Lauren's Western Civ blog

Today in Western Civ we continued to watch the video and take notes on it. Some things that came up in the video were How should I live? How do you teach strangers? Do I owe anything to myself? We learned that Ethics is a branch of philosophy that studies and evaluates human contact. Then Mr. Schick shared a story with us about an experience he had in Chicago. He was on his way to a play and he was early so he went to a coffee shop and saw a homeless person on the side of the road and started talking to them and asked if they wanted to come in the shop with him and he would buy them food. Once he got in there they ordered and sat down and people around him got up and moved cause they didn't want to sit near them. Then he was talking with him and learned what had happened to him and how he got to be homeless. He offered to buy them a bus ticket to go and see their family and they said no. In class he then told us how he had human contact. We then learned about Aesthetics is a branch...

Today in Western Civ we went over our tests and we watched a video on  Hank Green. On the test on Ancient Greece I got 6 wrong all together and got an 85 on the test. Then once we finished going over the test we started watching the video on Hank green and learning about Philosophy. We got to go over the question in the video that were Why do you do what you do? Why do you think what you think? Why do you feel what you feel? We also learned that Mythos is story telling and Philos is science. Then Philosophy is academic study of anything. Also Philosophia means love of wisdom. Some other question where What was the world like?  What's the Nature of Reality? We also learned that Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that studies the reality. And Epistemology studies the nature and scope of knowledge. Then class was over and we never finished watching the video so we would finish it on Tuesday.

Today in Western Civ we picked our groups and our topic for the project. I am with Quinn and Shelby and we are doing How the Olympics Started. In class we started a google powerpoint with everyone. Here is part of the powerpoint that we started today. The Ancient Games started in Olympia, Greece, from 776 BC through 393 AD,  1503 years later the olympics returned. The first olympics were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. A Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who presented the idea in 1894, rebirthed the idea of the olympics Over 1,500 years ago the olympics started, only 50,000 came to watch and that seems like a lot back then but today it average for us. The ancient games were a religious festival they were set to honor their God Zeus. For the opening ceremony they lit a torch. Then class was over and we finished what we were doing and then left.

Today in Western Civ class we finished the Greece powerpoint and talked a little about the Greece project we have to complete. We learned about Socrates and how they looked to science and logic for explanation of how things worked. Also Socrates was changed with serious crimes that happened. At his trial he described himself as a stinging gadfly which is a horsefly now. He didn't deny what he had done and he asked for free dinners. He was later found guilty by the Athenian Jury and sentenced to death by having to drink poison hemlock which would kill him immediately. We then learned about Plato who was a student and a follower of Socrates. He wrote Socrates teachings and described his trial apology. Then there was Aristotle who was a student of Plato. He helped foster ideas of Athens as a intellectual destination. The school focused on building knowledge. Then after that we finished the powerpoint and we talked about what some of the things we could do for our project. Then class w...

Today in Western Civ we checked to see if we had our notebooks and then the people that weren't here on Friday made up their test and the rest if the class read and took notes from pages 134-141 in the textbook. From what I read in the textbook I learned that 50 years later Athens experienced a growth in intellectual and artistic learners. There was a man named Pericles who ruled for 32 years and was a skillful politician and inspiring speaker and repeated general. Athens had 3 goals that they wanted to accomplish. Goal 1 was to strengthen the Athenian democracy. The second goal was to hold and strengthen the empire. The third and finally goal was to glorify Athens. In a direct democracy the citizens ruled.  The Athens Navy was very strong and the Spartan Army was very strong. The greeks created the first theater that used colorful costumes, masks, and dramatic sets. Then Athens and Sparta goes to war. Then class was over and we left.

Today in class we took our test on Greece. We were aloud to use our blogs but nothing else. Then once we were finished we read pages 134-141 out of the textbook and had to take notes. It explained that 50 years later Athens experienced a growth in intellectual and artistic learners. There was a man named Pericles who ruled for 32 years and was a skillful politician and inspiring speaker and repeated general. Athens had 3 goals that they wanted to accomplish. Goal 1 was to strengthen the Athenian democracy. The second goal was to hold and strengthen the empire. The third and finally goal was to glorify Athens. In a direct democracy the citizens ruled.  The Athens Navy was very strong and the Spartan Army was very strong. The greeks created the first theater that used colorful costumes, masks, and dramatic sets. Then Athens and Sparta goes to war. Then class was over and we left and we don't have school on Monday and we need to bring out notebooks to class on Tuesday.

