no school AGAIN

Who doesn't love days off? 

Since WestCiv class isn't meeting, that means you don't HAVE to blog. 

But if you wanted to, you could post a pic of your own personal winter wonderland, like I have here. 

And if you wanted to keep up, you could watch or re-watch some Guns, Germs, and Steel if you are hunkered down inside the house anyway.

See you soon!

Guns, Germs, and Steel

I hope you're enjoying the video Guns, Germs, and Steel, featuring author/professor/bird watcher Jared Diamond. His theories provide a helpful introduction to our studies of Western Civilization.


I have posted the link to GG&S in the right sidebar of my blog, so you can watch it or review it at your convenience. Stay tuned for lots of other helpful links to be posted there as the semester continues.


Reminder: keep up with your blogs, and remember to post every day your section meets. Also, make sure you have a Composition Book for notetaking in class. It's not just a good idea to take notes in longhand, it's a requirement of the class.

for the Honors Section only

Your in-class assignment is to watch and take notes on the video Guns, Germs, and Steel.

And... we're off!

Welcome to all our new students! You and I are going to spend a lot of time blogging in this class. Here is a good way for you to become familiar with my blog, plus instructions on how to create your blog.

• First of all, add my blog to your Favorites/Bookmarks.
• Set up your class blog through blogger.com.
• After you have created your blog, email the URL to me at rschick@johncarroll.org.

Reminder: the notes you take in class should be entered into YOUR blog. You can edit them, transcribe them, transform them, just so they make sense to YOU. You blog every time the class meets, and the blog should be posted by midnight that night (deadline for Friday blogs is 11:59pm Saturday night). Blogs should be a minimum of 150 words long - quite often they will be longer, either because the assignment requires it, or because you have a lot to say.

That's it for now. Send questions or comments to rschick@johncarroll.org.