Lauren's Western Civ blog

Today in class we went over the powerpoint some more. But first we learned that we had a pop quiz about things we had learned in class.  We answered 10 question in 10 seconds each. Then we continued to go over the powerpoint. We learned about the government in Ancient Greece. We learned that only members of the elite can join and you have to be very rich to be able to do it. They saw value in tapping into the talents, intelligence, and energies of the non-aristocrats. They also didn't value women. We then learned that Saudi Arabia women just got the right to drive cars this year. Then wee learned about the New Form in Government. We learned that citizens could participate but only 1/5 Athenians were citizens. After many years Athens practiced a direct democracy. These were huge steps forward in Cleishenes in getting regular folks to vote. Then class was over and we left.

Today we continued to go over the powerpoint in class. We learned more about Greece and found out that their was going to be a quiz soon on the map. But today in class we learned about Draco and how he had very harsh punishments for people when you didn't do something right. We then learned about Solon's reforms and how all the athenian citizens could speak out at all kinds of different events. Then we learned about Cleishenes who ruled in 500 BCE. He allowed citizens to submit laws for debate to all assembles. And how he created a council of 500 member chosen at random times to then council the assembly. Also that only free white men that were property owners and were born in Athens were considered citizens, so no women, slaves, and foreigners. We also learned that Hippias was a tyrant who ruled from 527-510 BCE and then eventually he was expelled from Athens. After that he began working with Darius 1 to help get revenge on Athens. Then in 508 BCE Isaguras had won but didn...

Today in class we went over the powerpoint again. We learned about the government terms and the different governments. We learned that a polis is a fundamental political unit, made up of a city and surrounding countryside. We learned that a monarchy is ruled by a single person. And that a  aristocracy is rued by a small group of noble, very rich, landowning families. People attend symposiums meetings where the elite men would enjoy wine and poetry, and performances by dancers and acrobats while discussing politics. We learned that a tyrant is a powerful individual who seized control by appealing to the common people for support. In the politics back then the women were not aloud to be included and no middle class and absolutely no slaves. Sometimes aristocracy people were not aloud in if they didn't meet requirements. Then we talked about North Korea and what there government was like. Then class was over.

Today in class we went over the powerpoint some more. We learned that The lliad was about the Trojan war. Also that the The Odyssey is about Homer coming home after the Trojan war. We leaned that the story was 12,100  lines of dactylic hexameter because Homer could remember it this way. Homer lived at the end of the "Greek Dark Ages". We also learned that they would eat loadice leafs to feel high in a sense. Then we learned about if Homer did really existed or if he was some kind of mythical creature . He might have existed but we are not sure because during that time period because they didn't write anything down.  Then we took a vote to see if we wanted to listen to book 9 of The Odyssey. We then listened to a part of The Odyssey until class was over.  We listened to it for 20 minutes and then we left because class was over.

Today in class we continued to go over the powerpoint. I learned new things that I didn't know about Greece. I found out how they started the Olympics, they ate well and the weather there was really good. They ate grains, grapes, olives, and fish and It was 48 degrees in the winter and 80 degrees in the summer. I also learned that Eel was very popular and they ate fish more than meat because fish was easier to get. Also that catfish was another popular kind of fish they ate. In 1200 BCE "Sea People" began to invade Mycenae and burnt palace after palace down. Also the Dorians moved into this war torn region dominating from 1150-750 BCE which is know as the Greek Dark Ages.  We also learned about Homer and how he lived in the Dark Ages and he composed stories about the Trojan War in 750-700 BCE. Then we talked about the book "The odyssey" and how it was about Ancient Greece. Then class was over and we would finish it the next day.

Today in class we came in and got new seats. Then we finish reading pages 118-126 in the book   while taking notes about it. I learned new things that I didn't know about Greece. I learned that Greece was not always a united country and that it was a collection of separate lands where Greek speaking people lived. Ancient Greece consisted mainly of mountainous peninsula jutting out on the Mediterranean Sea. Also they couldn't support a large population because of how small it was at the time. Once we finished reading we continued to look at the Ancient Greece powerpoint. We learn the bodies of water that surround Greece are the  Mediterranean Sea, Ionian Sea, and Aegean Sea.  We also learned about the largest island to the south/ southeast is Crete. We also learned about Greeces mountainous peninsula and how it covers 3/4 of Greece. Also that it was very difficult to unite the ancient Greeks became terrain. Then we stopped the powerpoint and packed up to leave.

Today I was not in school due to doctors appointments.

Today in class we came in and sat down in our seats. Then we took roll so that Mr.Schick would start to learn everyones name and he would know who is here and who isn't . Then we talked about the blogs we had to write each night. Saying that we needed to always type one even if we weren't at school that day but everyone else was and how it would help our grade. If we don't write one each night it could affect our grade in that class. Then we got out our computers and we went to the blog website to set it up. We made a username and once it was all set up we sent the link in an email to Mr.Schick. We then had a little bit of time left so we started reading the pages in the book but since it was a shorter class period than usually we all didn't finish what we had to do so he told us we would have time to finish it next class.