Today in class we leaned about our test that we are going to take on Friday February 16th. We learned and took notes about what the question were going to be like. We need to know the Great Civilization/ Key rivers and what they match with. We also need to know; How did Greeces Geography affect their culture? It is because  they are very mountainous and 3/4 of Greece is mountainous. We also need to know about the Greeks diet and how important Olives where back then and they were the first ones to grow them. We need to know all the government terms. We need to know what happened during the Trojan War. We need to know about Draco, Solon, and Cleishenes and who they were and what they did. We need to know what is is on the New Form of Government slide and what it takes to be a citizen of Athens. Then we don't have class tomorrow and then the test is Friday.

Today in class we got our essays back our group got an 94%. We then went over the essay with our group and got feedback. Then we discussed what day our test was gonna be on. So we are having a test on Friday February 16. Today in class we had time to study for the test. We were aloud to look at his powerpoint and read pages out of the book.  I read over his powerpoint and started making a quizlet with the notes I took in class. I then read the pages out of textbook some more and took my time to read though and figure out what was going on so I would understand it better when I was thinking about it later. Then I organized my notes in my notebook better so I would know where they where are when I was going to study at home. Then class was over and we left.

Today in class we went through the powerpoint more. Since we hadn't been in class in a while we went over the past 3 slides. Then after that we continued learning new things. We went over the Greek army vs the Persian army and all the different things they have. In the Greek army they had iron weapons witch meant that ordinary citizens could afford them. Foot soldiers trained from early ages. They were armed with spears, sword, and shields. They had home field advantage. They motivated to preserve democracy. The Persian army had the first archers. They were light armed infantry had huge numbers of people. They were a very long away away from home. They also had a professional army. Then we learned about the time line of the ancient war. In 546 BC pertains conquer the Greeks in Ionia. In 499-494 BC Ionia revolted. In 490 BC Persians fleet attacks marathon but then loses. In 480 BC Xerxes conducts massifs assaults on Athens then the Greeks hold there own at Thermopylae. Also the Gree...

Today in class we read pages 127-133 in the textbook section Warning city states and we took notes on what read. It talked about different government terms like Polis, Monarchy, Aristocrats, Oligarchy, and Tyrants. It talked about Draco and how he was toward the government. Then it started talking about boys and girls and how there social lives was different. If you were rich back then then you then received a formal education. When boys turned 7 they then have to go to school. They studied grammar, poetry, history, math, and music. They also received training in logic and public speaking. They also got a a lot of exercise because that is what greeks believed in. When they got older they had to go to military school to help prepare them for other important duties of citizenship.  They then had to stay in the military till they were 60 years old. Girls did not go to school. They were educated at home by their mothers and would do household things. They sometimes were aloud to take e...

Today in class we went over the powerpoint more. We talked about what our assignment would be if we had a cyber day, basically we would write a 10 word summarization of each slide in the powerpoint. But in class today we finished learning about the government and started talking about god and goddesses. They had a direct democracy so the basically the citizens ran everything. Then we started learning about god and goddesses. Zeus is a ruler of heaven and earth and is a father of Athena; also god of the sky, weather, thunder, lightening, law, order, and justice. he had a temper and was known to throw thunderbolts. Athena is the goddess of wisdom, skill, warfare, intelligence, battle, strategy, and handcraft. Her father is Zeus head fully formed and armored. We also learned that the Athens navy was very strong. They had a very effective weapon audits called trireme and its the fastest ship back then and they men would row the boat and fight other ships. Once we finished this slide class ...

Today in class we finished we our essays. Here is a part of it. Ancient Greece was a hardworking country. They had shipbuilders, skill sailors, farmers, medal workers, weavers, and potters, The citizens were normally poor and lacked natural resources. Most of the citizens were middle class, they had some money but they weren’t wealthy. Greece is known through their temples and theaters. Greece is a very healthy country. The women didn’t have many rights living in that time. Their main jobs was to stay at home and take care of the family. Then we reread all of it and then we were finished and class was over.

Today in class we started working on our group essay. I was working with Caroline, Quinn, Marisa, and Keikei. We got the intro paragraph to work on. This is what we have so far, Greece has a history that set the tone for the entire world. Whether it’s government, leaders, culture, or lifestyle, ancient Greece left its mark. Greece’s geography varies across the country. There are peninsulas islands, and a mountainous mainland. Their geography had a major impact on their lifestyle such as effecting their culture and ability to unite as a nation. It also affected their diet by limiting their food resources. They were limited to foods like fish, olives, grapes, and grain. With the numerous rugged mountains, city-states had trouble uniting. People often remained loyal to their city rather than the country as a whole.   Then we said we were gonna finish some of it at home and the rest of it tomorrow in class.