramid. That was one of my longest blogs and it explained the whole lesson over again. I see why Mr. Schick has us write these every night for homework even though it's a pain. It really helps review the section for a test and is a very good study guide. I never realized that the more you put into the blogs every night pays off for the tests in the end. It helps drill the lessons into your brain so you don't just have the information go in one ear and out the other. I won't be in class on Friday but I plan to make up the test either after school or on Tuesday. I hope this upcoming test goes as well as my first test did so I can boost my grade higher before the quarter ends. I plan to study hard and do my best to ace this test so not only my grade improves but learn more about our surrounding world.

Is America All That?

Today we were discussing once again whether the United States is the greatest country in the world. We resourced back to the handy website the CIA Factbook once again to research this controversial subject. We had to find facts that supported the idea of America being the greatest or something bad about it. A couple people found some really good things about our country. Most found out about some pretty awful things about the United States. Our country is currently number nine out of all the country's in the world with the amount of people living with HIV. India is so much bigger in population means and they only have twice as many people living with HIV. If you think about it, that's pretty bad in comparison. We also found that we owe trillions of dollars to many other countries for goods we got from them. This got us to talking about our oil supplying of the world. What if we eventually run out of oil to use for all our daily activities? It has been predicted that this will happen eventually happen but we just aren't sure when. If this happens, we put out some ideas about how we could reduce the use of oils. Mr. Schick shared with us how he has solar panels installed on his house for their electricity source. He said that installing them was kind of expensive at first, but the panels saved him thousands of dollars later after installing them. In my opinion, I think every house should have something this environmentally efficient to save oil. If we start to run out, prices would sky rocket and all chaos would break loose. I think we should try and find a way to pay back these countries so we can focus on upcoming issues like this one.

America the Best Country in the World?

In class on Friday, we wanted a video from a TV show talking about America and it's ups and downs. In the video, there is a news anchor taking questions that they want an opinion on from him from some college students. A young girl stands up and asks the man why do you think America is the greatest country in the world. At first he tries to dodge the question the interviewer said he wanted a real answer. The news anchor gave his opinion loud and clear after that. He explained how no we are not the greatest country in the world and if you're dumb enough to believe it go right ahead and be blinded with the stupidity of your own country. He wasn't complete;y wrong about any of his points in his speech either. This man made very good observations about our country and how we need to realize we aren't as top notch as we think we are. He mentioned how we need to start acting instead of maybe thinking about acting on controversial issues. I couldn't agree more on this which we expanded on in class. A great example is Isis, we have no clue how we are going to help out the victims besides bombing the whole country. We waited and waited to act on the situation when we should've just acted as soon as we could to help the people involved. America needs to pull themselves together and figure out what needs to be fixed before it's too late for us. We need to pay these country's that we're in debt with and find a common ground with these war ranging countries. We need to start acting instead of just cowering at a foreign crisis. I'm not saying we're the worst country but I'm not saying we're the best. This country needs to step it up and show others why we are proud to be where we are.

CIA Fact Book 2.0

Today, we restored back to looking back at the website called the CIA Fact Book. Mr. Schick had told us a couple days ago that just one population pyramid can help you explore the country in so many other way. I explored the struggling African nation's pyramids and they were awful to see. Most nations didn't have people living over 80 at the most and babies were pouring by the hundreds. With babies being born this rapidly, its more likely for them to catch a disease within their early lives. Also, people are having this many children because they don't know exactly how long they have considering all the illnesses floating around in these African nations. This also means they could be rushing into things and not being safe about producing the children and could collect the illness known as Aids. A baby born with Aids isn't expected to last longer than their first birthday's. These struggling nations don't have the means of good health care to help clear up these problems. That's why so many people aren't surviving past the ages of 80 or so. Looking at these pyramid mades me realize how thankful I am for the health care I have. I'm also so thankful their are people in my country willing to help people in poor health as well. The struggling nations around the world deserve a better health care and chance of living. It's sad to see how much of a struggle it is to keep you own children alive as well as yourself. I hope that some day we can find a way to better the struggling nation's health care.

Spotify to Try

Today, we discussed how we were one of Mr. Schick's favorite classes to teach. He said how our class conversations are always so intriguing and he loves how much we participate. I agree because almost every single class we have at least a conversation about one controversial topic for a good 20-30 minutes. We all love to voice our opinions and give our input on the topics we discuss in class and its a great environment for learning. Anyways, Mr. Schick told us that he had a special idea for our class because we were such an amazing class. He said that he wanted us to help him on a project he had started with turning modern day music into learning. All we have to do is find songs from today's music that could possibly relate to education or something were learning at the time. To do this, Mr. Schick gave us a code for a free Spotify account for a year! We all got on our computers and logged in the code and started our profile for Spotify. Everyone started to play their favorite songs because it was nearing the end of class. It was very interesting to find out everyone's music tastes and who their favorite artist was. You can create stations on Spotify for your favorite artist and many more and you can have as many as you want. I'm very thankful that I got the free account and can't wait to explore music for education.