Angelina's Humans Geo Blog

Today in class we went over more about site and situation, but we also made up some questions that could be on out test. We went over that situation will help you find an unfamiliar place by using a familiar one, you could do this by using landmarks. We also went over site and an example of site is how close Harford County is to Baltimore. This is good because now we can get imported goods from the Harbor quickly because of how close we are. Another example is Singapore, this is a good example because Singapore has a lot of Jobs because they are the center of trading and goods from Southeast Asia, so that allows for a lot of people to have jobs. After we reviewed Site and Situation we made up some questions that could be on the test. Some questions asked could be, what does Topography have to do with a map? The answer to that I it shows the elevation from sea level and shows graphic features on that map. Another question that could be asked is, how are the Peters map and Mercator map a

Today we learned how site and situation affected peoples life. An example of site is in ancient Rome they choose their area on where to settle. They chose that by seeing where enemies could come and attack, they choose to be on a hill because they could see the ocean and if the enemies are coming in. They also chose that spot because they could use the river for trade an get into other peoples territories with out being spotted. Another example of site is Huston Texas, before Huston was a city  it was all grassland, so when a hurricane came the grass would soak up the water and there wouldn't be as much flooding. But now the floods are worse because there is not as much grassland so the floods get worse because the grass doesn't soak up the water. An example of situation is when you use common locations to explain where other locations are. It could also help us understand importance of certain places by explain other places that ate like that place.

Today we learned that site and situation is also a physical character of a place. Some examples are climate, water sources, topography, soli, vegetation, latitude, and elevation. Climate can influence the type of animals that live in that climate. Water sources are rivers, lakes, and oceans. Topography is how you can tell on a map how high a physical feature above sea level, it shows where it is rocky, hilly, and where the mountains are in the United States. Soil effects people and what jobs they do. An example of Vegetation is, the grasses in Oregon, there are different types of grasses and different types of trees. Latitude effects how hot the state or country is. Elevation is the amount of land above sea level.  

Today we went over the map paper we got last week. We also discussed about how there could be a world war three because the world is starting to have conflicts again between all of the continents. For example if we try to get rid of Korea's missiles by sending one over to them we could accidentally hit China and then there would be a conflict between the two countries and the US. We also talked about how there is so much drama with the world not only between the countries but also people within the countries. After we talked about the conflicts between the countries we discussed how people took a knee instead of standing for the national anthem. We talked about how when soldiers take the pledge they pledge to protect their freedom in the country not for the flag or for the national anthem. Some people think it is disrespectful to not stand for the anthem because it is disrespectful to the soldiers and their families but other people think that it is ok to take a knee during the ant

First we went over the homework from yesterdays lesson. Then we went over two vocab words Region and Place. Region is an area of unique characteristics and Place is unique location of a future. The difference between the two concepts is partly a matter of space. Each place on Earth is in some respects unique and in other places. We went over how two places could be tropical but once you "zoom in" they become completely different. Two basic concepts help geographers to explain why every point on earth is in someway unique. Those concepts are place and region. We also went over the differences of the counties in Maryland. For example we talked about how in some places people lived in a development with people living really close to them, like you could walk to the house next to yours. But in other places there is a house and then the next house in 1 mile away.

Today we got out tests back and went over them. But after that we studied mental maps and activity spaces. A mental map is a persons point of view, perception of their area of interaction, most commonly called your activity space. Today we had to make a map of the world from what we could remember it looked like, we could not use a map to copy off of. Then we had to draw a map of out daily routine from when we leave the house in the morning to when we arrive at John Carroll. This was to show us that that is what we believe and not what we know and that shows that we us our own perspective even if we have no correct answer on that topic, and that is called an activity space or a mental map.

Today we are taking a quick break so Mr.Schick can try to finish grading out tests. So we are allowed to do any homework we would like to and we can just relax today. Today in class we relaxed, looked over our notes, and did homework while the people who missed the test made it up and Mr. Schick graded our test essays. Some of the notes we went over in the new unit were different maps and how one is better than the other. We also learned the names of the map and why the one was better. Like I said in the previous blog that the correct map or the  Gall-Peters projection, shows that Africa and South America are two of the biggest continents. But in the wrong map, also known as the  Mercator projection, it shows Africa as one of the smaller continents. So now that we know Africa is bigger we should probably pay more attention to it.

