Game Day

           I was not in class today because of our first playoff game! I'm writing this before the game so I don't know how it will go but, I hope we leave it all out on the field!

More From CIA World Fact Book

           In class today we shared a ton of extra facts that were interesting from the CIA World Fact Book website. The one piece of information I had to share with the class was about the school life expectancy- what it is, what the U.S. expectancy is and what the world expectancy is. When I clicked on what this educational expectancy is, the definition read "School life expectancy (SLE) is the total number of years of schooling (primary to tertiary) that a child can expect to receive." This actually made a lot of sense when reading it so, then I dug further. The SLE in the U.S. is 16 years for men and 17 years for women. This is actually really shocking because normally, the men would be in school longer. When you take these numbers and compare them to the world, the SLE goes from 16 and 17 years to 12 years for both genders. This mean the U.S. is actually doing much better then most of the world which is shocking because in many cases, we are slacking.

CIA World Fact Book Exploration

           The CIA World Fact Book is a website where all of the countries in the worlds averages on many different categories can all be found. It is extremely interesting to see the drastic differences amongst the world all in one spot. With this being said, the first category looked at was the median age 229 nations. The median age in the U.S. is 38.1 which ranks us at 60. The youngest median age is 15.4 which is in Niger. The difference in the age here is incredible. The U.S.'s median age is more then double but, that's what happens when people aren't living very long in Niger. Next, I took a look at the unemployment in the U.S. which is 10.4% which is extremely good compared to Bosnia and Herzegovina where it is 62.3%. Clearly, the U.S. is doing very good with unemployment rates. Then with population, U.S. ranks 3rd with 326,625,791 people and China is in first with 1,379,302,771 people. China has over one billion more people then the U.S. which is insane! Two things that are in close relation with one another are, maternal mortality rate and infant mortality rate. In the U.S. the maternal mortality rate is 14 per 100,000 live births putting us at 138 out of 184 countries. This is significantly lower then the countries at the top which is very good. For the infant mortality rate the U.S. is sitting in 170 with 5.8 deaths per 1,000 live births. This rate isn't incredible however, it is still better then Afghanistan with 110.6 per 1,000.
           Based off of all of the facts that we're found, the U.S. is fairly average. Within the five categories researched, as an overall country we aren't thriving but we also aren't suffering. Our fairly large population and technology we have plays a huge role in what our statistics are. We are a very advanced country and we will only continue to get better so, we could be moving up/down the list in very near years. All of this information ties back to class because every single category has some effect on population. Some of these numbers would draw people into the country or force people out which would affect our population.

Favorite Unit

           This unit so far, is by far my favorite unit because it really isn't a ton of world facts. Personally, my least favorite thing is learning about the history of the United States/ the world. Whenever I sit in a class and learn about the world, I cannot pay attention to save my life. However, in this unit there is just something about population and the things that effect it that I find pretty interesting. I never would have thought that TFR and immigration and emigration would be so interesting but, it truly is. In previous units, I would just zone out and not listen to a single word that is said. In this unit, I can actually see myself listening and being attentive.

Monaco's High Life Expectancy

           In class today, we spent most of the period talking about how people in Monaco live well into their 90's and the things that effect this. As a class, we started to generate a list of the things that would effect the life expectancy of one place vs. another and we came up with several things. For Monaco, we said they have such a long life because everyone is so rich there, they can afford the best trainers, medical care, and everything in between. We also mentioned how there's no super big cities which lead to pollution and there is less crime because everyone already has everything. We also generated a list for a place with a lower life expectancy, Chad. The things that we said effect Chad are war, famine, AID's and government issues. Essentially, Chad is the exact opposite of Monaco and has literally nothing that Monaco has. It is sad to see that in the same world, different places in the same world can have such drastic differences in their quality of life. Just trying to imagine someone only living 48 years, is very sad to think about.

Unit Three

           Today we moved on to out third unit (I never thought we would make it this far) and this unite is probably my favorite out of the three. This unit is all about the worlds population and the things that effect the global population. In class today we covered the fun facts which were all very interesting and very eye-opening. The fact that surprised me the most was that every hour there are 8377 people born. This is extremely shocking because as one person, we cannot see this but when you think about it, you can understand it. I also wish that more of the world was educated because as we learned today, 90% of the population growth occurs in the developing countries. This is really sad to think about because lots of little tiny children are being brought into a place where their lives will be far from good.

Second Test

           Today we FINALLY took our second test after staying in the map unit for what felt like 4 years. I really thought the test would be really challenging because on our last test there were very specific questions. However, in all honesty the test wasn't very challenging at all. Aside from the test, we started off singing the iCarly theme song which is probably the highlight of my year. That was so relaxing and took off a little bit of stress. Everyone was so into the song which made me so happy and relieved. Now back to the test, (which is probably what this should be about) if every test this year is that easy, I will be extremely happy and will not stress about the tests anymore. Despite my wishes, I highly doubt they will be this easy.

Test Tomorrow

           We're roughly a month or so into school and we are about to have our second test. I'm not going to lie, I am definitely not feeling confident but I think I'll be fine. We did some review in class and I surprisingly knew a lot of the answers. Hopefully our mini-review will prove to be helpful during the test so I do not fail. The only thing I struggle with is remembering the tiny little details that sometimes Mr. Schick likes to throw in there. So far, I have reviewed my notes a few times and really went over the things I am clueless on so I'm starting to get a little bit of hope about this test. As I am typing this blog I realized we were never told if there are written responses on the test so I am just going to pray that there aren't any because I really do not want to do any writing. I think I would do fine if there is one or two responses but, I still would prefer not to write any.

