The Movie Continues

We are still watching the film "God Grew Tired of Us" in class. The movie began with a very depressing beginning, but as the movie progressed, the lost boys that were sent to America and found hope. The lost boys, Daniel, Panther, and John, are very unselfish and giving people. These boys work hard just so they can  send money and support the boys in the refugee camp in Kenya. They work for others, not for themselves. When Daniel, John, and Panther were all experiencing Christmas in New York and in Pennsylvania, they seemed over whelmed by all the lights and different ways of celebrating Christmas. I thought that the way Christmas was celebrated in the refugee camp in Kenya was very fun and interesting. I feel like we don't celebrate the true meaning of Christmas in America. In Kenya's refugee camp they celebrate the true, real meaning of Christmas, which is birth of Jesus Christ. I was so happy when one of the lost boys got a letter form his parents saying that they are alive and that his brothers and sisters are alive as well. It was depressing watching him read the letter when the letter stated that some of his aunts, uncles, and cousins were killed.

God Grew Tired of US

The movie we are watching in Human Geography class is called "God Grew Tired of Us". This movie is a very emotional and touching movie that covers an impact that Northern Sudan caused. Because of Northern Sudan's greed for the oil fields in Southern Sudan. This civil war caused kayos throughout all of Southern Sudan. People were scared, raped, and even killed. The young boys of Southern Sudan knew they had to leave their country behind. These boys, called the lost boys, had to endure a very painful journey to get to a safer place. The lost boys even had to survive bombings and wild animal attacks. Once the lost boys got to a refugee camp in Kenya, they knew that their life would still be full of misery and sadness. The film focuses on three main lost boys, Daniel, Panther, and John. These men were chosen to go to America and make a living there. My favorite part of the whole movie so far, was watching these men figure out what normal American lives are like. The look on their faces when they saw a lamp light up was so cute. I can't wait to watch the rest of the movie!

Test Taken

I was really excited to get my test back. I knew I would do well because I studied all the information and I even made a study guide. The only part of the test I thought I would get wrong was the section about the presentations given but I got that section all right. I was nervous when Mr. Schick called my name to get my to go get my test, but when I heard the ding of the bell which signifies an A on a test, I knew I was fine. I was actually pretty mad at myself for getting some of the questions wrong. One of the questions that I got wrong was just so stupid. I knew the correct answer but circled a wrong answer. Anyways, today's class was fairly odd and interesting. Mr. Schick left the class room because the class was talking so much. I do agree that we were chatty today but it really scared me when he left the class room. It felt like Mr. Schick was gone for about five minutes. I felt really bad for Mr. Schick because he is such a nice guy and is a great teacher. He deserves all of our undivided attention the whole entire class. For future classes, I will try to refrain from talking during class.

Taking the Test

The test was not that challenging at all. There were only a few questions that I might have doubted myself on but other than that, everything was easy. I was surprised when Schick put questions on the test about the countries that were presented because I just thought that Mr. Schick just assigned us that project as an exercise to use the CIA World Fact Book. I am so glad that more than half of the questions revolved around my country that I presented or at least i hope they were about that country. I thought we would have longer answer questions like essays but the longest answer I had to write on the test was to define the acronym TFR (total fertility rate) and RNI (Rate of Natural Increase) which wasn't hard. I don't actually know if I am suppose to blog tonight but just to be save, I did. Anyways, I have a shadow tomorrow so she is very lucky to experience the wonderful class that is Human Geography.

First Test!

On Friday, we finished presenting all the projects and discussed what was going to be on the test Monday. I checked Power School and was thrilled to find out that I got 100% on all my essays. I am a little upset to discover that I forgot to blog about Friday's class on Saturday. I was planning to do it today but I just realized that the blog about Friday's class is due on Saturday at 11:59 P.M. I am not that stressed out about it because I know what there will be plenty of opportunities to earn more points. I didn't see a grade for my Nigeria presentation on Power School yet but I am sure that our group did fine and achieved a good grade on our presentation. On the other hand, I don't think that some groups did as well as my group did. Some of the information about their country was wrong! I double checked my information because I knew that if my information was wrong, my grade would suffer. I really like how we could have discussions during our presentation about out power point. Anyways, we are having our first test soon. I typed up a study guide and I think I will do fine because I usually pay attention to Mr. Schick. Wish me good luck on my test! I made this study guide for the test.

