Intro to Human Geography

I did horrible on the quiz yesterday.  I did so much worse than I thought I did, I got a 36 out of 50 and I thought I would get like a 40 out of 50.  My grade came out to a 73%, I don't think I've done that bad on a quiz in a long time.  I also studied a lot for it.  I even rewrote out my notes.  Oh well.  We're waiting for Nick to take the quiz because he was absent yesterday and then when he's done we're going to check it.  I went to the bathroom before class started and I saw Kenzie in there so we walked down to class together and she told me about how she was upset because she got a bad grade on her math test and the human geo quiz.  It made me feel a little better though since I got a bad grade on it too.  Mr. Schick yelled at Christo and after lunch I fell up the stairs and landed on my head and my head ache still hasn't gone away.  H A P P Y   T H A N K S G I V I N G !

In todays human geography class we took our world religions quiz.  The five religions that were on the quiz were Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism.  The quiz was pretty easy, only a couple stumped me, but I think I did pretty good on it though.  I have a B in human geography right now so I'm hoping the quiz brings me up to hopefully an A, if not at least closer to one.  I don't know when the mid- quarter grades come out but I'm really hoping by then to have all As.  I feel like if I can get straight As by mid- quarters than keeping those As until the end of the quarter will be easier.  It'd be much easier to do that than it would be to have a B or C at mid- quarters and try super hard to bump that to an A by the end of the quarter.  The only Bs I have at the moment are in human geography and intro to Bible.  I have an 87% in both classes though so they're pretty high Bs.

In todays human geography class we learned about the other two world religions.  We learned about Buddhism and Judaism.  Buddhism is the fourth largest religion and Judaism is the ninth largest.  Even though Judaism isn't the fifth largest religion, Mr. Schick included it in the top five world religions because of its' survival throughout all the years and attempts of prosecuting Jews off the face of the Earth.  Followers of Judaism are known as Jews and followers of Buddhism are known as Buddhists.  Buddhism has 500 million to 1.5 billion adherents, the number varies quite a bit because Buddhism is a very lenient religion.  You can be a Buddhist and pretty much any other religion at the same time.  Buddhists are geographically located mainly in Southeast Asia, China, Nepal, and Japan, while Jews are geographically located mainly in Israel and the United States.  Buddhism has four denominations (other religions based off of one) and Judaism doesn't have any denominations.  

In todays class we learned about three of the five most popular religions.  We learned about Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism.  Christianity has about 2.2 billion adherents.  Adherents is another word for a follower, it comes from the word adhesive which means to stick to, so it's like sticking to your religion.  Islam has 1.5 billion adherents and Hinduism has 1.1 billion adherents.  Christianity has many different denominations, Islam has two denominations and Hinduism has no denominations.  Denominations are different branches off of a religion.  Christianity is geographically located in Europe, North America and South America, and Southern Africa.  Islam is geographically mainly in Indonesia, the Middle East, and North Africa.  Hinduism is geographically located in India and Nepal.  Each religion has certain beliefs they have to believe in.  Some religions are more strict and have more rules than other religions.  On Friday we will learn about the other two most popular world

Today in class we went over the test we took yesterday.  I thought I was only going to get about four wrong but I got eight wrong.  I got an 80 percent which is still a B so I am ok with that.  I was hoping for a higher B like an 85 percent but I am just glad I did not get a C.  All the ones I got wrong were the questions that I wasn't sure about.  Most of the questions that I got wrong were the ones about the countries and continents.  I did also get a couple that I was unsure about my answer correct and I was very pleasantly surprised.  Mr. Schick told us that he gave the honors classes six extra questions than the regular classes which I didn't know.  One of my friends in the regular class tried to rub in my face that he got a better grade than me.  Now I'm gonna go tell him we had six extra questions so that's not true!!!

Today in class we took a test on population, population pyramids and migration.   I remembered to look over all my notes last night and this morning Mr. Schick gave us time in class to study some more.  So I watched the video on population pyramids which I'm really glad I did.  Right before we took the test Mr. Schick told us we would need to identify specific countries which I am not good at doing so I tried to learn those quickly.  There we a couple questions on the test having to do with specific countries and continents that I don't think I got right.  I don't think it was too hard of a test I'm just not good at knowing a specific countries population growth and that type of stuff.  The test was 40 questions.  I think I got probably like a 34 out of 40.  I am sure I didn't get higher than that, I'm thinking I got a B which I would be ok with.

In todays class the last group presented for the developing and post-industrialized country slideshow project.  Tonight is also the parent teacher conferences and my mom is meeting with all my teachers.  I'm not nervous about it but I think all my teachers are going to say I talk too much.  The last group's presentation took about 20 minutes.  They're definitely getting an A.  Now we're doing a little worksheet Mr. Schick is giving each of the groups.  It has a place for you to grade everyone in your  group's part in the project.  I'm glad we are doing this because there was definitely some people in my group who did absolutely nothing and it really made me mad.  This always happens I feel like when I do group projects, especially with people I don't know very well.  If they're my friend I'll tell them they're being rude by not doing anything but if I don't know them well, I don’t feel comfortable saying something like that.

