Last Human Geo Class of 2014

Wow it feels like just a couple weeks I was writing about my first day here at John Carroll and how much I loved my Human Geo class. I can't believe we've already made it to the the mid terms in December. I have to say Human Geo was definitely my favorite class this whole time and I knew it front the beginning. My class honestly made my few months with them amazing and helped me develop into this school. I'm really sad that we might not be in the same class in the new year. We had a little party today to celebrate the up coming break and the ending of our Human Geo course. I made my famous molten fudge cookies which my class fought for. Then we went over a couple things about the exams like we did yesterday. I just can't get over how much I enjoyed this class. Mr Schick was such a great teacher to all of us and I really really hope I have him in the new year. He makes learning about history fun which helps me remember things better. He relates to the students so well and it shows in our test scores how engaged we are. I'm kinda scared for my new classes coming up in the new year but I'm thankful for how much I learned from the classmates and teachers. I know we will have like 2 weeks after the break but I feel like that will fly by as fast as these few months have. Sooner or later I'll be preparing for new classes in my sophomore year. I still don't even feel like a freshman yet which is really weird for me. Hopefully I keep in contact with the people I've met in this class and Mr Schick especially. I'm sad to see it end but I'm excited for a new beginning.

Exam Prep

Today we went over the test that we took yesterday on Cultural Geography. I got a 82% on the test which is actually a lot better than what I thought I got. I was right when I said I got all the alliances questions wrong. I got every single alliance question wrong except for the United Nations and I've known about it for a while. We went around reading the questions and giving the right answers so we have a good study guide for the exams. after doing this Mr Schick gave back all of our old test so we could study off them for the exam next week. He said the test really would not be that hard this year for us. We are apparently the top class out of all the classes he is teaching at this time. He told us that the exam would cover all the material we've learned so far and should come out to around 150 questions. I'm really not that nervous for his test because I actually pay attention in his class. Social Studies is really easy for me to study for some reason and I don't know why. I think i'm going to read through all the test we've taken and then go through all of my blog. We are probably reviewing again in class tomorrow since we don't have class the Monday. Im bringing in cookies tomorrow too because my birthday is monday and I wanted to celebrate with my class.

Cultural Geography Test

I just got done taking the Cultural Geography test and I was very frustrated during the test. I made flashcards at home last night for all of the religions and it felt like it all just slipped out. I had my family help me study the alliances and I think I did really bad on that part. I'm really glad at the moment that I have an A in this class because I'm not sure how I did on that. I felt so prepared when I walked in here today and then when I looked at the test I just zoned out. It was all multiple choice which should have made it even easier for me. As you can probably tell I'm just upset at myself because of how hard I studied and then as soon as I get the test I just lost all of it. I knew even the exact number adherents of each religion and we didn't even have that on the test. Even if I didn't get a good grade on this test, I felt like I've learned a lot about many different religions. I plan to use the flashcards I made last night to study for the mid-term exam next week. Wow, I can't believe the mid-terms are next week, very scary. Mr Schick said as long as we study the material well we will do fine. I think I'm going to make a study group with my friends so we can help each other study for next week. We are going to review tomorrow and Friday for the Human Geo mid-term because we don't have class Monday (my birthday!). I'm starting to get really nervous as I'm waiting for the test to be graded and I hope I didn't do horrible. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Wrapping It Up

Today we learned two more religions to wrap up our lesson of Cultural Geography for our test tomorrow. Buddhism has between 500 million to 1.5 billion adherents and they are called Buddhists. The reason there isn't a certain amount it because it doesn't make you decide one against one God. You can be Christian while also being a Buddhists because it has a different meaning to people. Their leader Siddhartha Gautama was considered to just "really get it" and understood the meaning of life. The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path are ways of following Siddhartha's teaching. Next was Judaism which has 14-18 million adherents and is the ninth biggest religion in the world. The reason we talked about it even though it is a relatively same religion because of how affective it is to the other religions around them. Their geographic location is Israel and they believe they have a very close relationship with God the Father. They actually think of him as a father figure helping them through stuff and punishing them if they do something wrong. Like many other religions they are Abrahamic believing Abraham lead the religion and was their founder. Their holy books are called the Talmud and the Torah. after discussing all the religions we went back to the ones we learned previously and highlighted somethings that would be questions on the test. I am so happy that the test is only multiple choice questions and most of them are about the religions we've focussed on. I think the only problem I will have is remembering things from the "Slumdog Millionaire" movie. i plan to study a little bit tonight and study tomorrow in my off mod.

