TEST TOMORROW!

Today, we finished giving our student presentations. The group that did Buddhism, finish from where they started. We learned that Buddhism is a religion indigenous to the Indian subcontinent that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Buddha. 6% of the world's population is Buddhism which is about 200-600 million Buddhist. A lot of Asian countries are mostly Buddhist. Buddhism started in Japan. They try to follow the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha). This religion is more like practices then a bunch of strict beliefs. There are over a million Buddhist in the US. A Buddha is a person who is completely free from all faults and mental obstructions. The Buddha, which they learned from, was skin and bones because he would fast from weeks at a time. He is thought of as a fat, lazy and happy man but that wasn’t the case.  Then Judaism went. Jews practice their religion in a synagogue. There are about 13,580,000 in the world, and 81% live in Israel and the United States. Abraham was the first Jew, the founder if there was one and Moses was a prophet known for bringing down the 10 commandments. This is Abrahamic religion just like Christianity and Islamic. There are About 1 billion Hindus mostly found in Indian and Asian countries. It is one of the oldest religions. They worship in a home, temple, or at a shrine. Most households have a small shrine in their house. This religion was formed in 2000 B.C in India. Hinduism is a Polytheistic religion- have more than one god. 

Group Presentations

Today in Human Geo we presented our projects on the different religions. Everyone did a great job and know we are almost ready for our test on Friday, but there are still more groups to do. The group that did Islam went first. They told us Islam is a monotheistic belief in a god or gods, and is an Abrahamic religion. The Qur'an is like our Bible. Followers of Islam are called Muslims, who are mostly located in the Middle East. They don’t eat pork. The two other Abrahamic religions are Jews and Christians. It is a belief that God is one, and the purpose is to love and serve him. It is also believed that Islam is the universal version of faith, and was revealed through Abraham, Jesus, and Moses. They believed Jesus was a prophet and the Muhammad was the Savior. Allah is the one and only God who should be worshiped and obeyed and he is absolutely and completely perfect to them. No one shares divinity with Allah. Allah means God in Arabic. They believe humans ARE NOT created in Allah's image. Ritual prayers must be performed five times a day because it is part of the five pillars they follow. Hajj is the pilgrimage which is the process of becoming Islamic. Ihra is a spiritual state of purity and they sacrifice sheep and cut off all their hair to symbolize completion of becoming Islamic. The other group that went didn’t have enough time to finish.

Quiz Reviewing

Today in Human Geo we reviewed the answers on the test we took a couple of days ago. Mr. Schick told us that some of these questions are going to be on our quiz this Friday. We had three shadows today and they all seemed to enjoy the class. I only got three questions wrong but I probably could have got them right if I thought about it long enough. After we finished reviewing the quiz we went into our groups to work on the different types of religion PowerPoint. I was in a group with Steve and Austin. We were doing a presentation on Christianity. Mr. Schick said that our quiz on Friday is mostly about the religions and so that’s why we are doing presentations on them. My group didn’t finish this class so we have to do it tonight before we present tomorrow at the beginning of class.

End of the Quater

​We took a test today in Human geo and it was on cultural geography. Before the test Jasmine helped us review so we could be very prepared for the test. Mr. Schick thought we were going to do better than the other classes because we all understood what we were learning. Thank God, because the last two times we had the worst class test average. I think the test was not that difficult, but I wasn’t sure on some things. I only had four questions I wasn’t sure about. Since it’s out of twenty I guess that is pretty good. After I finished the test I thought I did pretty good, and was happy about it. Hopefully I still have an A in Human geo, because the quarter ended and I really wanted all A’s. I’m pretty sure that this quiz goes in our first quarter grades, but even if it doesn’t I think I did a pretty good job on it.    

PREPARING FOR THE QUIZ

Today in Human Geo we spent most of the class reviewing for our quiz tomorrow on cultural geography. Jasmine was the teacher for today and I think she did pretty well. She reviewed everything we have learned so far and then we all watched a video that tied into nationalism. The video was about three politicians talking to college students about current events. One of the anchors, was really funny and tried not to be stern about things. Until one girl asked about why America was the best country in the world. The other two stated their answers and when it was time for the funny man to speak he just made up a silly joke. The reporter urged him to answer and so he said he just agreed. There was a women in the back who caught his attention and he finally broke. He went all a-wall about how America isn’t the best country in the world anymore because of all the issues and problems. 

