3/31/2014 Roman Government

            The Romans were under the influence of the Etruscans and the Greeks. This means they borrowed things from them. The Romans borrowed skills that enabled them to build their unique political institutions. First the Romans modeled the Etruscan government, powerful kings, including actual Etruscan Conquerors. The Senate, was a council of elders that advised the king. The king appointed the people in the senate, he usually chose from the Patricians, "men with fathers" (men whose fathers already belonged to the Senate). The Senate chose who the kings successor was when the king died.
          Around 500 B.C. the Etruscan rulers were overthrown, and monarchy was abolished. The Roman Government became a Republic, or the "peoples business". The Roman Republic developed  very slowly because of social struggles between aristocrats and commoners. When it was finally developed, the result was a mixture of a Greek democracy and an oligarchy.

3/26/2014

Today in class we had a test. I thought that some of the test was hard but overall I think I did okay on it, at least I hope I did. I studied last night a lot for it but I still didn't know some of the things like who Darius was, or Cleisthenes, and a couple more. Hopefully I did well.

3/25/2014

Today in class we reviewed more for the test tomorrow. We watched a video. This video talked about: Darius, Hoplites, Phidepedeus, Themistocles, and many other things. It talked about how Phidipedeus ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens and in one version dies, and in the other doesn't die. Another version of this story is that he ran 140 miles in 2 days from Athens to Sparata, in one version he dies and in the other he doesn't. Also it talks about how Themistocles was not an aristocrat, he was just a common person and because of democracy, he became a general. Lastly the video talked about triremes and how they were the most advanced weapon of the day.

3/24/2014

Today I was late to class because of an orthodontist appointment. We went over a handout that we got a couple weeks ago, because we have a quiz Wednesday. I don't think that it is confusing but, it is hard to remember all the Greeks names, and what they did.

3/21/2014

Today during class we went over the commercials again. We got our grades for the commercials too. Other then that we really didn't do much. We have a test next week on Wednesday.

3/19/2014

Today was the first day in a while that Mr. Schick has been back in class. Today we went over the homework from the cyber day and the handout we got a while ago. We reviewed for the test that will be Friday. I still need to study a lot for the test because I don't know a lot of the stuff on the handout because all of the different names confuse me.

3/18/2014

Today during class we had another sub. Mr. Schick had to go to an academic competition. We had to finish and review our handout that was given to us a while ago and finish the questions from the Cyber Day yesterday. Since I already finished my handout and the questions from the Cyber Day, I only had to review the handout.

Cyber Day 3/17/2014

• Greece doesn't have much fertile land.
• About 3/4 of Greece is covered by mountains.
• Barbarian is a life based upon farming, warfare, and tribal organization.
• Megalithic are massive rough-cut stones used to construct monuments and tombs
• A tribe is a social and political unit consisting of a group of communities held together by common interests, tradition, and real or mythical ties of kinship.
• Tribes were governed by warrior kings or queens. 
• The first European barbarian people to make contact with civilization were the Greeks.
• China would not be considered a member of the western civilization.
• The Ionian Sea is located west of the Greeks mainland.
• The Aegean Sea is located east of the Greek’s mainland.
• The major crops the Aegean people lived on are grains, vines, and olives.
• Minoan civilization arose on the island of Crete.
• Mycenaean’s established settlements along the Greek mainland southern shore and on some islands. 
• The Mycenaean people built massive walls to protect themselves from attack.
• The Dark Age is when the population dropped, ships no longer sailed, and writing fell out of use. 
• The Greeks joined the Phoenicians.
• "c" means around, about, and circa.
• Greek city states that dotted around the coastline around the Mediterranean sea were called colonies
• Ancient Greek city-states most closely resembled counties.
•  A oligarchy is were a small group of citizens dominated, and the power of the majority was limited in various ways.
• A democracy is a form of government in which decisions were made by the majority of adult male citizens.
• A tyranny is a form of government in which a self-proclaimed dictator held power.
• A monarchy is a form of government in which power is held by a single ruler, and is often passed along from father to son.
• Spartans used oligarchy.
• Boys were taken by the age of seven to begin their military training.
• Athens was the wealthiest city-state.
• An acropolis was the high fortified citadel and religious center of an ancient Greek town.
• Sparta is located on the Peloponnesus peninsula.
• Triremes were massive fighting ships with three banks of oars, used to ram or board enemy ships.  
• Hoplite was a heavily armed and armored citizen-solider of ancient Greece.
•  The time period when the Greek population dropped, ships no longer sailed, and writing fell out of use was called The Dark ages. The Dark Ages began 1100 b.c. and ended 700 b.c.
• Homer wrote The Iliad and the Odyssey.
• The word “Mediterranean” originally meant middle of the earth.
• Prominent and long-established Athenian land-owners were called aristocrats.

3/14/2014

Today in class we watched the beginning of part two of  The Ancient Greece video. We had to work on a worksheet that went with the video. We had to watch the videos individually because we couldn't figure out how to make the projector to play sound.

3/12/2014

Today I missed class because of a lacrosse game. I think we just finished watching the commercials.

3/11/2014

Today during class we started to watch the commercials for Athens and Sparta.

3/10/2014

Today during class, we had another substitute as are teacher because Mr. Schick was out again. During class we worked on our storyboards and commercials to make them a little bit better, and we worked on the worksheet that we got last week.

3/7/2014

Today during class we had a substitute teacher because Mr. Schick is on the senior retreat. We had to finish our study guide for our test. We couldn't watch the movie on the screen because the sound wouldn't work. We had to watch it individually on our own computers.

3/5/2014

The past two days we have been watching a movie called Crucible of Civilization

3/3/2014

Today we had another day off of school, but we had cyberday again even though we still have extra snow days. I think if we get off again we shouldn't have cyberday because we have extra snow days. I also think teachers shouldn't make things due at 3:00 P.M. because some students help their neighbors shovel, and try to earn money, if teachers make things due at three then the students have to do their homework instead of help their elderly neighbors who can't shovel their own driveways and walkways. I don't like cyberday because some teachers give a lot more than 30 minute assignments, and we are stuck inside doing homework instead of doing the right thing and helping our neighbors shovel.

2/28/2014

Friday in class we watched a couple videos on how to make a good commercial. Now we have to make a video to attract tourists to Sparta or Athens.