Human Geo. Notes

A Message to Garcia

·         By: Elbert Hubert

·         In Cuba, Garcia was in the mountains of Cuba

·         Rowan was sent to deliver a message to Garcia

·         deliver a message to General Garcia who was hiding in an unknown location in the Cuban mountain

·         Rowan asked no questions and just did his duty

·         Written in 1899

·         In 1998- war between Spain and US, fought in Cuba

·         Theme of Article: People are lazy and won’t do what you ask without asking questions or getting help

·         “It is the survival of the fittest”

·         People who can do work and are not lazy will always have work

Ancient Greece

·         Arete- a term described a maximum of ability and potency for action; a man's effectiveness and skill in goodness.

·         Polis- was the ancient Greek city-state. 

·         Socrates- was a classic Greek Athenian philosopher. 

·         The Death of Socrates- was sentenced to death by poison (hemlock).

·         The Socratic Method- clarified the concepts of God and Justice.

·         The Date 508 BC- The Romans rose up against their leader. Cleisthenes grants full rights to all free men in Athens. 

·         Agora- was the center of Athenian democracy. It was a gathering place for the lawmakers and citizens. 

·         What the ancient Greeks meant if they called you an idiot- In ancient Greece, the inventors of democracy set up a law that required every person to vote, regardless of who they voted for. If anyone was found not voting, then you are considered an idiot.

·         Socrates: persuaded the people of Athens to think deeply and to think for themselves, didn’t look like a very intelligent man

·         Socrates was put on trial for telling the people of Athens information that the Greeks didn’t want him to say.

·         At Socrates’s trial, he stated that the people of Athens were like a lazy horse and he was a horse fly that was trying to keep the sluggish horse alert. 

Did You Know 3.0 Video

·         Over 7 billion people on planet

·         Increasing by over 77 million per year

·         208,800 per day

·         90% of population growth in Africa, South and East Asia, and Latin America (developing countries)

·         1804-1^st billion people-12 years-7 billion people

·         Life Expectancy: the average number of years to be lived by a group of pope born in the same year (women longer life expectancy because men typically have more dangerous jobs)

·         Crude Birth Rate: number of births per 1000 of population

·         Crude Death Rate: number of deaths per 100 of population

·         Rate of Natural Increase (RNI): produced by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate (this gives us the annual natural growth rate- in % form for a country or region

·         Net Migration Rate: the difference between the number of people entering and leaving the country during a year

o   An excess of people entering the country is net immigration= positive number

o   An excess of people leaving the country is net emigration= negative number

·         Why Do People Migrate?

o   Push Forces: forces that make you want to leave the country (Ex: civil war, environmental degradation, and unemployment)

o   Pull Forces: forces that make you want to live in the country (Ex: freedom)

·         Total Fertility Rate (TFR): Average number of children born per women, for the population to stay the same the TFR has to be 2.1 (replacement rate)

-higher than 2.1=population increases

-lower than 2.1=population decreases

World TFR: 2.47=population is increasing

·         Infant Mortality Rate: infants that die before they reach the age of 1

·         GDP: Gross Domestic Product: the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year

Nigeria Presentation

I wasn't that excited to do my presentation today which was about Nigeria. The facts that I remember about my group presentation were that Nigeria is second in the world for the most number of people living with HIV or AIDS out of all the countries in the world. Nigeria has 3.3 million people living with HIV or AIDS. The net migration rate (NMR) is -0.22 and because the NMR is a negative number, the amount of people leaving the country is greater than the amount of people coming into the country. My presentation was pretty easy. I just summarized the information I put on my slides and read. I think our group did a great job. I am very proud of myself for knowing information about Nigeria's flag. Overall, the class was fun and it was fun to learn about other countries as well as present my country to the class.

Presentation

Mr. Schick gave us groups today and we had to write up a presentation power point using Google.