More Notes

In human geo today we did more noting taking about cultural geography. We are preparing for a quiz on Friday so I tried to take good notes. We started off talking about reasons for spatial divisions, like differences in culture, language, and religion. Nationalism is the belief that your nation is the best in the world. Some other reasons were fertile land, access to fresh water, and access to natural resources. Jews, Christians and Muslims all believe that Jerusalem is their holy land. They are always fighting over it. Spatial divisions are how we separate the area of the earth by establishing social, economic, and political control. Some examples of spatial divisions are countries, states, countys, and so many more. People also form economic alliances like the European Union and OPEC. Some political alliances are NATO, and OAS. Hopefully I do well on my quiz this Friday so I have good grades for the end of the quarter! 

Cultural Characteristics

Today we learned about Cultural characteristics today in Human Geo class. These characteristics can divide a region but can also link one. They are the ideas and themes which the group will teach to all members. The three major examples of cultural characteristics are language, religion, and ethnic heritage. Arabic unites the Arab world because they all speak it, and Spanish unites the Hispanic world for the same reason. Brazil is the only nation in South America that doesn’t speak Spanish, this divides Brazil from the rest of the continent. Ethnic Heritage also is a part of cultural characteristics. In Yugoslavia many ethnic groups were made into one country. When strong leaderships died out the different groups started a civil war, and now are separate countries. USA has multiple ethnic groups that all get along, unlike Japan and Korea who primarily have one. Religion can be a unifying or disunifying force.  Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the five major religions in the world. Fights broke out about beliefs and the understanding of each religion.

Where's Mr. Schick?

We had Human Geo first period on Friday and Mr. Schick never showed up. After about 15 minutes of waiting for him to come Jasmine and I went to the main office to tell them we didn’t have a teacher. They sent down a sub, who had us take an AP Human Geo test. The grade didn't count, but Mr. Schick just wanted to see what we knew. The test was easy in the beginning but got really challenging at the end. I didn’t have enough time to finish, but for questions I didn’t know, I just made an educated guess. I only knew about the stuff we recently learned.  Most of the questions were so random and I didn’t have the slightest clue what the right answer was. I am pretty sure we are going to take this test again later, and hopefully I will do much better than I did this time. 

POPulation Quiz

We got our Population test back today and reviewed the answers. Here are some things that were on the test. Deaths per thousand people per year is the crude death rate. The average number of children born per woman is the totally fertility rate. The rate of natural increase can be measured by subtracting the birth rate from the death rate. The net migration rate is the difference between the amount of immigrants and emigrants. We use population pyramids to give us information about population, broken down by age and sex. Life expectancy is the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born the same year. Did you know that Canada has a higher net migration rate than both the U.S and Mexico? This is because people are going to Canada for its health care benefits. Anyway, I got an 88 on the test so I guess I did pretty good!

KIVA

In class today Mr. Schick should us a website called Kiva. It is a website where you can go to loan money to people who need it. There are thousands of people all around the world asking for loans so they can start business or other for other things. Almost 98% of the loans are paid back! That's amazing. The best part is that once they pay back your loan you can loan it to someone else. You can pick the people you want to loan to and read about their story. One person wanted money in order to buy some sheep. This is a way to help the less fortunate without spending all your money. Mr. Schick wanted to know if we wanted to loan some money. You only have to loan 20 dollars to help. I think this site is very cool, and we should all try to help out. 

Review Day

We reviewed everything we learned for the test tomorrow. Like how a “crude death rate” is the number of deaths per 1000 of the population. The “crude birth rate” is the number of babies born in a year per 1000 of the population. An immigrant is a person who enters a new country and an emigrant is a person who leaves a country. To find the net migration rate you subtract the amount of emigrants from the amount of immigrants. If more people are coming in than the NMR is positive. If not then it’s negative. The rate of natural increase is when you take the death rate subtracted by the birth rate then divide it by 10. Life expectancy is the average number of years to be lived by a group of people. Push forces are things that make you want to leave a country and pull forces is things that make you want to live in a country. Finally, total fertility rate is the average number of children born per women. If the average fertility is 2.1 then a population stays the same. NOW IM READY FOR THE TEST!

