JC Human Geography

During this time of distress, we are all experiencing new things. We are learning to be much more distant from people and are relying on our technology to communicate as well as spend time with other. As students, we are learning to learn more independently. As teachers, you are learning to give meaningful assignments that will impact a student's learning. There are many difficulties as well as temptations that go along with this. On the student side, there are difficulties learning how to teach ourselves and become more responsible with our work. We need to work harder in order to understand the material that we are needing to learn. Personally, I find it rather difficult to teach something to myself. It's much better for me if someone is to explain all of these new things to me. Although this is difficult, I need to work harder to keep up with the work. Before, we had all of our teachers in the same building, and we could communicate more easily to them. Even though we can em...

The plague in Athens was caused during the Peloponesian war. When they went overseas, they caught this plague. It devastated Athens. The laws about Athenian citizens became stricter, the citizens soon lacked a need to regard laws and/or religion. This plague is similar to the coronavirus because obviously, it is a new sickness that we are not sure how to combat. We have to be stricter on ourselves. We need to refrain from traveling and only go out when we need to, such as getting food. Other than that, we are encouraged to stay home. I feel as though there are also many people who are starting to doubt both the government, and in some cases their religious belief if they have any. In my religion class, we were asked to reflect on the coronavirus and how it affected us as Catholics. In many cases, people are starting to doubt God and challenges us to not go to church. However, I would say that the only difference in these two pandemics is the symptoms. I feel as though the plague in Ath...

When he was a boy, Philip II was forced to be in Thebes for three years. Although he was a hostage, he spent that time learning about military strategy from a man named Epaminondos. Philip's brother, the king at this time, was eventually assassinated. His other brother took the throne and brought Philip back from Thebes. Then, his brother was killed. Instead of getting the throne, Philip was the guardian of the new king, Amyntas. With the military knowledge he gained in Thebes, he has reformed the Macedonian military. This new army, with a new weapon called the sarissa, has conquered Paeonia and Illyria. By 357 BC, he was no longer Amyntas' guardian. He was King of Macedonia. He has fought Athens, gaining control of the city Amphipolis. Over the years, he has continued to be victorious in all but one battle. He has created the League of Corinth, bringing almost all Greek city states together. Eventually, he decided to go after Persia. However, at the age of 46, he was assassina...

Alexander the Great was a great king that has conquered most of the world. When he was younger, his father, Philip II, was offered a horse. Although the beautiful black stallion was enormous and powerful, it had quite a temper. Seeing this, Philip was not interested, however, Alexander was intrigued by this stallion. He made a deal with his father. If Philip were to buy the horse for Alexander and he failed to tame it, then he would pay him back for the horse. Alexander was clever. He soothingly talked to the horse and turned him towards the sun. In doing so, the horse would not be able to see his shadow, for the shadow was the reason the horse was so riled up in the first place. With this horse, Alexander soon became king after his father's death and continued his conquest for glory. Personally, I have no experience with horses. I have never ridden any, nor have I even been near one. Despite this, when I was younger, I had a little bit of a "horse phase" if you will. I w...

So far, my online learning experience has been okay. Just, slightly below average. Since online classes started, it's harder to understand new material for me, especially math. English has also been pretty tough because my teacher gave me a lot of work. Other than that, it's been pretty manageable. Also, since online learning started, I've honestly been getting so lazy. Like, I've been taking AT LEAST 2 naps a day that are like, 3-5 hours long? It's great, but it also kind of sucks because I feel like I'm not doing anything.

I think that Socrates as well as other Sophists would start questioning traditional beliefs because of the dire situation that was occurring. Athens had experienced a plague, they were in the middle of fighting Sparta, and when one of the battles was won, these heroes were not praised, but they were thrown in prison. The reason for this was that the Athenian soldiers did not rescue the men that were thrown overboard. This was a horrible crime, therefore, they were thrown in prison and executed. The only man that tried to calm this was Socrates. He was against this, saying it was the wrong thing to do. He questioned the society he lived in because they were all filled with anger and hatred. He thought for himself and did what he believed was the right thing. However, he was only one person, one voice, so he could not convince everybody else to save these generals.

Sparta invaded Athenian territory. While the Athenians could only watch. However, Pericles convinced them to stick with his plan. The city relied on shipments overseas in order to survive. But the fleet carried a greater threat. The plague. Since the population stayed behind the walls, crowded, then the disease was easy to spread. It was horrific, killing a third of the population. Pericles could not have predicted this. It became so bad that people stopped caring for laws and religion. They stopped trying to be good citizens. Eventually, the disease hit Pericles. Soon, he was inevitably killed in 429 BC after six months. His plan was meant to bring Athens to glory, but he inadvertently brought sickness and disease instead. His death made the those who hated him love and appreciate him, making them realize that he had been the main protector of public safety. Those who loved him grieved and the flaws of Athenian Democracy were highlighted. Since their one ruelr died, the people did any...

Paracles was a was a statesman led Athens during its golden age. His goals for Athens was to strengthen its democracy, strengthen the empire, and to glorify Athens.  A direct democracy when the people rule directly and not through representatives. Paracles introduced this by letting the poorer citizens have a say The Delian League was an association of Greek city states that gathered in order to defeat the Persian Empire. They used their immense treasury in order to fund Paracles' goals for Athens. They would invest some of their money in order to strengthen Athens and glorify the city state.

