An ASTONISHING Day

Today we had the most astonishing class. The most astonishing things are to come in this overly-astonishing blog post. One word to describe Greece? Astonishing, of course! We watched a video. It was astonishing and there was also an astonishing man who said astonishing a little too often. The video was quite informational, in fact. SO informational it was astonishing. The video informed us on a lot of things I already knew, it was quite astonishing! How astonishing to already know what they were going to say. Greece was astonishing the basis of all civilizations. I wish I could relay all of the astonishing statements made in this astonishing well made video, but I don't want to astonish you too much. A lot of the things mentioned in this video are even said in modern day, astonishingly. It's a bit sad, but very astonishing that this information could last so many centuries. One of the sad and most astonishing things was that men were popular or well thought of if they looked strong and brave and astonished the women. Its astonishing, but partly pathetic. Why haven't we evolved more? Did I mention this video is astonishing?

Answers/Daily Blog

So today in class we did these questions...
1. 1600-1110 BC = Myceneans. The Oracle of Delphi was made in the year 1400 BC. This was the most famous shrine in all of Greece.
2.  1200s = This was around the fall of the Mycenean empire. Their civilization disappeared, as far as evidence can tell, and then it fell into "The Dark Ages".
3. 1150-750 BC = Homer the poet was around relatively near the 750s. In 750s, his very long versed poetry was written down, as we know it today. Famous novels like the Iliad and the Odyssey.
4. 776 BC = ORIGIN OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES. It is said that the first official Olympics took place in this year. This is quite interesting since the idea of the Olympics lasted all the way until today. Thought we know it in a different way today, it's astonishing that this idea lasted so long.
Near the end of the Dark Ages.
5. 621 BC = The rise of tyrants began. Draco's code of law is introduced.
6. 600-371 BC = 500-323 BC is the Classical Period. Coin money, Sophocales + Euripides write their first tragedies. Democracy is introduced, there is plague and a few other things.
7. 594 BC =
8. 508 BC = Established a democracy. Isagarus is in charge, people turned against him. First time in recorded history.
9. 490-471 BC =
10. 490 BC = The battle of Marathon occurred. During the first Persian invasion of Greece. Under king Darius Persians attacked and we won.
11. 480 BC = Persians destroyed the acropolis. Battle of Salamis - the fake out - the strait of salamis. LOST again.
12. 480-430 BC =
13. 461-429 BC = The age of Pericles.
14. 447-438 BC = Time it took to build the Parthanon. Billion dollars, 30 ft statue of Athena...super wonderful.
15. 431-404 BC = Pelopennisian war. Sparta...Athens. BATTLE! Athens built the walls, get supplies just from the sea. etc
16. 399 BC =
17. 336 BC =

GODS & GODDESSES
Homer = He was a poet who told great stories involving historical events that occurred back in the Dark Ages/Athenian times. He came up with Iliad and the Odyssey. These novels are still available today.

Odysseus = A Greek King in the novel the Odyssey in Homer's epic poem. He was a hero. He is important because he is a character who is involved with the Trojan War.

Zeus = A major Greek god. He was the god of the sky and ruled over all of the other gods & goddesses. He is significant to Greek mythology.

Athena = She is the goddess that Athens is named after. She is the goddess of reason, intellect, literature and the arts.

Draco = First legislature in Greek history. It means lawgiver. He is a big part of the developing of Greek government.

Solon = Athenian poet, lawmaker and statesman. He is remembered mostly for what he contributed to government.

Pisistratus = A tyrant who ruled Athens for a while. Ruled years 561-527 BC.

A Test Unlike Any Other

Today in Western Civilization we were taking a test - under some strange circumstances. First of all, Tona was absent! That was not what I had planned on. Then, it was also an open book test. These always get me. Everyone always thinks its so easy to answer it and that you don't need to study, but you do! They trick you! Finally, Mr. Schick wasn't there! Good thing I didn't see anyone with any questions about the test. The test was pretty easy, I hope I did well! I could be totally under-estimating this test.

Reviewing Greece to Reviewing the Justice System?

Today in Western Civilization we did our second day of review. We went over some stuff, overlapping some of the material, since we didn't have class on Thursday. It was a pretty successful class. We ended up getting a little off topic though! We discussed the justice system, a lot. We thought of the idea of prison and such. Where did we go wrong? How'd we get SO off track?! I think it all started when someone asked about government officials brainwashing us! But where would such a crazy question like that come from? I think it came somewhere along the way of reviewing the different kinds of government types. What a crazy day?! So much food for thought from that class. All I need to do is: REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!

A "Boring" Class

Today in Western Civilization we learned WHY the course is called "Western" Civilization. Not necessarily because it was the Western part of the world, surprisingly. Mr. Schick told us he was going to try and make it the most boring class ever. I did not understand this at all. Why would one want to make the class super boring?! We went over the Chapter outline for the most part. I took notes in a very unique way. I doodled what we were learning so I could remember it better. I did this because I am a visual and auditory learner, and since I don't have a photographic memory, I doodled them as well as tried to process everything I heard. Though Mr. Schick wanted to make today as boring as he could, it wasn't that boring after all.

Have A Little Faith

Today in Western Civilization we went over one power point so far. Sydney and co presented their power point about LO-1 along with LO-2 and LO-3! So much material to cover! I'm pretty sure we were close to finishing their power-point, but I'm not sure. Mr. Schick said that we were the next group to present. Hopefully this goes well. I'm not super fond of presenting material in front of the class. One thing you have to do when listening to another group - have a little faith. Have some faith that they aren't feeding you information with err. Mr. Schick also told us a good story. He told us a story about a veteran that he saw in the 70's with his friends. This veteran had still had the responses to certain situations as he did from the war. He dropped on the ground when a startling noise or action started. I really liked the story because I love to hear about anything from the 20th century. By far, my favorite century.