Religions

In class on Friday, we talked about some of the most popular religions in the world. The first one we discussed was Christianity, and I already know a lot about this religion because I am catholic. The number of people who categorize themselves as Christian is around 2.2 billion which makes it the largest religion in the world. They are called Christians and are usually located around Europe, the Americas, and southern Africa. They have many different denominations inside of the religion and they all believe basically the same thing but have different opinions on some subjects. Their founder is Jesus Christ and their holy book is called the Bible. Their main belief is that Jesus was both fully human and divine and was the blessed Messiah. The next religion we talked about was Islam which has 1.5 billion adherents which make it the second largest religion in the world. They are called Muslims and are usually located in Indonesia, Middle East, and North Africa. The two denominations  are Sunnis and Shittes who have been fighting about religious beliefs for years. Their founder was Muhammad and their holy book is called the Qur'an and their beliefs are monotheistic and Abrahamic. The last one we learned about that day was Hinduism being the third largest religion with 1.1 billion adherents. They are called Hindus and they are found in India and Nepal and their holy book is called the Vedas. They have no distinct founder but a lot of philosophical beliefs and believe strongly in reincarnation. Next class we will learn about Buddhism and I'm really excited to learn about it because I've heard so much about it.

Spatial Divisions

We branched out on the topic of Cultural Geography today and learned about something called Spatial divisions. Spatial divisions deal with how we divide the livable space found on the earth. We decide this by establishing social, economic, and political control over the land. People can be a member of more than one spatial group. For example, I live in Harford County but I also live in the United States AND I live in North America. The list could go on forever how many groups people belong to. Some other examples of spatial divisions are clubs and economic alliances. These spatial divisions can also cause conflicts or cooperation just like in all the other subjects we've looked at. Before we even took notes on all of this we listened to a song Mr Schick made up about the movie "Slumdog Millionaire". He told us to listen well because it will be on our mid terms in two weeks. His daughter sang a remixed version of the song "Billionaire" to fit the story of the movie. Mr Schick made up a very clever rap to go along with the movie while he played guitar. I was very impressed with his guitar skills and his bars. We've all heard Mr Schick rap a couple times in class before but never like this it was awesome! I think we will all ace the movie part of the mid term. On the other hand, I'm going to start studying for exams this weekend so I can be totally prepared for these tests. I am extremely stressed out over these tests but I'm going to try to make it easier on myself by studying extremely hard. I just cannot wait to get these awful tests out of the way.

The Adventurous Adventures of Bob Schick

Today we discussed the topic of religion in relation to Cultural Geography. This characteristic can also be a unifying or dividing force for many countries and cultures. Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all have millions of followers that all believe the same thing. Yet they all wage wars on each other because they all think they are right and everyone else is wrong. You believe in the Prince of Peace but you're going to destroy the peace to defend him? It makes absolute no sense for these countries to be doing this and it really works Mr Schick up. Hindus and Muslims fight in India and Pakistan over who's right and wrong and has killed thousands and it is still going on. It's ridiculous how people define themselves so much by their religion that they'd kill so many others just to prove it's "right". There are even conflicts between Catholics and Protestants who believe almost the same thing! No one is right or wrong you believe in what you want to believe in. People should not slaughter those who don't have the same beliefs as them. I mean think about it, they are killing others to prove that their religion is right which states that killing is a major wrong doing! I was fascinated by things Mr Schick said about his beliefs and things that lead him to where he is. He told us a story which gave my goosebumps that have lasted up until now. He was pulling onto a road at 4:30 in the morning in LA when he felt a hand grasp his shoulder. He slammed on the breaks before being able to pull onto the road and looked behind him and saw no one in the back seat. As he sat in the car uneasy he saw a huge catering truck run right through the red light which could have killed him if he had gone. I was absolutely stunned and blown away and I stayed after to class to talk more about it. I couldn't believe this kind of thing happened to him I mean that mysterious hand could've saved him life! But Mr Schick just told all of us to believe in what we believe and to not make judgement on others beliefs.

Countries and Cultures

Today we expanded our notes on the lesson of Cultural Geography. As I said in my last blog about this lesson, cultural characteristics are parts of a group's everyday life. Basically these are the ideas and themes that put the foundations in your language, religion, and ethnic heritage. Language can unite some countries in many ways but sometimes it cannot. Arab is spoken in many countries that hate each other but some Hispanic countries are united together by their language. Switzerland is a very neutral country and has a very diverse culture but very little conflict between the groups. One thing that is very important to know about the English language is that it is the world wide business language. Many ethnic groups are very hostile towards each other because of many different reasons. There are two main ethnic groups called the Tutsis and the Hutus in Burundi, Africa and they persecute each other if they are on their powered land. Lucky, the United States and Switzerland have peacefully merged multiple ethnic groups in their countries. I mean you can just look around a classroom in my school and see people from all around the world. It's amazing that these cultural characteristics can either combine or divide cities and even countries. I'm glad that I live in a country where we are relatively on the good side of ethnic acceptance.