Sean

Happy New Year! During our first week back from Winter Break, we began to prepare for our Athens versus Melos role play. In addition to reading background information about ancient Greece, Athens, and Melos, and learning about the different roles, we looked at the Workable Peace Framework for handling disagreements and conflicts.

The Workable Peace Framework is represented as a diagram. The center of the diagram is a circle labeled “Sources of Conflict” that is divided into quadrants. There is one category in each of the quadrants: Identities, beliefs, emotions, and interests. We examined how identities, beliefs, emotions, and interests relate to each other when a conflict arises. We used the example of a teenager who wants a later curfew time. As we filled the different quadrants, we realized that the lines that separate them are not well defined. Certain words can be part of more than one category or move between categories depending on how they are framed.

On either side of the “Sources of Conflict” are acronyms for the words “WARS” and “PEACE.” Each letter represents a step towards war or peace during a conflict. I noticed that the first step towards either war or peace sets up the direction the conflict might take. In a two-sided conflict, if one side takes one step in the direction of peace, the other side may be more likely to take another step in the direction of peace. The same might be true for going in the direction of war. I think people’s first reactions to conflict are critical for this reason. The first reactions of either side will probably determine how the two sides will interact with each other and with the conflict itself.

For the most part, though, it does not seem like people automatically try to seek peace as their first reaction to conflict. Many times, people stop trying to meet each other’s needs, which is the first step in the direction of war. People tend to think about only what they want without trying to negotiate or compromise anything. When the stakes of the conflict are high, such as between two countries, conflict resolution in the direction of peace is necessary, and the two sides each may have to give up something to achieve peace.

In the case of Athens versus Melos, there is also a difference in resources and power between the two sides. Athens clearly has a more powerful military and navy, and Melos is at a disadvantage in this way. Athens wants to force Melos into joining the Delian League. This would require Melos paying annual tribute to Athens and sending military troops and ships to Athens. This would make Athens even more powerful as it expands. Melos does not want to be overtaken by Athens and have its oligarchy replaced with a democracy. Both perspectives are very different, but it seems like Athens is taking a generally offensive approach, while Melos is taking a generally defensive approach. The directions of the role play involve the class being split into groups to negotiate this conflict in the direction of peace.

This week in class we learned about the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. Socrates was put on trial for not worshipping the Greek gods and “corrupting the youth.” The trial was in the year 399 B.C., after the Peloponnesian War. The prosecutors were Lycon, Anytus, and Meletus. Socrates conducted his own defense. Socrates was found guilty of the charges brought against him and drank poison as his punishment.

As an assignment this week, we had to summarize the two readings that we read in class about Socrates and his trial. We divided the information into four parts and presented the summaries as descriptions for episodes of a Netflix show. We used a Google Slides template to put in our own pictures and write the descriptions of the episodes. Then we published our slides to the web, embedded the code in a Canvas discussion, and posted our finished “show.” As I was summarizing, I realized the need to convey the important information in as few words as possible. Many times I had to go back and reword phrases so that the summary would not be too long. When there were multiple pieces of information that I wanted to include, I had to prioritize what was most necessary to include in the summary. It was definitely a different type of assignment than we typically have in this class, but it was good to have some variety.

Regarding the trial of Socrates, something stood out to me about the jury. “Corrupting Athenian Youth,” one of the two readings from class, says, “…in addition to the three formal prosecutors, there existed a vast body of hidden accusers in Athens, who had influenced the climate of opinion against [Socrates] for the previous 20 years. These detractors… created a steady drip of prejudicial opinion against Socrates.” This quote makes it seem like the atmosphere of the trial was not unbiased. This does not automatically mean that the jury was biased, but I wonder how the trial would have been different if Socrates did not have such a reputation before the trial began. I also noted that one of the prosecutors’ main arguments was about Critias and Charmides. They were pupils of Socrates who led the Spartan overthrow of Athens during the Peloponnesian War. The prosecutors were using this to say that Socrates had “corrupted the youth” since he had worked with them in the past. It seems like this argument worked because Socrates was already disliked by so many people. He also did not agree with the democratic government of Athens. It may have been believable, but this still brings up the question of how Socrates’ reputation may have played a role in the outcome of the trial.

In seventh grade history, I learned a little bit about the Peloponnesian War, but I had never learned about Socrates or his trial. It was interesting that there was a reading about Socrates in our religions unit since what we learned was not to teach us about a specific religion. Even still, it helped to broaden my knowledge about Socrates’ famous trial in 399 B.C.

