Giada's Honors Human Geography Blog

   Today in class, we had our essay exam. A lot of my essay was typed last night, and I also wrote my index card last night. I wrote a lot on my index card and it took a while, but it was worth it. I really tried to do my best when I wrote the essay, and I'm very glad that Mr. Schick let us use an index card, because it helped me so much. Today, when I was writing it, I was very stressed out. It always takes me such a long time to write all my information down and get everything I want to write in the right way/order. Anyways, I barely finished. It was the last five or ten minutes, and I just finished my third paragraph! I just take a while to write down essays like that, and hate writing/taking tests in a time limit. However, I actually think it was a good essay and I hope I get an A!

   I was not in class today because I was sick and spent the day with my family.

   Today in class, we started our research on our essay for the exam. We get two class periods to decide what we're going to write it on, research it, and make our outline. Then, on Friday, when we have our essay test as part of our exams, we will write it from our memory/our heads. I am very glad that we know our topic and get to write it ahead of time. This way, my essay will be much better and not as rushed. I feel like I can get a lot done when I'm focused and am using my time. I feel like I will get most of it done at home because that's where I prefer to work. However, I got some work done today and I think I will end up writing a great essay. I am very nervous for exams next week, but at least for this essay, I know what I am writing, and I get to write it all ahead of time.

   Today in class, we took a test on Demographic Transition. We have been learning about Demographic Transition for the past week now, and Mr. Schick told us what to review. To study for the test, he told us to review the three videos we watched, the packet he handed out to us, and the diagram we drew in our notebooks. I thought this quiz was kinda hard. There were 20 questions and some of them stumped me. I know I got this question wrong: Correct the mistake in the following sentence "Starting Population plus  the birth rate minus the death rate equals Population Growth Rate." I got this wrong because I was thinking of the Rate of Natural Increase. Therefore, I said "Birth rate minus death rate equals Population Growth Rate." I wish I could go back and undo some of the mistakes I made on it, but I just hope I didn't get too much wrong. I studied the chart completely but I feel like I could've focused more on the information we haven't talked that much a...

   Today in class, Mr. Schick gave us a diagram with a mini chart to copy down in our Human Geography notebooks. It looks like this: It helped a lot to use colored pencils when I was drawing this because it helped me understand it better and make it more organized. I think Mr. Schick read my blog from last night because he gave us this diagram "for visual learners", and I said in my blog that I like diagrams because I am a visual learner. After we drew this, Mr. Schick asked the class which video out of the three we watched yesterday we liked the best. Most people voted for the Khan Academy video (including me), two people voted for the video from Kim Smith, and one person voted for the "Why Populations Grow" video from the guy with the Australian accent. Since most people voted for the Khan Academy video, we watched it as a review for the test this Monday. If I study from this and the video, I think I will do good on the test/quiz. Finally, we helped Mr. Schick p...

   Today in class, we worked on a 10-point assignment: Khan Academy Video: Religion can influence population growth because a lot of times it promotes large families. Some religions restrict the use of contraceptives, so most likely, these followers will have a large family, increasing population. It is believed that most countries were in stage one of Demographic Transition until the 18th century because deaths rates in Western Europe began to fall.  In stage three of Demographic Transition, a country is becoming more industrialized. There is not a need to have a lot of kids to do work anymore (and it isn't legal anymore, anyways), the kids are being sent to school instead of work, so they are spending more money than bringing in (this isn't economically beneficial), and there is a much easier access to contraceptives. Video from Kim Smith, phD. The world gains 67,000 people every six to seven hours The world was in stage one of the Demographic Transiti...

   Today in class, we reviewed what we highlighted in our Demographic Transition packet we got yesterday. We went over the details of stage 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 that take place in the process of Demographic Transition. Stage five technically isn't an official stage of the process, but countries primarily in western and Northern Europe are experiencing population decline, so we call this next stage stage five. Then, we took a look at two different videos on the topic. During the video, Mr. Schick would stop to explain what was being discussed and made comments. He wants us to understand the topic, so that we do well on the quiz/test coming up. That is one of the reasons why Mr. Schick is a great teacher. Plus, he makes the class more interesting by doing this.

   Today in class, we got a packet on Demographic Transition. The information on the packet was pulled from a textbook. However, we don't use a textbook in this class. Mr. Schick told us the story explaining why we don't. He told us that 12 years ago when he was working here, he was looking for a textbook for his students to use. Eventually, he found one that he thought was really good! So, he started using that textbook, with its power points, online worksheets, etc. But, this didn't last long. He found, through the first year of using this book, that it was way too hard to understand because it actually had a reading level for juniors in college! Everyone hated using it because it was so difficult, so Mr. Schick stopped using it. He never found a good textbook, so that is why he is not going to use one. Anyways, we had to highlight the important parts in the Demographic Transition packet . Then, we got our tests back! I got a 88% on it. I knew I did not do very well, but ...