good luck tomorrow!

Congratulations to the 14 of you who took the time to retake a test.  

I will notify you soon to tell you how you did the second time around.

Best of luck to all of you on all your semester exams. 

 Study hard, get a good night's sleep, and you'll do great!

Yes, THAT Elbert Hubbard!

helpful information about your semester exam

Here is what will be covered on the semester exam.

• The Concept of Excellence / Our Twenty-First Century World
• A Message to Garcia
• Greek concepts: arete, polis, agora, Socrates
• CIA World Factbook
• Did You Know 3.0

• Population and Settlement
• population terms: life expectancy, CBR, CDR, developing/developed nations, RNI, net migration rate, immigration/emigration, push/pull forces, TFR
• population pyramids

• Political Geography
• world leaders and important facts about the following key countries: Germany, Mexico, China, Brazil, India, Canada, Japan, Russia, Israel, the United Kingdom, Syria, France, and the United States

• Cultural Geography
• Slumdog Millionaire
• key world religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism

Here is the breakdown.

• Questions 1 - 21: Excellence and Our Twenty-First Century World
• Questions 22 - 57: Population and Settlement
• Questions 58 - 82: Political Geography
• Questions 83 - 130: Cultural Geography

You will write TWO essays on this test.  There are three topics to choose from.

• Essay Option #1:  Socrates famously stated, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Describe the importance of this philosophy.  Discuss things you learned this semester that illustrate Socrates' words.
• Essay Option #2: Religion, language, and ethnicity are important aspects of cultural geography.  As a student in a predominantly Christian, English-speaking school, what did you observe about people with other cultural characteristics?  Describe the differences you observed, as well as ways in which we are all similar. 
• Essay Option #3:  The world is filled with problems and difficulties.  Discuss some of the things you learned in Human Geography this semester, and how they could help our country deal with specific domestic and international challenges.

Two-thirds of your exam grade will be the objective (130 Scantron questions) portion of the test; one-third will be the essay (TWO essays) portion of the test. 

I would recommend reviewing your tests, my blogs, the PowerPoints and links I posted, plus your notes and blogs.  

I hope this helps you prepare for Tuesday's exam.  Let me know if you have any questions, and good luck!

second chance

As I announced in class, if you really bombed either of the last two tests (Political Geo and Cultural Geo) you have the opportunity to retake either or both tests.  If you pass with a 70 or above, I will give you a grade of 70 for that test.

The retakes will be given after school 

on Monday, December 15, in the TV Studio.  

That is your only opportunity to do the retake. I recommend making this a priority if you have a grade that really needs fixing.  It's your call.

Also, check this blog again tomorrow, as I will be giving you an update or two about the semester exam.  Good luck, study hard, and be ready!

Merry Christmas from Section 3!

Many, many thanks to Gabi and the rest of the incredible Section 3 for organizing our Christmas party!

(McKenna, we missed you!)

exams are approaching

So, today you took your test on Cultural Geography.  And you found out how you did.  We will go into more detail as we review this test tomorrow and Friday.  We will also review the previous test, the one on Political Geography. 

Thursday/Friday/Monday: I'll return that test, plus the previous test.  We'll review the answers and prepare for the semester exam, which will also include the Intro to Human Geography (plus the material on excellence), and Population and Migration.  The exam will be given on Tuesday, December 16, at 10:00. Section 3 takes the exam in Room 123, Section 4 takes it in Room 113, and Section 6 will test in Room 318. 

write a rap - earn extra credit

For the last few years, the New York Times has held a contest where students write a rap about the events of the previous year.  I know some of you are pretty aware of currents events around the world and around the country (ISIS, Ferguson, Ebola, Mexican students - and on and on).  And lots of you can write a rap better than the one I did for Slumdog Millionaire (not all of you, but at least a few of you).


So, here's the deal.  If you enter the New York Times Rap Contest I will give you 10 extra credit points.  The deadline for the contest is 7am on Wednesday, January 7, 2015, but MY deadline is Saturday, January 3 at midnight.  That way I can look it over and maybe give you a suggestion or two, if needed.  You can also turn it in to me earlier than that, if you want to take advantage of a creative impulse you have.


All the official rules are on their website (found here).  Last year's winners are there too.  If you are one of the NYTimes' five winners, I promise we will make a HUGE deal of it!  Seriously, this would make The Aegis, probably the Baltimore Sun, and maybe even the JCTV News.  In any case, the extra credit is yours if you want to give this a shot.

maybe the music, definitely the lyrics, to Who Wants to Be a Slumdog

If you copy this link into your browser, you should get the music to my version of Slumdog.  It might work, it might not.  You might need iTunes on your computer.  Let me know if it works.

musicfile:///C:/Users/rschick/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Music/Schickie%20McCoy%20(feat.%20Bruno%20Marth)/Unknown%20Album/01%20Slumdog.m4a

In any case, here are the lyrics.

a look into the future

Here's what is in store for you for the next month or so:

Wednesday, December 10: test on Cultural Geography.  This test will cover Slumdog Millionaire, and the Cultural Geography PowerPoint material, and the World Religions PowerPoint which I have posted.

Thursday/Friday/Monday: I'll return that test, plus the previous test.  We'll review the answers and prepare for the semester exam, which will be given on:

Tuesday, December 16, at 10:00. Section 3 takes the exam in Room 123, Section 4 takes it in Room 113, and Section 6 will test in Room 318.

Exams conclude on Wednesday, December 17, after which Christmas vacation begins.  We don't return to school until Monday, January 5, 2015, and the second quarter ends on Friday, January 16.

See me with any questions, and keep checking this blog for updates.

welcome back!

Sections 6 and 3 got to finish off Slumdog Millionaire today.  I hope you enjoyed getting such a vivid look at a different culture.  And life in the slums of Mumbai is about as different from life in Maryland as you can get.

More on Cultural Geography tomorrow!