Today's class

Today in class, we didn't learn anything, instead, we did homework we needed to do or finish up and classwork. Some people needed to finish there maps whether they needed touch up or sketch all of the rest of them. Also, some people brought in shadows. There were three of them today. their names were thinking about coming to John Carroll. Mr. Schick checked our blogs as well andAll of them were invested in sports, whether it was contact or non-contant. School today was different. We had shorter classes and we had a 20 minute advisor time. We also had a club fair where we looked around at the different clubs and signed up for any were interested in.

Maps 3.0

Jack McKenzie
9/26/18

Today, we learned about different parts off the maps. We labeled the: Robinson projection map, The Gall Peters projection map, and the mercator projection map.We labeled stuff like the tropic of cancer, tropic of Capricorn, JC, country of origin, all seven continents, all 5 oceans, equator, prime meridian, and the international date line.

We learned that the prime meridian is located on 0 degrees longitude and the international date line is located on the complete other side of the world at 180 degrees longitude. The prime meridian runs straight through Greenwich which is a city located in England. I now know a bit more of the world and where my birth place was located which is pretty cool to me. I know more about the different other countries and where they are located because I was discussing about it with my friends and where they are from and where they have been.

Maps 2.0

Jack McKenzie
9/25/18
 Putting a map on a flat piece of paper = projection

4 types of distortion
- shape of area
- distance between points
- relative size of areas alter
- direction between points

Imaginary grids are drawn on the map of earths surface

meridians = longitude
parallels = latitude

Further accuracy = dividing each grid into minutes and minutes into seconds

Time - divide 360 degrees by 24 (each hour of the day) which equals 15 times zones

Different type of maps

Jack McKenzie

9/20/18

Today, we learned about two different types of maps. The maps we use and all other schools use are all false. We learned that Greenland is actually 14 times less than Africa yet it seems almost as big as Africa on our maps. Russia is easily the biggest country on our map and Europe is bigger than normal. Basically every country is either bigger or smaller. On the real map, we can see that Greenland decreased in size, Canada is smaller, there is a significant size decrease on Russia, and Europe is smaller. This map gives us more accurate details and the map seems a bit stretched. In the little skit we watched today, the characters were debating which map to use, the correct map shows us  real sizes but the old map shows that the bigger, the more important.

Maps

Jack McKenzie

9/19/18

Today in class, we learned about maps. We learned about how maps today are used for referencing and how they are more complex than maps back then. The first map created was just drawn of Europe because the rest of the world wasn't discovered yet. Today, we have a map including all the countries.  Some flat maps go into detail like sea-level and latitude/longitude. we also have 3d maps like globes. 

Back then, there was even a map that had shells on it and sticks. Each shell indicated an island and the sticks represented the path you were supposed to take to get to each island.

Absence

Knowing that I am going to be missing class, I am informing you that I have to leave for a soccer game.

Blog 9/13/18

Notes

Socrates - the controversy
- Athens was a great city which attracted brilliant thinkers
- Visitors from all over the world shared their knowledge of astronomy, medicine, meteorology, literature, philosophy, and all other things scientific

The trial
- Socrates was charged with two crimes
corruption of the youth in Athens
Impiety

His defense - he quoted this
"It's my job to be gadfly to the lazy, sluggish horse that is Athens"
"I should actually be rewarded with a free dinners for life"

Trials
- 500 male citizens pleaded him guilty
- sentenced to death by drinking poison hemlock
- Had opportunity to escape his cell but didn't want to

"You Idiot"
- meant someone who was basically self-centered and didn't care about the outside world.
- Idiots were born, citizens were made through education
- Declining to take part in life was considered dishonorable

Blog 9/12/18

Today, we learned about excellence and how the Ancient Greek used it. How this lesson on "excellence" effects me is how I will do during school. It motivates me to take school seriously, to get good grades, and to make new friends. Excellence could be interpreted in many ways but I think that that excellence means how well you do inside and outside school.

I feel like you are helping me have a strong will to work hard because you are teaching us so much about excellence or "arete."

I learned that the Ancient Greek people always did their best no matter what the situation was and that it was part of their daily lives.

Notes - Excellence

-Published in March, 1899
-reprinted as pamphlet and book
-sold over 40 million copies
-translated into 37 different languages
-made into a movie twice(1916 and 1936)
-Became popular slang expression for taking initiative
-setting: Spanish-american war
-Garcia was a revolutionary seeking cuban independence from Spain
-Rowan was an army officer (West Point class of 1881)
-McKinley was 25th president of U.S.A
-McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist
-tallest mountain in NA was named after him

A Message To Garcia Interpretation

         This little story takes place during the Spanish-American War. President McKinley needed help from the leader of Insurgents, Garcia. There was a young man named Rowan who was willing to help find Garcia. He was given a letter that he was supposed to give to Garcia when he found him. He spent four days traveling to Cuba and in three weeks, he made it from one side of the jungle to the other alone. He was going around villages and talking to clerks to try finding where he was located. After many long days, he found Garcia's station in the mountains and personally delivered the message. 

         Rowan showed his determination during this story and I can be determined in school as well. I can be determined get good grades or to do well during sports. No matter what is in my way, I have to persevere and not back down. That's how this story connects to my life during high school.

School Impressions

       These few days of school have treated me very well. I enjoy all the classes I am taking this year. The hardest class right now is probably Honors Spanish 2. Everyone is super helpful and the teachers are extremely nice. I knew I would like this school very much the moment I walked in and shadowed. I had high expectations here and JC met all of them and more. (79 words) I had troubles open my locker at first but some seniors helped me and taught me so now I am efficient at opening it.

      At the end of the day, I go to soccer practice and change in the locker rooms and on game days, I even get to leave early. We ride the bus on the way to our away games and we can get a ride home. So far, JC has been a very good time and I cannot wait for the rest of the year.