Jeopardy Review

Religion 500-Twin Christians who changed the regulations of the church. (St. Benedict and St. Scholastica)


Ch. 16 200- This king temporarily restored unified rule in North India and was very accepting of new faiths. (Who is King Harsha)


Paper Manufacturing- The new industry the Umayyads created.


The Normans-Which invading people sacked and conquered Constantinople.


Capital of the Umayyad Dynasty- Damascus


Movement of Muhammad and his followers which started Islamic calenders - What is Hijra

This devotee of Shiva (a cult of Hinduism) believed that the physical world was an illusion and the ultimate reality was somewhere beyond.- What is Shankara

The system in the Byzantine Empire that put each imperial province under one general's control- What is the theme system?

Overall my incorrect answers covered a variety of topics and did not follow many patterns...However I will pay more attention to specific names and political structures now that I have played this game. This is an effective review tool and I plan to use it with my notes to study for the test.

Mnastaries that kept to Benedict's rule could be useful institutions for people who needed structure in their lives. Also, farmers could be a part of these institutions because manual labor is deemed necessary for a few hours a day. Today, I can only see these institutions being used as prisons or intense farms. 5. The Rule reveals a great deal about social and economic structure. Social structure is clearly based largely on religion, as rules such as helping the poor and chastising are present. Economic structure is largely based on agriculture, and also many people sound like they live in poverty as helping the poor is often stressed. The fact that manual labor is stressed is probably to allow people to feel like they are fulfilling their religious obligations even when working.

Bhakti poets

Personally, I do not like this collection of poems because none of them rhyme and are somewhat hard to interpret. However, if you pay close attention to the message they are sending they do a good job of representing Indian society. A few of the poems represent their faith to the Gods, and the others represent love which is important in family life as well as religion. In a nutshell, Indian society is based on family life and praising the gods, so these poems actually do a good job representing Indian society.

Chinese Poetry

Overall the poems from the Tang and Song poets are not bad, but because they do not rhyme I am not a big fan of them.  Any poetry that does not rhyme I have a hard time appreciating what makes it special.  The poems from the two dynasties are similar in their references to nature and family, as well as occasional references to wine. They are so similar actually that if it was not provided to us I do not think I could guess which dynasty each poem came from.  There are differences between them, such as length of the two being the most obvious.  Although these poems are direct resources from each society, I do not think they represent either well.  Both take sad and dark undertones for the most part and both of these dynasties were powerful and thriving.  This is fair to say for any work of poetry in a society.  No individual's perspective can completely represent all parts of a society, especially in a work that is meant to be artistic and most likely exaggerate frequently.  If you were to take it in perspective of today, our music is our most common form of poetry.  However, "Hit me baby one more time" by Britney Spears and "Yeah" by Usher although popular, do not very accurately represent our society hopefully.

Document one is from Benjamin of Tudela and is the most credible because it is the least biased view and gives seemingly accurate descriptions of the city for outsiders.
Document 2 is written by Robert of Clari, but this document is very biased and is written for the common people to boost their view of the wealth of Constantinople.
Document 3 is written by Nicetas Choniates and describes how the Latins destroyed artwork of Constantinople.  This view is biased, and portrays the Latins as barbarians, so it was most likely written for the people of Constantinople.
Document 4's author is unknown but it is most likely a citizen of Constantinople.  This document is a simple picture of the basic outline of the city, so it could be directed at outsiders to portray the city as large and strong.
Document 5's author is unknown, but it is a picture of the inside of a beautiful church, showing the importance of religion in their society.
Document 6 is written by George Acropolites and this gives details about an emperors trip to Constantinople and the various prayer rituals that took place.  This source is credible as it is written as a historical document to teach others how important religion was in the city.
Document 7 is written by Chrysobull, to explain the relationship between Constantinople and the venetians as positive and largely trade related.  This is written most likely for the public to show the positive relationship they shared with the Venetians.

Silk road project

3 things went very well in our project, the first being the use of the book to find trade routes of the silk road. Our routes are as close to accurately placed as they could be with the resources we had. Another thing that went well was the essay. Because we were collaborating on our project, we divided the essay into two halves, which made it easy to write about once we agreed on which topics to cover. A third thing that went well was overall collaboration. Doing this project on our own would have taken significantly longer and many of the ideas we had for the map would not have been brought up.
Although our project was a success, there were a few things I was not happy with. The maps were very hard to find an accurate scale for, and drawing a map freehand is tedious and difficult even though ours came out looking good. Another difficulty of this project was balancing work in and out of school with a partner while dealing with a major power outage. A final thing that was a hassle was distinguishing trade routes in a way that was organized and clear. Although we have all our trade routes mapped, at a first glance it is very difficult to understand what each arrow represents.
Overall our project was a success, but if I had to do it again I would spend less time drawing the map and more time worrying about the details of the trade routes, which is the most important thing. This would also give us more time to have worked on the essay, which we had to cram into a few late night hours.