In todays class we did almost all the presentations.  We have one more group that needs to present tomorrow.  My group presented today though.  I think we did really good.  Kenzie has a concussion I heard so she wasn't here today but Sierra stepped in and presented her slide for her and she did a good job.  Our slide show wasn't as long as everyone else but I still think we did a good job.  I'm glad we got it done and didn't wait for Kenzie to get back so it's out of the way now.  I kind of like presenting, it's cool to see how the teacher sees all the students during class.  It is a little nerve racking at times but I'm pretty comfortable with public speaking so that's nice.  Today it wasn't raining like yesterday but it was super cold this morning.  It was 21 degrees!  It was probably cold enough to snow.  I'm not ready for snow yet though, not til December.

In today's uman geography class, we didn't really do much.  We were supposed to finish our slide show project on the countries but we finished our slide show the last class.  We all went through the slide show together and read our slides out load for practice.  Then I read my introduction to bible reading check pages out loud.  Mr. Schick told me I read very monotone and that I should read how I talk.  Then I tried to and my group didn't like it so now I'm doing my blog.  Sierra went to the bathroom.  She's taking a long time, I bet she went to her locker or something.  It's raining today, I love the rain.  A lot of people don't like the rain though.  I don't know why.  It's so peaceful, especially at night when I'm laying in bed, trying to fall asleep.  The sound of rain or a storm is so soothing.

In todays class, me and my group finished our slideshow project on the developing countries and post- industrialized countries.  It was a lot simpler to do than I thought it would be.  I mostly did the slide on Cuba's solution.  Their problem was they weren't getting enough oil because they were importing from Venezuela and Venezuela wasn't producing enough oil to meet Cuba's need.  Our solution to this problem was to have Cuba import oil from a new country.  At first we chose Russia for Cuba to import oil from but we thought it was kinda far and might take longer to ship to them. We then found that Brazil is the tenth highest producer of oil.  Brazil is also much closer to Cuba than Russia is.  Our solution for Cuba's oil importing issue was to import from Brazil instead of Venezuela.  I think we're going to do good on this project.

In today's class we split into groups to start a new project.  The project is to create a slide show on two countries; a developing country and a post-industrialized country.  I was nervous because the captains that Mr. Schick picked out of the class were the ones who picked the student in their groups. I didn't know who was gonna pick me but I'm happy with my group, I like them all.  In my group is Sierra, Chloe, Kenzie and Madison.  We chose Cuba for our developing country and Russia for our post-industrialized country.  The project is for us to find a problem within the country and try to find a way we can fix it.  At first, the only problem we could find with Cuba is that they're in debt and we didn't really know how to fix that.  The only solution we could think of was to raise their taxes but they're taxes are already very high so we couldn't do that.  Then Mr. Schick showed us that they buy their oil from Venezuela and Venezuela is having a tough time

In todays class we went over some questions that would be on the semester one exam.  They were only the questions we have learned so far.  We went over a total of 37 questions on the exam and Mr. Schick said that there will be about over a hundred questions.  He said after we learn the rest of the units we'll over more of the exam questions.  I am very nervous for exams because there's so many units and classes to study for and remember everything.  I hope that the exams in all my classes are on things that I understand really well and know well.  I think I'll do okay on the exams but I don't know.  I definitely will have to study A LOT.  I hope I didn't accidentally throw something away already that I'll need to study.  Maybe I can get a tutor before it.  I'm still nervous.

1.     The first fact I found impactful was that 83% of the world has electricity.  This is surprising to me because I forget that there are places on Earth still that either haven't been inhabited or are very rural. I predict in the future that in the near future we will have 100% electricity all over the Earth.         The second fact I found impactful is that only 78.2% of America speaks English.  I think it's crazy how in one country there can be several different spoken languages.  I think since America is such a diverse country and immigrants are still coming in, that the percentage of people that speak English in America is going to decrease over the years.         The third fact I found interesting and impactful is that only 43% of the world has access to the internet.  I find this so interesting because our civilization and our environment is based around the internet.  It's almost like those countries are behind us in the times.         Another fact that surpri

In today's class we rewatched the video, Hans Rosling: 200 years in 4 minutes, and reviewed everything for the quiz on it.  We then watched the video again and did stop-go for the things we want to go over another time or answer any questions we had.  The quiz was only ten questions and it was so much easier than I was expecting it to be.  I got a 9 out of 10 on the quiz and I was so angry because the only question I got wrong,  I actually had the right answer but second guessed myself and changed it.  The rest of the quiz was super easy and I had no problems with.  I was a little hesitant about some but I tried to just go with my gut answer.  I was hoping that the quiz would go into the first quarter to bump my grade up a little more but maybe it'll jumpstart my grade for the second quarter.