Western Civ 2018

Well today we actually were a democracy for a little bit. We voted on if we should have the test or not. No test won. A lot of people were happy about that but a few, not so much. After that whole hoopla we then answered questions in our notebooks like we did earlier, say last week. That was basically all we did but let's add some more things. The questions were on the Renaissance. Also this was the last day of May which was also a Thursday and you know what that means.  It's Thursday song!!!!!!  We still have this class tomorrow and on Monday, but we will probably just review for the exam. Hopefully everyone does good on the exam and doesn't bomb it. Hopefully it's not just this one we do good on but all of them.Well folks that is about it so have a good Thursday, do well on the exams, have a great summer, and God bless ya!

So today we talked about the Reformation and how Lutherans and Protestants started. Lutherans started from a man named Martin Luther. He was a priest during the old days. He became a priest because on his way home during a thunderstorm he was struck by lightning and vowed to be a monk. The first college he went to was the University of Erurt, and he hated it. He thought that it was a place for partying not a place for partying not learning. He also went to law school per his father's instructions. He was very angry with the ways the church did things through indulgences and he had a list of complaints and problems with the church called the "95 Theses." One of the theses on the paper said that the church is so rich but they take money from random people to rebuild churches. So he started the Reformation, a bunch of reforms, and eventually had to leave town with the name Junker Jorg. After one year he came back and people followed his teachings. They were Lutherans. People

So based of the title of this one you can tell that we are talking about the Renaissance again. Friday we talked about how the Renaissance began and how it was bringing back classical Greek and Roman art and ways of living. Renaissance actually means rebirth ad this was basically a rebirth of the classical Greek and Roman era. We also mentioned the different artists like the ones mentioned in the previous post of mine, and we also talked about patrons, and Renaissance men and women. The ultimate Renaissance man is a well-known artist and the leader of the Ninja Turtles was named after him. You guessed it, Leonardo da Vinci. One of the important patrons of this era was Isabella D'Este. If it weren't for her, we may have never heard about Leonardo da Vinci. Well hopefully this will help prepare you for the test so you don't have to get frustrated about it.

So today we took a test on the Middle Ages and all that good stuff. I thought it was easy but a lot of my classmates were complaining saying that it was hard. All I have to say about that is you should've studied. Well we will see what we all got. After we finished the test we went on to read about the Renaissance and the four major artists as well. Once I was finished and a lot of others as well, they went onto their laptops instead of doing the work on the side board. Only me and one other person I think did our work. Sorry about that tangent, now back to the artists.  Each of these artists had different styles of art. Some did sculptures while others did paintings. Leonardo is probably the most famous out of these four, probably because of the Mona Lisa and Last Supper paintings. Well everyone, no more tests in this class (hopefully), just gotta hold out a little longer. I know all of you can do it.

Today we talked about the Crusades and who was fighting in them. It was Christians vs. Muslims. The Christians and Muslims were fighting over control of Jerusalem. Right now the Christians, Muslims, and Jews have a massive object of their religion in the city. Christians have the Holy Church of Sepuchlre. Muslims had the Dome of the Rock. The Jews had the Western Wall. The oddest thing is that these are all in walking distance of each other. The Crusades were 200 years long and what happened at each time isn't going to be on the test. After that we started to talk about the questions on the test. To sum things up, Jerusalem was important to many religious groups and Pope Urban II started the Crusades. He said that if you die fighting this war, than you are going to Heaven.

So today we were talking about the Germanic Kingdoms and Gaul in particular. Gaul was the name for the territory that we call France back in the Middle Ages. France got its name from the people who lived there known as the Franks. Clovis was the ruler of the Franks and in charge of Gaul. Clovis even had a battlefield conversion like Constantine. He converted in the year 496 with his 3000 soldiers. Not sure if they also put crosses on their shields, but at least they converted. By the year 511 the Franks were united into one kingdom and at this time Clovis and the Church were partners. We also learned about some guy named Benedict who made rules for monks and his sister, Scholastica, did a similar thing but for nuns. First, monks took a vow of poverty. Second, they were not allowed to have romantic relationships. Third, they swore obedience to Church superiors. Clovis had a descendant named Charles Martel who had a son named Pepin the Short who had a son named Charlemagne. Well that is

So remember how we read and took notes on those few pages earlier and then answered the questions. We just did it again but with different pages and questions. I was finished first with the questions and to me they were very easy. There was nothing else to do so I thought I would get my blog done early. Then after I turned mine in, everybody went to turn in their work and there was a huge line of people right in front of me. People had to go back to their seats and do it again and I just had to do it once. I just can't understand how questions that are this easy can be so hard. Well as long as I did good on it then I'm happy. The line is starting to die down so hopefully more people are getting it done and correct and not have to go back to their seats. Well hopefully they finish it eventually so until then I will see you later.