Quiz Time

We finished talking about population pyramids today. Mr. Schick showed us a few more examples like how some cities have a booming amount of people from 20-24 because of colleges. Some places like, South Dakota have reservations on them so they have a large amount of middle aged people, who are the Native Americans. Anyway, we got our quizzes back and our class did pretty bad. The other classes did a lot better than us. Mr. Schick says we need to be more proactive in class, which is probably true. So now, we have a quiz on the stuff we recently learned, this Friday. People are probably going to study more, so they don’t do as bad as last time. I’m not really sure what we are going to learn about in class tomorrow, but it will probably be in our quiz, so I’m going to good notes, and post it on my blog. Mr. Schick probably won’t let us use our blogs this time, but just in case.

POPULATION PYRAMIDS

When we first arrived in Human Geo today we took a test on the video we watched about the Lost Boys. Payton and I, had shadows and Mr. Schick let them go to the cafeteria because class was going to be boring. We learned about population pyramids after we took the test. Population pyramids help us analyze growth or decline of fertility, mortality, and migration in cities. There are 3 basic shapes of population pyramids. The Christmas tree, the box, and the cup. The Christmas tree chart shows developing nations that have slow growth rates, high birth rates, and short life expediencies. An example of this is Namibia Bangladesh. The box chart shows developed nations that have a low infant mortality, slow population growth, and long life expediencies. An example of this is America. The cup chart shows developed nations that have a shrieking population, low birth rates, and long life expediencies. An example of the box chart is Japan. 

The End of "God Grew Tired of Us"

We finished the documentary in class and it turned out to have a pretty happy ending. Panther went home to Africa and married his girlfriend. He also found his mother and sisters back in Africa. He wanted to help his home land, so he built a school for all the kids to go to. John reunited with his mother and it was very emotional. He started a foundation that helps raise money for the people in his home land. John also built a hospital for all the people in Sudan to go to. He raised the money through his foundation. Unfortunately, Daniel did have a very happy ending like the rest of them. He continued to stay in America and took some classes when he wasn't working. Daniel never found any of his lost family members. I enjoyed the movie a lot because it showed me how different some people’s lives can be.

Just Another Human Geo Class

We are still not done the documentary “God grew tired of us.” Today we almost finished it but there is still like 20 minutes left. We started when the boys started to realize just how different our cultural is from theirs. Now, John is trying to ensure that none of the boy’s lose their culture and forget about where they came from. One of the things John helped organized was a reunion of “The Lost Boys.” All the boys who were sent to America met up and reconnected with all their old friends. John wanted to help the boys feel less lonely. In Kenya, everyone was much more gregarious and was always in big groups. In America, the boys had to stop traveling in groups, so people weren't intimidated. I can’t imagine having to live in another country, and not even being allowed to hang out with my friends (the only people I knew). 

The Lost Boys: Part 2

We picked up where we left off in the documentary. The Lost Boys made it to America and they were sent to cities around the country. They had never used technology before so all of this was new to them. They were so amazed at everything in America and they were starting to get the hang of things. Through-out the entire time they were in America, the boys couldn’t stop thinking about their other brothers they left behind. Their one goal was to succeed in America so they could go back and help the ones they left behind. When it was Christmas time, the boys were so astonished at how different we celebrate the holiday. In their cultural they spend Christmas Eve preparing for Jesus’s birth, but in America we spend it giving presents and decorating trees. It’s weird how we are all Christians, but the way we do things is so different. 

"The Lost Boys"

Today in Human Geo we watched a depressing video about the civil war in Sudan. During the video we heard stories from three boys named Panther, Daniel, and John. They were little when the war started and the managed to escape with all the other "Lost boys.” “The Lost boys” were the boys who were force to flee the country. Everyone else was killed in gruesome ways. At first the boys traveled to Ethiopia, but once things there started to go down they had to leave. After that they had a horrible journey to Kenya, where refugee camps would be set up for them. They had to travel through desserts, with no water or food. Once they arrived, they ended up spending 10 years there. In the camp, the boys were given an education. After they finished their schooling, there wasn't really anything left for them to do. Some of the boys, were given a chance to make it in America. They were flown over, and given jobs, and homes. We ended the video right before the boys started their journeys to America.