Mr. Schicks Class from Bella's Point of View

          Today in class we just argued about confession and how the Christian and Catholic religions are different. However, we also had a shadow in class, Bella. I already knew Bella prior to her shadow day but, I decided today that I would interview her and ask her about her day.

Q: What was your favorite class today? Why?
A: "Math was my favorite class. I thought math was fun and interesting. Today I helped Sydney do her practice test which was kind of hard."

Q: What made you want to shadow at John Carroll? Do you actually want to go here?
A: "I chose to shadow here because of my cousin, Sydney. This is definitely one of the schools that I am considering."

Q: What would you change about this school if you could change something?
A: "I would change how interesting the classes are. I personally would want to be more involved in the classes so they are more fun for me."

Q: What is your overall thought on today?
A: "Today was good."

Thanks to Bella for assisting me with today's blog and providing an excellent interview. I cannot wait to see her in the halls next year!

Things are Starting to Pick Up

           Finally, after roughly a month of class we are starting to consistently learn things without an overwhelming amount of random arguments along the way. If I am correct, we went this entire week (which only consisted of three days) without arguing and I actually learned a lot of things. During Friday's class we spent majority of the time talking about globalization. The biggest example of globalization that we discussed is McDonald's and it's huge effect on the entire world. McDonald's is in nearly every country all over the entire world and in most situations, has a negative effect. McDonald's is everyone's go-to meal when they are short on time, the fast food industry has just opened the doors for no more home cooked meals. Now all over the entire world there are people who are consuming so much they are becoming obese. This is especially bad in places where obesity used to not be a thing. I'm enjoying our new routine of doing things that are actually helpful and beneficial to me.

I Can Understand Now!

           In today's class we actually did the most helpful thing I think that we have done all year long. Today, instead of rambling on about how the earth is flat or some other thing that doesn't matter, we reviewed what we learned this unit. Not gonna lie, I've been so confused for this entire unit because we hardly learn anything...at all. However, now that we actually took time today to summarize everything we should have learned, I feel very caught up and actually understand these maps. Hopefully, my new understanding is proven on the test we have next week so I actually get a good grade. I am hoping for no written responses but, we all know that I'm promised at least one. Out of all twenty something days of class, today was definitely the most helpful.

We Actually Learned Today!

           In class today, we were actually told things that I didn't know before and things that were worth writing down. It's not that we don't learn on other days, it's just that we constantly get side tracked and end up talking about something extremely random and off topic. However, today in class we were talking about the different types of regions. The four regions are functional, formal, vernacular, and perceptual. I actually have never heard of these regions before and I actually learned about them without getting side tracked with a discussion about ...? Along with this, we also had a pop quiz which wasn't too bad in my opinion. I got an 80% on it which isn't incredible but I thought I was going to get a 0% so, I'll take my 80%. My one problem with the pop quiz was the 10 second time limit. I personally would have rather been given a sheet with all of the questions on it and been told I have 6 (or however many) minutes to complete it. On some questions I didn't need the full 10 seconds and on others it would have been nice to be able to skip it and go back to it. However, I guess the point of a pop quiz is to answer questions on the spot so, I'll manage.

Patrick is a Teacher??

           If I am being entirely honest, I have no idea what I learned today because Patrick wasn't a very good teacher. Mr. Schick let Patrick take over and teach the class and well, it was a disaster. He had no idea what he was teaching thus, I had no idea what I was learning. For the entire class I was just writing down notes and I don't even know what any of it means. With this being said, I wrote about the significance of place names (toponym), sites, and situation in relation to a location. The other main thing I wrote is how a region is a distinct area with one or more defining characteristics. Other then these two things, I have no idea what went down in class. Personally, I really want directed notes that are just fill in the blank because this way I know I have all of the important information and I'll have a better chance of understanding the topic. Sometimes taking notes is hard to do because the slides move too fast and sometimes I am just carelessly writing down what I see without actually processing it. This makes tests a lot harder, especially since I frequently forget to study.

GPS and Alexa are Creepy

           Todays class was actually very interesting and I liked this argument we had today much more then the map arguments we had. We started to discuss how anyone in the entire would can see where you are right after you "allow" a website to view your location. This is so creepy and kind of makes me want to get rid of any technology I have that can track me. The technology in the 21st century is almost too advanced, it has gotten to a point where it's terrifying to people. Along with just GPS tracking abilities, we were all sharing our opinions about the Amazon Alexa. I've always thought that the fact that Alexa has the ability to hear her name being called was odd. Today however, our class talked about how if she can hear her name, she is ALWAYS listening. This is so disturbing because as a consumer, you bring this device into your house to be helpful, not to be a stalker. In fact, while typing this, I unplugged all of the Alexa's in my house.

What Did We Do Today??

           In class today, we did so many random things that didn't relate to one another at all. We started off class by going over the test we took several weeks ago and I got a 95% on it which is much better then what I predicted I would get. Most of the points came off on the second essay and if I'm being honest, I wasn't feeling too confident about that one anyways. I was a little confused about how to approach that question so my three points off is very acceptable in my mind. After explaining the test was finally over, (which was about 35 minutes later) we started to label cities all over the world on a time zone map that Mr. Schick handed out. I got through a few cities but it was a very tedious job trying to find a location of a tiny place on a huge map. I have a feeling we're gonna have to continue this tomorrow and hopefully it wont feel as challenging. Aside from the actual learning aspect of today, it was so hot in his room, I could hardly concentrate. It could have just been the pajamas I was wearing but I am most certain that it was roughly 90 degrees in this classroom. I complained for quite some time about it but eventually just had to resort to fanning myself with a folder. If I didn't choose to fan myself, I think I would've melted.