So according to my title you probably realized that the grades we had on the test were wrong. This happened because on the sheet with all of the correct answers, Mr. Schick had one that was graded incorrectly but we all got that one correct so it improved our grades. It made my 96 go to 100. It made most grades go up by a little bit but I think most people were happy about it. After that we finished reviewing the test and then went up to have Mr. Schick grade the questions that we did yesterday that not everybody finished, or did. So then after that little hoopla, people like me who were finished decided to get their blog done so that is what I am doing right now. Well I hope everyone finished their work and got it graded so goodbye until next class.

Today we took a test on all of Rome. People completely forgot about it and were freaking out. It was right there on the board. It was a Scantron test so a #2 pencil was required. I got a 96 on it so I was happy about that. Only one other person got a grade in the nineties like me. Others did really bad on it and the class average was in the 60's. So we heard a lot of complaining and wanting the grade to be curved after that test. Then after that we started to read about the Germanic Kingdoms and how they were united. We had to take notes on it and answer a few questions on it which was very easy. Also Mr. Schick said no computers in class which is another reason why people were freaking out. Well hopefully my classmates learn that it's not the end of the world and mature. Till next time.

So we are now talking about Germanic barbarians and are now heading into Medieval Times. We also talked about the Hagia Sophia. This is one of the most beautiful buildings you will ever see. It has  lot of domes but still is beautiful. We also got yearbooks today and I am only on two pages, better luck next year. Mert actually saw this building in real life and was telling us a little bit about it. It is now a museum but it used to be a Christian church and a mosque. Then we found all this other info on it online and found different pictures of Mert's hometown in Turkey but we got to do our blogs early so that was good. The emperor responsible for building this was Justinian in case anyone already forgot it. So have a nice day everyone.

Well this is it for the Roman Empire, now we know the complete story behind it. So this story has Rome gaining problems at AD 180 which is also when food supplies started to drop. Rome was dived into eastern and western sections. The western section was Latin and only had Rome. The eastern side was Greek and had way more resources. Constantine became emperor of both divisions and after his death they were divided again. Romulus Augustulus was the 14 year old boy in charge whose father was calling the shots. Once his father was killed he handed the thrown over to barbarians. Nobody knows what happened to him after that people think he just left or they gave him whatever currency they used and then he left. Next up is the Middle Ages which we won't spend too much time on.

Today we talked about how the Roman emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. He saw a vision before a battle and it changed his whole belief system and also made that the official religion of the Empire. We also talked about how the Roman empire fell because it was destabilizing in many different ways including economically, politically, and may more ways. People are thinking that this will or is happening to the United States government. Well I'm not sure that I totally agree with those people but it could possibly happen. Eventually the Roman empire separated with Constantine moving to Byzantium and the others were left to rest. So yes that was the end of the Roman empire but I wonder what ancient civilization we will learn about next. So that is what I got for you and hopefully you all have good stuff on your blogs as well.

So we talked about the top 100 most influential people in history according to some guy who wrote a book that Mr. Schick had. Jesus ended up being third overall and Scott thought that Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb was going to be on it but he was wrong. People like George Washington, Muhammad, and even Adolf Hitler surprisingly. St. Paul was number six in the list. There were so many more people and I can't remember who else was on their. Then we started to talk more about Jesus and how he fit in with ancient Romans. Christianity started off as a small cult in which it was illegal. You could be punished in many different ways including crucifixion, eaten alive, exiled from Rome and other ways. Well those sound like really bad ways to go so I feel really bad for those Christians and Jews. So that is what I got for all of you ladies and gentlemen so hopefully you get good notes.

So we learned that we are still doing the blogs and that only the honors is done. A lot of people in my class don't like the blogs (even though they are free points) but no one remembers to do them. Well no one said that they were the brightest stars in the galaxy (no offense.) Well anyway we started to talk Jesus and his time in Roman history. We learned that what we think Jesus looked like isn't really what he would actually look like given the era of which he lived in. We also learned about how Jesus converted Saul (now known as Paul) to Christianity. When Mr. Schick was talking about Jesus he was talking about him from a social studies teacher point of view not a Catholic point of view. So hopefully that is good for all of my classmates so I will see you later.

Hey everyone, you probably heard we may stop doing our blogs so if I'm going to go out, I'm going to do it with a bang. Let's get started!!!!!!! First  here is a link to It's Thursday by Mr. Schick. You can listen to this on everyday not just Thursday. Second though Mr. Schick wasn't here today we still had fun. Third  here is a link to Rome by Chi Cago. So feel free to rock out with these awesome tunes. Fourth most of you probably want to stop doing the blogs but just do one more and if it is indeed our last blog then go out with a bang just like me because you all were very excellent with your blogs. You guys and gals should add links and things to help spice up your blogs. Though most of you see the blogs as tedious and boring, I'm really going to miss them if we stop doing them. I know yo guys don't feel the same but that's your opinion! So that's all I got so read this when you are bored.