This week in class we were introduced to a new project. The project is a conclusion of our unit where we learned about the religions of the world. There are three options for the project: a “This I Believe” option where we explain our own beliefs in a podcast or video, an option to build a visual representation of our beliefs, and an interview option where we make a video of interviewing two people of different religions and discuss our findings.

For my project, I am going to do the “This I Believe” option. This project appealed to me the most since it requires thinking about how religion is a part of my life and effectively putting these thoughts and feelings into a podcast with a video. I think this project will be an appropriate challenge for me without being overly stressful. There were example projects available to look at for inspiration. I looked at them briefly, but I do not want to have them in the back of my mind as I work on my project. I want my project to come from me without being influenced to match any particular examples.

Another reason why this project will be good for me is because it is a way to learn to use another tool called WeVideo. WeVideo is a video making website that allows people to create videos with visuals, audio, text, transitions, and more. I was first introduced to WeVideo in middle school when I had a technology class in 8th grade, but I haven’t used it since then. With this project, I hope to become used to WeVideo again and use it beyond the introductory level from my middle school technology class. This is similar to how the Silk Road project helped me learn to navigate and utilize Google Earth as a means to complete my final project. It is good that this class, along with learning about world religions and major revolutions, is meant to increase our knowledge of how to use technology to present information to an audience. This will definitely be a valuable skill in the future since technology is becoming a more and more integral part of our everyday lives.

So far, I am brainstorming what I want to include in my project. I want to take the time to make sure I include just the right things to accurately represent my religion and how it influences my life. I do not want to rush through the brainstorming phase to get to the writing phase. In this case, the brainstorming seems like it may be the most crucial aspect in the success of the project. It will be the base I work with to create what I will say in the video.

Since this project marks the conclusion of our religions unit, I plan to complete it and turn it in before the start of Winter Break. That way, when we come back from break, I can be fully ready to start our unit on revolutions!

This week in class we began to conclude our learning about religions with a wrap-up of Islam set for next week.

At the beginning of the week, we read part of the Qur’an in class and analyzed it as we went along. One main idea of the part that we read is that the most important thing for a person to do in order to be rewarded in the Hereafter is to have faith in Allah which involves prayers. I noticed how the text says, “Those who believe in the unseen and perform the prayers…and are certain of the Hereafter.” Believing in the unseen especially speaks to faith since it involves believing in an invisible God. This quote was also towards the beginning of the excerpt we read, and that may speak to its importance. Another main idea is about why people should worship Allah. The Qur’an says, “Worship your Lord who created you and those before you, that you may attain piety. He who made the earth a habitat for you… and sends water down from the sky, and brings out fruits thereby…”  The section we read gives two characteristics of Allah: “…the Gracious, the Merciful…” Based on these quotes, in addition to providing for people, Allah is also kind to people and should be worshipped for both reasons.

There was a video we watched about how Islam began. Something that stood out to me was how Islam seemed to shift the power in and around Mecca. The prophet Mohammed was from the city of Mecca, where many idols were being worshipped at the time. When he started spreading his belief in only Allah, the “powerful” people from Mecca were unhappy with this belief because it shifted the power away from them. This reminds me of the persecution of Christians in Rome that we learned about a few weeks ago. In both cases, people in power did not like the spread of a new religion that they thought may diminish their power and social influence.

We were asked to compare and contrast Judiasm, Christianity, and Islam to find things that they share and things that are unique to each individual religion. In this blog, I am going to focus only on the things that the religions share.

 

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all share:

Monotheism – All three of these religions are monotheistic. Believers of these religions believe in only one God.

Abraham – Abraham is considered the father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All three of these religions can be traced back to him.

Adam and Eve – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all believe that God created people, and the first man and first woman were Adam and Eve respectively.

Each have a specific holy book – The holy books are called the Tanahk, Christian Bible, and Qur’an in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam respectively.

 

Judaism and Christianity share:

Tanakh/Old Testament – Judaism and Christianity have some scriptures in common. In Judaism, these scriptures are called the Tanakh, and in Christianity, they are called the Old Testament.

Ten Commandments – Both Judaism and Christianity believe in Moses and the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are the laws that God gave to Moses and the Israelites for them to follow.

 

Judaism and Islam share:

Not eating pork – In Judaism, kosher says that Jews are not to eat pork. Muslims do not eat pork either.

