next: Political Geography

After you have finished the test, here is an assignment to ease you into our unit on Political Geography.

Take the countries listed below, and identify the type of government they have, along with their leader's name, their title, and a photo of said leader.  Post this very useful information to your blog.  This assignment is due at the start of your class on Monday.

Let me demonstrate:

United States

Constitution-based federal republic

President Barack Obama







Now you do the same for the following countries:

• Mexico
• China
• India
• Afghanistan
• Iran
• Israel
• Germany
• United Kingdom
• France
• Brazil
• Venezuela
• Saudi Arabia

As always, the CIA Factbook will be one of many valuable resources you may use to complete this 60-point assignment.  Do this well, and you will be off to a great start for the second quarter.  See you Monday!

test outline

Five questions on the elements of Culture.
Ten questions on the "discovery" of America.
Twenty-five questions on religion.
Forty total questions, worth 100 points.

Good luck!

important announcement

Due to recent developments, the test on Cultural Geography originally scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday Oct. 24) has been rescheduled for Friday, October 26.  This test score will still count as a first quarter grade, and I will be entering it with Wednesday's date in PowerSchool.  Everything stays the same, except you get two more days to prepare!

schedule for the rest of Q1

Here is our schedule for the next several days.

Friday (today): finish the presentation on five key religions (Sections 2 and 3).  Please note that you now have access to my answers for the religion assignment (check links).

Monday: Professional Day - no classes for students.

Tuesday: finish the presentation on five of the key religions (Section 1).

Wednesday: test on culture and religion.

Thursday: make-up day for anyone who misses the test on Wednesday.  Thursday is also the last day of the first quarter.

PSATs - in your rearview mirror

It's nice to have those tests out of the way, isn't it?

Back to Human Geo:  if you are one of the people who is having trouble with their blog, you have to come to see me to straighten things out.  I am around every day after school, but you need to let me know when you want to meet.  It won't take long, but it is important that you make the effort to get down to the TV Studio to meet with me.

Religions - five of 'em

Religion is one of the most important elements of culture.  We continued our discussion of five of the most important ones.

Good luck on the PSATs tomorrow!

learned behavior, baby, learned behavior...

"Culture is the integrated system of learned behavior patterns which are characteristic of the members of a society and which are not the result of biological inheritance...

...culture is not genetically predetermined; it is noninstinctive...

...it is wholly the result of social invention and is transmitted and maintained through communication and learning."

- wise words from noted anthropologist E. Adamson Hoebel.

Classwork for a Friday

As we continue to discuss cultural geography, we turn our attention to religion.

In class today, you will do a mini-research project.  Take these five key religions - Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism - and answer these questions about each one.

• When and where was this religion founded?
• Is it monotheistic or polytheistic?
• If they have a holy book, what is it?
• How many followers does this religion claim?
• Who is the central figure of this religion?
• What is the geographical concentration of this religion?

Take your answers and write them in paragraph form in your blog.  This assignment is worth 30 points, and if you don't finish it in class, it is due by midnight Saturday night.

Hope to see you Monday.

Cultural Geography

I liked the class discussions we have going as we investigate cultural geography.  Hope you're taking good notes, which should then translate into good blogs!

more good work

Click here for a good report on Vikings by Ellie, Avery, Carly, Austin, Ben, Austin, Andy, and Olivia, and go here for some good work about Native Americans by Austin, Madison, Madisen, Parker, Darian, Melisa, Savannah, Taylor, and Michael.

We also liked this report on Columbus by Will, Alice, Michael, Lexie, Matt, Danielle, Maria, and the newst member of Section 2, Michael.  Sean, Mary Kate, Morgan, Cole and Kishan delivered this report on Columbus.

great work from Section 1

Wanna see a couple excellent presentations from today's class?  I've got one on the Vikings right here, (thanks to Holly, Kristin, Nadia, Maria, Grace, and Doori) and another one on Native Americans, right here (nice work, Damon, Liam, Patrick, Alex, Xavier, Maddie and Eryn).

Our unit on Culture is well underway!

questions for tonight's homework

1. When did your group first arrive in the Americas?
2. In what present-day place did they first arrive?
3. How did they get here?
4. Were there other cultures of people present in the Americas when they arrived?
5. Did they fight to conquer the Americas?
6. Were they sent by order of someone else to find new land?
7. Did they stay in the Americas for any length of time?
8. Did they respect (take care of) the land?

on to the next unit

Friday we took our test on God Grew Tired of Us.  Scores will be posted soon.  I'm hoping that your ability to use your blog on the test inspires you to put some real effort into your daily postings.

I hope to have word for you on Monday about what charitable organization we will be supporting.  Thanks for all your input!

The next unit will be Cultural Geography.  Be ready in class Monday with your notebook, a pen or pencil, and an open, inquisitive mind!

test tomorrow

If you paid close attention to the movie, and you took good notes, you will be fine for tomorrow's test on God Grew Tired of Us.  If you need to review the film, note that a link to the entire film is listed to the right.

progress through collaboration

Great work today.  We have identified numerous organizations for us to choose from.  Soon we will select one that we can get behind, to help us with our goal of assisting the people of sub-Saharan Africa.

Isn't it reassuring, by the way, that so many organizations exist, all with the desire to help others?   Let's find the one that is going to work best for us.

Reminder:  on Friday we are going to test on God Grew Tired of Us.  It's a 100-pointer, fill in the blank.

not your finest hour

To be frank, today's Section 1 class was disappointing.  I realize not everybody in the class demonstrated unacceptable behavior during our research exercise, but too many of you showed a real lack of maturity.  I'm willing to forgive and forget, and I'd like to think that you were just in a bizarre mood - or maybe it was the full moon.

But let me be clear - it had better not happen again.

philanthropic inclinations

Today all three sections finished watching God Grew Tired of Us.  If you missed some of the film, or if you just want to see certain parts of it again, click here or click the link to the right.

Many of you expressed interest in doing something about this situation.  In addition to your regular blog, I encourage you (as we discussed in class) to find a channel for your actions.  There are lots of charities, groups, and organizations that are working to improve life in Sudan and other parts of the sub-Saharan world.  Tomorrow in class we will investigate some possibilities.

John Carroll's motto for this year is "Go make a difference."  Here's your chance!