Brief Review

Today in Western Civilization we were unable to get a lot accomplished. This is because we had the two hour early dismissal bell. The seniors had their Holocaust film to watch. So since the bell schedule was different, our class was drastically shortened. In all, we probably only had about a thirty minute class. We spent this time reviewing the test. Mr. Schick rang this fancy bell when he handed my test to me. This is is a sign that I was one of the kids who had received an A. I had gotten a 91%. I'm pretty proud. I looked back over my essays and I'm happy with how they turned out. The day we were taking the test, we had a shortened bell (coincidentally) so I had to rush through the test. In the end, it was a good class. We were also assigned to do some of the power-point over the weekend. I'm doing the slide(s) on the Persian Wars. That's all we got done today!

The Substitute from.....Advisory!

Today in Western Civilization we had a substitute teacher. We had Ms. Burlas. In fact, she is my adviser  She is also the librarian! I did not even know she subbed for teachers. It was nice to see her, since I don't see her very often (advisory always gets cut out of the schedule some how). We worked on LO-2 today! Since we weren't (Or at least I wasn't) familiar with LO-2 I had to go back and skim a bit. My team decided to divide and conquer! We had all personnel with us today - Lucy, Tona, Ali and I. We were set out for victory. I, myself created two new slides chock full of information! I was to talk about the revival of the Greeks and how their revived civilization differed as apposed to old Greece. It was overall, a pretty successful day.

Power to the Power-Points!

Today in class we worked on power points. We went onto the google docs. I have much faith in my group. Ali was absent from our group though. So Tona, Lucy and I had to take matters into our own hands. I came up with many cool slide titles. I take pride in my slide titles. There was a lot of chatter in class today as we worked on the power points. It was funny to see some of the pictures that people picked for their slide shows - mostly for comedic purposes. I wonder when we will present these power points? I think we will get a good grade on this assignment. That's all we did today, it was pretty laid back.

Opa!

        On to the Greeks! We're no longer looking at the Nile and observing the breath-taking pyramids. We're moving onto emerging philosophers and more importantly - advancing civilization. Today in class we had our first taste of Greece. Greeks, evolved from the barbarians came to be in the year 800 B.C. Barbarians came into existence 2500 B.C. So you have to remember that it took a long time for it Greeks to become the Greeks with their own individuality. We spent time looking over a power point in class today. We discussed for a long time the mystery of Stone Henge. If aliens were behind it, I think that the formation is their own way of "claiming" the earth. Then we proceeded and were given a new group project. I was always super interested in Greece and I'm happy to be studying it.

Greece Introduction

            After looking over ancient Egypt we must face the inevitable truth. Civilization does move on. Luckily for us, civilization takes a turn for the better. The Egyptians were hard to compete with – decide for yourself. After Egypt’s civilization had to come to an end, though it was a successful run, the next “Egypt” is ancient Greece! Home of Greek philosopher Socrates, Greece had much potential and lots of individuality – so much to offer!

            Around the year 2500 barbarians began to emerge. A barbarian is a person whose values were centered on farming and warfare. Barbarians were very common in Western Europe. Initially Greece started out as one of the various European barbarian people. Around 800 B.C. Greece and its individuality began to emerge. Greece was the first to practice active participation from citizens – in government! What a large step for man-kind, not to mention politics. The numerous city-states traded lots of products since Greece itself wasn’t super rich in natural resources. They also brought something else to the table – new warfare methods.  Some of the earliest Europeans were quite handy in archaeology  They constructed massive stone structures to make up monuments and tombs. These are called megalithic structures.

            Over time Indo-European nomads migrated and eventually settled in Greece. These people are from the grass lands that surround the Eastern side of Europe. These people had much influence on the Greeks, a lot through language. It took much time for this to become the commonly spoken language.  Another new idea arose – tribes. A tribe is a group of people, in villages or whatnot who share common interests. Along with this, Greece also became the first civilization to be considered Western. We often don’t realize how much we owe the Greeks in gratitude - new ideas for government, advancing warfare, and the famous megalithic structures such as Stone Henge. 

The New D-Day is T-Day

The new dooms-day is test-day. Today I was exposed to the first "Schick Test" ! I completely turned from a Powellinian. It wasn't that difficult. Some of the questions were a bit tricky and unfamiliar to me. The essays were a bit lengthy but other than that easy to do. The test in general wasn't super extreme. The length of the whole test was really good. I am confident that I did do well on it. I was surprised I was able to complete it in the allotted time though. Since we did have a very short class due to the bell schedule. That's all we had time for in class today.

Smarter Than They Looked

It wouldn't be a common thought in most adolescent's minds that Egyptians were very intellectual. Surprisingly, they were! The ancient Egyptians are responsible for so many new inventions. They started the first hieroglyphics, were very interested in anatomy, pondered about religion, and built pyramids that still remain intact to this day. They mummified royalty in such a way you would not expect. It is a very long process. One of the steps was to leave the body in salt for 40 days. Talk about time consuming. All in all, today in Western Civilization we reviewed our chapter. We looked over numerous slide shows and jotted down some notes.

VICTORY!

I have won. I have won the greatest honor. Not the Nobel Peace Prize. Not a Grammy. Not an Academy Award. Not an Oscar. Not the Lottery. I have built a virtual pyramid and that is all the success I need in this life time. Call me crazy but these nine points have been so hard earned. My partner, Tona and I are honored by our victory. We may not have gotten the ten points, but not many can say they earned nine points. This pyramid game taught me that pyramids can take a very very long time to build. A lifetime worth, actually. I played the game a total of a whopping three times. It was a very suspenseful class.