No images of God – Neither synagogues nor mosques have images of what people think God looks like.

 

Christianity and Islam share:

Jesus – Christianity and Islam both involve Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Muslims believe that Jesus was a great prophet.

Belief in an afterlife – Christianity and Islam both believe in an afterlife where people are rewarded or punished based on their actions. (Some Jews believe in an afterlife, but belief in an afterlife does not seem to be part of the core beliefs of Judaism like it is in Christianity and Islam.)

 

Over the past few weeks, I have learned a lot about all three religions. It is helpful to know the beliefs of these religions and where their beliefs overlap.

This week in class we started learning about Islam. We only had one class this week, but in that class, we had an introduction to Islam and looked at Mohammed’s last sermon.

The word Islam means “surrender to God,” and the word Muslim means “one who surrenders.” The holy book of Islam is called the Koran (also spelled Qur’an). Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam is a monotheistic religion. Muslims worship one God named Allah. Muslims also believe that Mohammed was the greatest prophet as well as the last prophet.

Mohammed’s last sermon was a message of Mohammed’s teachings and instructions to spread those teachings to others. We spent time learning about the Five Pillars of Islam that are in Mohammed’s last sermon. The Five Pillars of Islam are (1) worship Allah, (2) pray five times each day, (3) fast during Ramadan, (4) give 8% of earnings to charity, and (5) perform Hajj if affordable. These are the things that are essential for Muslims to do.

We also discussed how Muslims are not allowed to charge interest. Charging interest is a sin in Islam. The thought process behind this is that God creates time, so people should not charge for and profit off of time that they did not create. This means that banking in Muslim countries is significantly different than the banks we are familiar with in the United States. That is an interesting concept that I might take a look at later.

Also interesting is the Hajj, the Muslim religious journey to the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Mecca is the holiest site in Islam, and every Muslim who can afford to travel to Mecca is supposed to go there at least once. Only Muslims are allowed to enter Mecca. When Muslims pray, they pray in the direction of Mecca. In this way, Mecca seems to be the spiritual center of Islam. From what I can tell, the journey of Hajj is for Muslims to connect with this Islamic spiritual center. The fact that only Muslims can visit Mecca shows how sacred it is to Islam. It makes it clear that Mecca is the holiest place in Islam, not a tourist attraction.

Here are other things that stood out to me from Mohammed’s last sermon:

The text says “All mankind is from Adam and Eve,” something that Jews and Christians also believe. This shows some relationship between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Race and ethnicity do not give one person superiority over another person. The examples given are Arabs to non-Arabs and white people to black people.

“Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood.” This line is about how all Muslims are to view and treat each other as family. This also speaks to how Muslims are supposed to be unified. There may be disagreements, but based on this, Muslims are not supposed to let disagreements divide and weaken each other.

Mohammed’s last sermon covers a lot of things. I look forward to comparing and contrasting Islam with Judaism, Christianity, and other religions that we have already studied.

This week in class we learned about Christianity.

The core belief of Christianity is that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for the sins of humanity and was resurrected three days later so that people may be saved. One thing that is central to Christianity is the Holy Trinity. Christians believe that there is one God, but God has three different figures. There is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

One thing that caught my attention about what we learned this week was the persecution of Christians in Rome. For the Romans, Christianity represented a loss of power from the Roman Empire, and the Romans wanted to stop the spread of Christianity. This, however, is a direct tie back to the Sermon on the Mount which we read parts of this week. Jesus said: “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” People who were Christian at the time could remember this and be confident and encouraged in staying true to Christianity and to Jesus. People in power want to keep their power, as it seems to be with the persecution of Christians in Rome. We read the letters between Pliny and Trajan together in class. We noticed that while the Romans were concerned with the fact that people were Christians, they were not concerned with Christians’ morals.

Another thing I found interesting was the Council of Nicaea and the Nicaean Creed. The purpose of the Council of Nicaea was for the Roman emperor Constantine to unify Christians in the Roman Empire under one common set of beliefs. The Nicaean Creed was made by the Council of Nicaea to set a clear statement of belief for Christians. In the Nicaean Creed, there are sections about the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Christian church. The reading also informs that the Council of Nicaea chose which texts would be used as official Christian documents. Some gospels besides Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written, but they were not included in the Christian Bible. I wonder how the official Christian texts and the Nicaean Creed were decided upon. If many people brought their differing views of Christianity to the Council of Nicaea, how was it decided which beliefs would become standard Christian beliefs? How long did the Council of Nicaea meet before everyone agreed on a creed and the texts that would become part of the Christian religion?

