1/30/13

Today in western civ we were told that we are the worst of three classes which is kind of depressing. The best part of class was when you announced who got a hundred on the quiz because I wasn't expecting to do so well.  Later we took notes about Egypt and learned about the Nile River. I learned that the area surrounding the Nile is all dessert, arid land, which is why Egyptian life was based around the river. We also talked about the flooding in July and how the people adapted, which I learned a lot about in 6th grade. While taking notes you showed us a video of the inside of a pyramid which was pretty cool because the inside actually had a lot of rooms and passageways.

1/29/13

Today going to western civ I almost got lost! I Walked into the normal classroom and everything was dark and then another teacher told me where your class was today even though there was a note on the door. Once class started we just took notes on pages 20 through 29. These pages are about the civilization of Egypt. I finished my notes right before the class ended.

1/25/12

    We started class by taking a pop quiz. I think I did pretty well but some of the questions I had to guess between two answers after eliminating other ones. After that we began going over the notes we took for homework and writing down the ones we didn't have. In the middle of this there was an announcement that school would be closing 2 hours early which made me very happy. The only problem was that my mom was no longer at the gym when I called her during a free mod, so i will be spending my weekend here in school.

1/23/13

When we first walked into class the room was very cold. Mr. Schick allowed us to go get jackets and Julia's was very bright and pink. Later he asked us if we could name a major city that wasn't on a body of water to show how many people settled in areas with water for the resources. Then we watched the video again of john Green talking about the agricultural revolution.

1/22/13

     Today in western civ we changed seats and went over why or why not Jared Diamond was correct. We then watched a video about the evolution of agriculture and how it has affected our lives. The video was made by John Green who is also an author. He explained how we have come so far in the last 15,000 years, and are a very fast moving people. It also covered some areas that Jared Diamond did not such as how people seemed to settle near rivers where they could fish.

Jared Diamond's theory

Is Jared Diamond's Theory correct? I believe Jared Diamond's theory is correct because it is known that    throughout the Pathological Age all human beings lived as migratory hunters, fishers, and gatherers and later began to develop further based on the resources in their land. Later in the Neolithic age, the people began to settle in fertile areas and domesticate plants and animals. Based on where they were located, like the fertile crescent, some civilizations flourished while others continued to hunt and do hard labor without the help of animals or machinery. Animals were a major factor of revolution and determining whether an area is "geographically lucky" or not. Certain areas such as Papua New Guinea, which I learned about last semester were not lucky in this way because they had no local animals to domesticate and use for labor. Other areas like Spain for example had llamas to help with work making the lucky. Once civilizations began to develop better technologies they could do jobs faster and more efficiently. Once they spent less time on worrying about food they could organize workforces. Organized workforces made it easier to develop tools because people could do what they were best at and learn about developing products with steel. 

First class post

      Today in class we learned to set up our western civ blog and personalize it. Also, we reviewed what we learned about guns, germs, and steel. This section included animal domestication and geographic location pertaining to the modernization of an area. Jared Diamond's theory is that certain areas aren't geographically lucky resulting in a less modernized and  less technologically advanced civilization. Another thing i learned in class today is that I need to stop talking to grace.