10.28.14

Today in class we got to keep working on the project. JC wasn't here, so I had to keep working on it by myself. I added some information to a couple slides, and then added one more whole slide. I think we have all the things in the powerpoint we need, so I'm pretty sure we're almost finished. I also found some new, interesting facts today about Dilma Rousseff and Brazil.

10.27.14

Today in class Mr. Schick told had us split into pairs to work on a small presentation. I worked with JC. What we did was we had to choose a country from one of the twelve we did earlier, explain their government and how it was used, then talked about the leader and a way to overthrow them. JC and I decided on Brazil with Dilma Rousseff as their leader. Brazil's government is a federal republic. After researching, I found that a federal republic is based on a federacy; a central form of government. The republic part refers to the republican form of voting which is where the people's ideas and opinions matter and the leader's base their decisions off of the people. It was interesting to learn about the government of Brazil and I look forward to hearing the other people's presentations.

10.22.14

Today in class we talked a little bit more about the facts from the leaders. I figured out that the facts were supposed to support something that changed the leader in ways of becoming what they are now. I thought it was just supposed to be any random interesting fact, but I guess not. Apparently, many personal past events can lead to other things, even in politicians.

10.21.14

Today in class we talked about some of the facts we put into our blogs last night about the leaders. One of my facts was that Vladimir Putin was a black belt in judo. We discussed him and what other things that single fact meant. Apparently, he likes to be known as a very strong leader for his country so he does things to make him look very strong to intimidate the opposing countries. He likes having pictures taken of himself doing "strong" things like riding a horse with his shirt off, swimming, lifting, and doing karate. A lot of small facts from each person can tell a lot about themselves and their background.

Assignment

Mexico

Federal Republic

President Enrique Peña Nieto

He had a son with Maritza Hernandez while he was married to another woman; she later called him a neglectful father on Facebook. 

He is the second national leader with an entertainer as first lady. 

China

Communist State                                                                          

President Xi Jinping                                                                              

He maintains a diary.

India

Federal Republic

President Pranab Mukherjee

Russia

Federation

President Vladimir Putin  

He earned a black belt in judo when he was 18.

He married his childhood sweetheart, which didn't work out later.

Germany 

Federal Republic

President Joachim Gauck

United Kingdom

He is a big fan of Aston Villa.

Constitutional Monarchy and Commonwealth Realm

Prime Minister David Cameron 

France

Republic

He visited he white house and Barack Obama.

President François Hollande 

She was jailed from 1970-1972 for participation in Marxist urban guerrilla groups. 

Brazil

Federal Republic

President Dilma Rousseff 

His father was also president.

Syria

Republic under an authoritarian regime

President Bashar al-Assad

He moved to Alberta after graduating high school. 

Canada 

A parliamentary democracy, a federation, and a constitutional monarchy 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper 

On both sides of his family, he was born into politics.

Japan 

A parliamentary government with a constitutional monarchy 

Prime Minister Shinzō Abe 

He has a lot of respect form both parties in Israel.

Israel

Parliamentary Democracy                          

President Reuven Rivlin

10.17.14

On friday in class we reviewed the test and talked about the assignment. Our class had a better average than Mr. Schick predicted. I did okay on the test, but not as well as I thought I did. It was very helpful to review the test to learn exactly what we did wrong and why. After we talked a little bit we went over the assignment for the weekend. I haven't started yet, but I know we have to do a certain amount of different countries on a blog and find their leader, name, and form of government. We also have to add a picture of the leader for each. It seems easy enough but I haven't searched yet so it might be hard to find the information.

10.14.12

Some people didn't take their tests yet, so in class we got to do anything we wanted quietly while they took their tests. It was fun because Mr. Schick taught me a trick to do well in 2048. I also got some other homework done so I'm glad we had the time to do this.

10.10.14

Today in class I took a test for my birthday. I got to wear the hat and I ate smarties even though I don't like them. The test wasn't that bad. I didn't hate taking it because I don't think I did too bad. When we had the ten minutes to do the questions about the CIA fact website, it was kind of scary because the pressure was on to finish them in a short amount of time. I ended up finishing with what I hope are the correct answers.

10.08.14 test notes

Today in class we reviewed for the test on friday. I took some notes

-life expectancy
-crude birth rate
-developed nations
-rate of natural increase
-net migration rate
-immigration
-emigration
-push/pull forces
-total fertility rate

If you know the birth and death rate of a country, you can figure out the rate of natural increase.
births-deaths=rate of natural increase

infrastructure- what a country needs to be connected with the rest of the world
cellphone; towers, changer, store, etc

net migration rate- immigration-emigration=net migration rate

push force- something causes you to leave a country (war, bad healthcare)
pull- why people want to come to a country good healthcare, safety)

10.07.14

Today in class Mr. Schick told us that were are a part of a spotify testing thing for seeing if the site can help us with school and education in any way. I am confused on what this whole thing is but I'm figuring it out. We got three free months of premium spotify service, so it's pretty great.  I think this whole spotify thing will really be good to help make learning more interesting, especially because it involves music which is something people our age are very interested in these days. I'm excited to get listening.

10.6.14

Today in class we explored the CIA fact book a little more. We are still trying to decide if we think the United States is the best country in world, so we tried to find some things that the US is number one in and if that statistic is a good or bad thing. An example of something the United States is number one in is cell phones and phone lines in use. I think this is a good thing because it shows we are very good with communication. On another note relating to communication,  we are also number one in navigable waterways. this means were are able to exchange and travel with the things we want to share with other parts of the country. There are a lot of things where the US looks really good in, but the reality is that there really are other countries that are better in a lot of different things. Monaco is the number one country for life expectancy at birth. This can show that there are many good doctor and healthcare or that people live a healthy lifestyle so babies and mothers return home from birth safely.

10.1.14

Today in class we talked about the population pyramid and other stuff about the video. I found that the pyramid measures the population of boys and girls at a certain age in their life. It was interesting to see how different things in the area of the population affected the ages of people now. Looking at Japan, for example, they have less older people around 70 and up for men because of the war that many young men fought in  as many years ago as the war was when they were at an age where men would typically join the war. In other places, you could see where the evolution had gone up a lot in a certain age area. After the war in the 1940s, the baby boom happened. That was a time when economics and health were good for many people, so they were able to have children when the husbands returned home to the women after the war. In the USA chart, you can tell there are a huge amount of people who are around 50 to 60 who were born in the time of the baby boom. That's why there are so many people in that age group.