During class, we talked about the corona virus again as well as how we're going to handle the online classes/work. Mr. Schick said that he's not going to send as much work like THANK GOD. I really don't want to do the online classes because that's just gonna SUCK. Sorry, I've like, been complaining a lot. I literally don't know what else to talk about because I kind of already complained in my last blog post and we just talked about how we're gonna do the online classes and stuff. The rest of the class we took pictures of the text book to prepare for some reading and note taking so yeah. Imma head out.

During class, we talked about the corona virus. We were caught up with what's happening and how we can prevent it by washing our hands CORRECTLY and using hand sanitizer before and after classes. Tomorrow we have a half day because the teachers have a meeting regarding how they're going to deal with online classes and work since we'll be out of school for two weeks. As of right now, I'm not sure what to think of the situation because I doubt I'll be affected because I am perfectly healthy and have a better immune system compared to others. Tomorrow, we have to take all of our books home to prepare for the two weeks we'll be out of school. We might be out of school for longer depending on how bad the situation becomes. This honestly sucks so much because I REALLY don't want to just stay literally QUARANTINED at home because it's so boring. There's literally nothing to do at my house except draw. Yes, it's fun, but I sometimes need a little somethi...

During class today, Mr. Schick wasn't there, so we had a sub. We finished watching the video and took notes on it. In Athens there was a lot of trade involved. People would trade things suck as gold, art, swordfish, etc. These trades helped with Athens expansion, but something that really helped them expand were their marvelous vases. Potters were considered the scum of the Earth, but they developed a new painting style that is still popular today. In 527 BC, Athens' ruler died, so his son took over. His name was Hippias. At first, he had a goal in mind. He was a good ruler that wanted to send Athens down the road of glory, however, after the death of his brother, he became bitter. He resented everyone and became paranoid. He was a tyrant. Cleisthenes then tried to overthrow him, and eventually, he was banished from the city state. Cleisthenes had fulfilled his dream of becoming a "hero." around 716 BC, nearly two centuries before Cleisthenes' time, there was some...

During class, we watched about 25 minutes of "The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization." Many of the things they talked about was reinforcing some of the things we had already discussed in class as well as introducing some new material. Such as how Cleisthenes was an aristocrat (Member of ruling class.) The first Greek historian was Herodotus. In Athens, the infant mortality rate was very low at 15 years old. Spartans also had a slave class called the helots. There is also something called the "heroic ideal" which is what everybody strives to become. Everyone is destined for glory and try to be the greatest in what you do. In the middle of the 6th century, there was a tyrant named Pisistratus. He marched into Athens and became ruler by claiming to have the protection of the goddess Athena. (It was just some really tall girl.) Athens accepted him as their ruler. He made free loans and reduced taxes.

In the first 20 minutes of class, we took a little pop quiz and then we took notes on like, 2 slides. Afterwards, we kinda didn't really do anything since. Apparently a lot of the students are away on a trip to dc and a lot of teachers are absent as well. Most of the notes we took were about Aristotle and how he may or may not have created the internet. Aristotle was one of Plato's students. He fostered the idea that Athens is an intellectual destination. He created a Lyceum which was a school that focused more on cooperative research. Some of the topics that were studied varied. There was physics, bio, politics, theater, poetry, psychology, dreams, etc. It was built on knowledge gathered from all over the world. He didn't exactly invent the internet, but he dreamed of having a sum of mankind's knowledge easily accessed in one location.

In the beginning of class, we took some notes on some pages in the textbook. Afterwards, we took some notes on the powerpoint. The first philosopher that we looked at was Socrates. He was a man that turned to science and logic, rather than believe in the gods and goddesses. He developed the socratic method, a way of finding out another's beliefs by asking questions. This can also help the other person realize their own beliefs. Due to him using the socratic method on the youth, as well as turning to logic, he was charged with two crimes: Impiety and corruption of the youth. During the trial, he was very sassy and sarcastic. Rather than apologize, he called himself a gadfly, and called the entire city state of Athens a lazy horse, and to top it all off, he said that instead of sentencing him to death, they should thank him with free dinners. The court was outraged, and many people voted him guilty. He was made to drink hemlock poison, which would eventually be his demise. There was ...

During class we took notes on the Spartan and Athenian armies and navy. The Greeks were very war like people, especially the Spartans. The Spartans were tough with a ruthless infantry. An infantry are soldiers that fight on land. Spartan boys also trained since they were seven. Athens also had a great infantry, however, their navy is incomparable. They had an effective weapon: The trireme. The trireme was a technical marvel. It was the fastest ship in that time. It was three levels and could hold up to 170 men. It was also used as a battering ram against other ships. It was agile and fast. There was also this new army formation called the "phalanx." It was close rank, dense grouping of warriors with long spears and shields. They slowly advance towards the enemy, and if the front line gets taken out, then the next row would replace them and so on. There were also Persian Wars. There were many differences between the Persian Empire and Greece, but the main difference was their ...

During class, we talked about the Greek gods and goddesses. Unlike many other deities, the Greek gods and goddesses are known to interact with humans, as well as experience human emotions such as anger and love. Some examples of their interactions is how Poseidon tried tostop Odysseus from trying to return home, or how the goddess Aphrodite had relations with both gods and humans. Some specific gods and goddesses that we have discussed is Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Poseidon, Aphrodite, and Demeter. Zeus was the almighty ruler of this pantheon of gods. He is the ruler of Heaven and Earth and father of Athena. He is the god of the sky, weather, thunder, lightning, law, order, and justice. He was also known to have a temper and would hurl thunderbolts whenever he was angry. Athena was the goddess of wisdom, skill, warfare, peace, intelligence, battle strategy, and handicrafts. She is also the patron of the city state Athens. In the legend, it is said that she was born from Zeus' forehead a...