The history of early Christianity is something that people do not learn much about very often. Although many Christian churches reference the formation of the early Christian church, Christian religious services may not go into much specific detail about it. I might read about the formation of the early Christian church outside of school, and I would be interested to learn about how Christian churches started in places other than the Western world. I imagine that it may be much less acceptable to be a Christian in places like the Middle East where Islam is the dominant religion.

Speaking of Islam, that is the next religion we are going to be learning about in the coming weeks!

We have started to study monotheistic religions in class. This week we learned about Judaism. We looked at an overview of Judaism, the rules of kosher, and the Ten Commandments found in Exodus.

In the overview of Judaism, it was interesting that monotheism starts with Abraham’s covenant with God. God promised that if Abraham and his descendants would always serve and worship God, God would forever protect Abraham and his descendants. I wonder how that must have felt for Abraham to make a covenant with God. I imagine that it made him nervous and afraid, but also humbled and grateful that God chose him to be the father of God’s people. We learned about how the first five books of the Bible are collectively called the Torah. The story of Abraham is in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The totality of Hebrew scriptures are called the TaNaKh.

In the rules of kosher, we looked at some of the general rules for preparing and eating food. Some of the rules include not eating dairy with meat, not eating pork, and not letting utensils that have been used with non-kosher food be used with kosher food. Sometimes I see food labeled as kosher, and now I have a better understanding of what that means. We talked about how these are rules that not everyone is obligated to follow. These rules are for Jewish as part of their religion, and they do not necessarily affect how other groups of people prepare and eat their food.

Moses and the Ten Commandments show how God created rules for his people to follow. God chose Moses to lead the Jews out of slavery in Egypt. Then, Moses goes onto Mount Sinai, and God gives Moses the Ten Commandments. They are the code for God’s people to live by, and they are important because they are rules that come straight from God.

Before this week, I did not know too much about Judaism. I had heard about how Jews were exiled from their homeland, but I did not know when that was or who exiled them. Now I know that the exile that had the greatest impact was done by the Romans in the year 135 C.E., and it spread Jewish people around the world. Also, it was new information to me that the country Israel has not been established for as long as I thought. Jewish people only started living there again in the late 1940s.

At the end of the week, we looked at the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. I knew the two religions were connected by Jesus, but I had not thought about it much before. Christians incorporate the TaNaKh into the Christian Bible as the Old Testament. We talked about how Jesus was Jewish, so Christianity comes out of Judaism. (This is similar to how Buddhism comes out of Hinduism because Siddhartha was Hindu.) We used that as our transition into Christianity, and I am looking forward to learning more about Christianity next week!

This week in class the idea came up about why it is difficult to understand the mindset of people from different time periods in the past. In modern society, we have different views and understandings of the world, so some thought processes from people in the past do not make much sense to us. We have a hard time figuring out why certain things were done because it seems very strange and unusual today.

In modern society, we have much more knowledge of science than people did hundreds of years ago. Through science we can understand chemistry and how all matter is made up of atoms. We have insight into the structure of cells and organisms. People can calculate the motion and trajectory of objects using physics. Information is being gathered about the Earth and space to help people get a bigger picture of the Universe. We take this information for granted in our society today. Even if we do not know something for ourselves, the Internet enables us to quickly type something in the search bar and get millions of results in less than a second. People long ago did not have the knowledge or technology that we have today that allows us to be able to have a much more scientific approach to our view of the world.

An example of this is eclipses, particularly solar eclipses. People who did not have the information about the solar system that we have now would have been very concerned by solar eclipses. They could have been just minding their own business when suddenly the sun got blocked out and everything got quiet. When we hear that they thought the world was going to end, we think of it as an absurd idea. But back then, with little to no knowledge of space or the relationships between the Sun and the Moon, people may not have come up with a more reasonable conclusion. Now when we have eclipses, people get excited. They buy special eclipse glasses and travel into the path of totality to see it. The eclipse gets put on TV for people to see who aren’t in the path of totality. Scientists are glad for the opportunity to study parts of the Sun that are only visible during solar eclipses, and lasting memories are made of the times when the Moon blocks the Sun.