The Formation of Empires

Empires usually form when an already powerful society loses its leader and a power struggle arises.  The leader who rises to power then decides to expand this society and give himself absolute power to form an empire.  In the Roman empire, Augustus took what was already a powerful republic and succeeded power from his uncle Julius Caesar to become emperor.  However, he was careful to structure his government with leaders loyal to him and try to make the lower class have a voice to promote unity.  In India, Chandragupta Maurya used military power to form a large empire.  He simply filled the role of leader after Alexander of Macedon left.  Another example of an empire rising is in China where Qin Shihuangdi was able to step into leadership and enforce military power.  He used standardized laws and a system that would continue this style of rule after his death.
In all societies there are conflicts of power, and in certain ones a single man is able to rise above the rest and influence his power to unite more lands.  Power is always the motivation, and some leaders have more success with it than others, as we see throughout much of the world where power struggles are very different, but at the same time have striking similarities.

Wikipedia vs. Textbooks

Personally, I like Wikipedia for brief summaries of a topic, but I do not always trust everything that is written. That is why teaching a class based on Wikipedia seems unrealistic, because there is not usually enough detail and not all the facts can be trusted. As far as Wikipedia vs. The textbook goes, Wikipedia actually gave a very good overview of Buddhism. Wikipedia organizes it all into subheadings, such as origin, founder, and customs. However there were a few facts that contrasted with the textbook's, and I trust the textbook over Wikipedia. I believe if you need a five minute summary of a topic, go to Wikipedia. However, if you want to prepare for a test and learn in depth about something, the textbook is the only way to go.

Caste Duties of Bhagavad Gita

The caste duties of Bhagavad Gita emphasize that death is inevitable, so it is more important to just do your job and not worry about it.  It highly emphasizes death before dishonor, and that trying to cower away from a fight or not fighting as bravely as one can will lose the respect of their peers and enemies, which will also lead to only more sin.  It teaches that upon death a heaven is entered, and that the perished are the victorious.  It also teaches that as long as the individual gives their best effort, the fact of winning or losing the battle is irrelevant. 
Zoroastrianism teaches similar concepts in the overall idea of "karma", that if good things are done by a person then good will come to that person.  However, Zoroastrianism emphasizes more free will, or the ethical choices a person makes.  The caste duties emphasize more a structured life and people "knowing their place" in whatever role they play in society.  As long as they carry out their role to their best ability, they will be honored.  The teachings of Confucianism have similarities again relating to people doing good, but is much more structured and requires the leadership of a sage for guidance.  Also, Confucianism does not address religious aspects of heaven and the afterlife the way the caste system highlights it.  Confucianism focuses on bringing out the good in people through a structured life to better themselves, whereas the Caste teachings are more focused on doing a job honorably and dying before dishonoring oneself and having an unpleasant afterlife.  All three teachings are similar in their overall concepts, but because they arose from different parts of the world were different issues were present, there are obviously going to be some differences.

How to Assess blogs...

I believe that blogs should not be assessed based on length, because longer is not necessarily better.  Students often repeat themselves or write unnecessary details into their posts just to make them seem longer and do not even always answer the question.  Quality and individuality of the post should come into play.  A unique blog that stands out or has a new perspective on a topic deserves to be rewarded.  Since blogging is a form of social media, I believe grammar should not be graded too strictly, unless the errors affect the fluency of the blog.  To receive a 3 for a homework grade I believe the blog must answer a question thoroughly and offer a new insight on the issue.  A 2 would be deserved if the post simply answered the question, but was not very in depth or creative.  A 1 should only be given if the question was not answered, or if it looks like the post was composed last minute just to receive some credit for the assignment.  I do not think anyone who takes the time to write a post deserves a 0, unless the post is so bad it is not worthy of an AP student.  No student in this class should have to worry about receiving a zero as long as they put an honest effort into their post. 
 As far as us grading each others' blogs, I do not think this is a great idea.  Although it is important to comment on our peers blogs to share ideas and generate new thoughts, I think kids are too nice and won't be honest enough to give most people less than a 2 or 3.  Also conflicting ideas could slant someone's grading to a lower score.  It is Mr. Whitten's job to give us grades, so let him do the grading and us do the learning. 

The Analects could teach U.S. Officials a thing or two...

 
Book III. 16          The Master said, “The gentleman understands what is moral, the small man understands what is profitable.”
Members of congress should read this passage because all of them feel that they are powerful men due to their wealth.  This passage should strike a conscious in some of them who work only to make people money.  Although money must always be a primary concern in government, there are some obvious issues that seem to be overlooked.  Hopefully this passage could make these wealthy politicians feel humbled and start looking at the moral issues facing our country.  If officials looking to be elected used this as a campaign slogan the people voting would be inspired and this could help win the election.  The more important thing is for officials to act on this slogan and not just say it. Problems are not solved by just talking.

Alexander Deservedly the Great

Although plenty of kings in history are referred to as "the Great" Alexander is one that truly deserves this title.  He controlled the largest empire the world had ever seen before he was 25 years old.  Alexander was a leader by example, fighting in his conquests and interacting with his men.  Many kings simply stand on a hill and order their soldiers into battle.  Alexander was different, which is why he was so highly respected.  Alexander's only flaws may have been his ambitiousness, which ultimately led to his downfall.  However, without this extreme passion, he would have never had the drive to conquer and control all the land he did.  Millenniums later, common people still know who Alexander the Great is and many can name some of his accomplishments.  Of the billions of people who lived before the past few hundred years, few if any are more famous than Alexander the Great.