Today in class we went over different maps and we learned that the basic map is not correct in longitude and latitude. The correct map shows that Africa and South America are two of the biggest continents but on the wrong map Greenland is on of the bigger continents, but in reality Greenland is very small. Also Europe is a smaller continent but on the wrong map it is shown bigger. The reason this happened is because when the people were making the map the made the longitude and latitude wrong and uneven. Africa is bigger than all of the countries so we should pay more attention to Africa because of how big it is.

In class today we worked on world regions. We learned that regions are highly contested yet important concept in the study of human geography and can be studied as they relate to space, place, and location. Religions aloe us to generalize about a common characteristic so we can better group them. We also learned that a formal region is an area with a high level of consistency in a certain cultural or physical attribute. Some examples are religion, climate, and language. Formal regions are uniform or homogenous areas where everyone in that region shares common attributes or traits like language, climate, or political system. Formal regions are primarily used to determine and outline political, cultural, and economic regions. We also did papers that showed us what the different regions were all around the world.

I think I did pretty good on my test today because I new almost all of the answers except one or two of them. But overall the test was easy. There were no surprise questions or trick questions it was all what we went over in class and on the review day. The ones I didn't remember were Perihelion and who sent the message to Garcia. I feel like I did really well on the short answer questions because I knew the topic of those very well, I also think I did well on the multiple choice. I liked how there weren't just multiple choice questions with one essay at the end, because I use to have to take really long tests in middle school. But this one had fill in the blanks and two short answer questions too so I felt less stressed about the test.

Today we went over some of the test. We mad up questions that could be on the test. One of the questions is What is the Socratic method, that is a way of asking questions to understand how a person feel. We also learned more about the vocabulary and some of the words, like Agora, Arete, Concept excellence, Polis, Perihelion, and what an idiot meant is Ancient Greece. We also learned about Message to Garcia, like where the setting was, which was the Spanish American War. Rowan was the person who delivered the message to Garcia. That was Rowan and he was an officer who delivered the message to Garcia even though it wasn't easy. Another thing we learned was Synergy and that is when energy from one thing that feeds off to another and visa-versa and that makes each other better.  One of the questions on the test will ask what Socrates quote meant and this quote was, "The unexamined life is not worth living".

In class we learned more about Socrates and what an idiot meant in ancient Greece. A quote Socrates use to say was "The unexamined life is not worth living." This quote meant that if you don't ask any questions about life then it is not worth living but if you do ask questions about your life then it is worth it. In ancient Greece an idiot meant that,  someone who was characterized by self-centeredness and concerned almost exclusively with private as opposed to public affairs.  Idiots were born as citizens were made through education, declining to take part in public life such as, democratic government of the polis was considered dishonorable.

Today in class we went over most of the definitions we needed to know about ancient Greece. The definitions were Agora, Polis, 508 BC, Socrates, the death of Socrates and the Socratic method. Agora was a public place at the center of the town, the agora held assemblies, markets, athletic, spiritual, and political events. People voted on different things there, as well. Another definition we did was Polis, this was political entities ruled by their bodies of citizens. This was the origin of the word politics and metropolitan poll. We learned that 508 BC was an important year because that was when democracy was introduced. And for the first time in recorded history people had revolted against their ruler. Socrates was a young man and he worked as a stones man, he had fought heroically in the Peloponnesian War and met with young students in workshops just outside of the agora to ask them questions about different things happening in ancient Greece. This ends up leading to the scientific m

Today in class we went over "A message to Garcia". We learned that this became very popular around 1899. It was first suppose to be a inspirational essay, but later was reprinted as a pamphlet and book and then into a movie. There was over 40 million copied sold and  it was written in about 37 languages. This message became very popular for slang language as well, in fact it is still used in the military today. This message took place during the Spanish-American war. A very important word we learned today was arete this was an ancient Greek practice of excellence of everything you do. 4 important values of the word were, excellence if any kind moral virtue fulfillment of purpose or function the act of living up to one's full potential. We also learned that if arete is knowledge and study, then the highest human knowledge is knowledge about knowledge itself.   

In A Message to Garcia it talked about how when Rowan was asked deliverer a letter to Garcia he did it with no question. In the message it said "...but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies; do the thing...". This is explain that what people really need are people who will do what the task is with the question, and people who can be trusted. The message could give people inspiration to work hard and do what people tell them to do by just doing it and not asking why they need to do or what they need to do it for. The message also says "Slipshod assistance, foolish inattention, dowdy indifference, and half-hearted work seem the rule; and no man succeeds...". The sentence is explaining that if you don't listen are don't do the task you were told to do you will not succeed. By the end of the message it explains how someone is needed badly to carry a message to Garcia because no bod