Also, people’s social views have changed over time, and some topics are becoming more acceptable to talk about than they have been in the past. In general, I think the world is becoming more open-minded to things that have been rejected in the past. This may be because people are becoming more aware of the imperfections in the world or just because newer generations are more willing to bring them up in discussions. An example of this is what is considered a typical family unit. Before, the traditional family was a husband, wife, and children. Now family units may be blended or have extended family members.

In conclusion, people’s modern outlooks on the world are very different from those of people from hundreds of years ago. We are unable to relate to the lack of information about many topics that we consider basic knowledge today. Our knowledge has expanded greatly, and compared to people in the past, we are able to have a much more logical approach to situations that may seem confusing at first.

This week in class we focused solely on our Silk Road projects. The projects are due on Monday, November 1, so that is why we spent so much class time on it. My journey is coming along nicely, and I am putting in the finishing touches.

The hardest part for me was choosing a path for my character to travel on. As I was researching, I found a lot of interesting cities that I wanted my character to visit. I made a separate project on Google Earth for the purpose of putting places on the map. I was able to find many cities that could be possible sites on my character’s journey. However, many of the places were hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles apart. I could not use all of them on the journey since it would be an unrealistically long path. After considering the different options for a reasonable journey, I was able to find two cities that would be good starting and ending points for my character’s journey.

From my research, I got to learn about the geography of the area where my story is set. I learned the names of some rivers and deserts. Google Earth also lets me see what the terrain looks like in terms of whether it is sandy, rugged, or flat.

The history of the cities my character stops at is very interesting. Several of the cities that my character stops at were major cities along the Silk Road for long periods of time. Their geographic locations played a part in that in addition to what goods they traded. Most of my sites were controlled by different empires at different times in history. Even reading about the history outside of the time period of my story was engaging. The distribution of wealth and power in the world has shifted since then, and I liked learning about times in history when other parts of the world were much more wealthy and influential than they are today.

Creating the story was a fun part of the project. Although I incorporated facts into the story line, there was a large amount of freedom in what would actually happen in the story. I decided to tell my story in first person and capture my character’s thoughts at different points along the way. Also, I was able to create the different stops in Google Earth without much trouble. I liked being able to use a tool that I had not not known how to use before this project.

Towards the end of the project, I found a great source with lots of information which I did not see earlier. This source was much more interesting than the other sources I found and sparked a genuine interest in the different aspects of the Silk Road that my other sources did not. After I finish my project, I will likely go back and revisit that source purely for learning purposes. Learning for myself is important, beyond the scope of the project itself. Reading the information after the project will be to enhance my knowledge and have fun!

This week in class we began working on our Silk Road projects. This is the first long-term project we have had in history so far this year. I am excited to learn about the Silk Road and learn additional research skills. I am doing the story option, so I am also glad I will get to be creative with this project.

We started off by figuring out how to use both Esri and Google Earth as the options for the platforms that we will utilize to make our final projects. I prefer Google Earth since it is more intuitive for me to navigate. There are many different types of views of the Earth which can be helpful in different situations. I like how Google Earth has the street view to let the viewer see what places actually look like from the ground. The different map options also let the viewer choose what will be on the globe such as borders, roads, landmarks, etc.

Then, we looked at the Adobe Spark page for the directions of the assignment. There is information about what types of goods were traded from which area and a few videos with additional information. The pictures in the Adobe Spark page are interesting. They show how the Silk Road covered many different landscapes and geographic forms. The Adobe Spark was helpful as an introduction to the project.

Next, we collected sources to use in our projects. So far I have four sources about the Silk Road. I may look for one or two more sources for even more information. I enjoyed learning about how to use Noodle Tools in the library. It is very helpful and convenient that Noodle Tools makes source citations. That way we do not have to be stressed about whether or not a source is cited correctly. Also, Noodle Tools is very specific about what type of source is being cited. Gale eBooks can be sent as sources directly into Noodle Tools to be cited, which is an added bonus.

Overall the Silk Road seems interesting to learn about. From what I have read so far, the Silk Road had an enormous impact on global trade. Things that were invented in China became used in Europe, and things from Europe made their way to China and other parts of Asia. This begs the question of how our world got to be the way it is. Clearly the Silk Road was very influential in the spread of ideas and cultures, and I wonder what else may have had an equal effect on the world. Even though I have never heard about the Silk Road before this, it has been there all along. There are probably other things I have yet to hear about that have contributed just as much to the development of our world. Everything seems to build on everything else that already exists, resulting in the complex and sophisticated world we live in today.

This will be a great learning experience for me, and I will be happy when I can look back on my finished story with pride.