5/05/09

Today I completed everything in my essay apart from the conclusion. I worked really well again today, and now all I have to do is write my conclusion and edit my essay. I will try and edit my essay tonight at home because, otherwise I might not have engough time. However Mr. Bonnallie said that it probably won't be due tomorrow, however I will still work at home. I had forgotten that we had to do a powerpoint after the essay, but I think it will be much easier because we will already have all of the information needed.  Looking back on the project I think that I have worked very well. I think that some days I got more things done than on other days but I managed to keep up and not fall behind. I think the best part of my work was my research, which is a strong point of mine. A weak point would probably have to be time management, that is because at times I should have used certain resources better. For example I didn't use the books that much because there was not that much information about my topic, to answer the questions. Instead of continuing to look at them, I could have gone and started using the computers earlier, which is where I found the majority of my information. I really enjoyed this project because I chose a topic that I was interested so researching was not that much of a burden. This helped me a lot I think because it was a driving force in my work. Overall I am ery proud of my work and I look forward to seeing how I have done!

4/05/09

Today I did a lot of work on my essay and I am nearly finished! Today my work ethic was the best it has been for a while and I am really really proud of myself. I am no longer worried about handing my essay in on time because I feel that I am keeping up with the writing of my essay. I have also decided that I do not need extra information about social classes, because I found a few of my index cards, which weren't in their place which had more information. Also yesterday I was a little bit concerned that I would not have enough words to meet the amount required. if I can continue my strong work ethic tomorrow then I will probably have completed my essay by the end of the lesson. I am very happy with my work and progress today.

3/04/09

Today I completed my government and law section and I finished my social classes section also. I am very proud of my progress today. However I dont think that I have enough information about social classes. This has been a hard characteristic to find information about from the begining of the project. The majority of the information that I have found about social classes. If I can't find any more information, then tomorrow I will go to the library to look for more information about it. Despite getting a lot done today I found it very frustrating because I had to move labs because my computer wasnt working. Even though I wasted time logging on and off computers and moving. I felt that I worked better in the other lab, because it was quite and I could concentrate. Tomorrow I will ask if I can move labs again because, that way I get a lot of work done. I am pleased with my progress today

29/04/09

Today I finished my introduction. I also started writing up my paragraphs for my first characteristic, Government and Law. I worked really hard today, despite getting off to a slow start. I have written 2 out of 3 paragraphs for Government and Law. I have found that I have been moving my questions between paragraphs, according to which one relates to the paragraph more. This has become easier to do as I write more because I can experiment with the structure. And use which ever one works better. Next week we our essay has to be finished but I am not worried because I think I am up to date. I would like to continue my good work ethic next week and continue to get A LOT done!

28/04/09

Today we started writing our essays in the Multi Media labs. I have started my introduction, but I haven't finished because I was trying to decide what to include. I have already started moving changing my plan around. But I don't think that it was unexpected. I feel that I worked well today but I would like to be more productive in the next few lessons because I know that we don't have that much time before the essay is due in. I have answered all of the questions in my introduction, except 'When was Ancient Mesopotamia around?' Tomorrow I need to hurry up with my introduction because some people have already finished theirs, which means that I am a little bit behind.

27/04/09

Today I had to catch up with the planning that I missed when I was away. We are planning our essays today and then starting to write them tommorow, which is a little bit scary! I think that my plan will be a good guide as I write my essay, as I will be able to tick off all of my questions as I go. Planning made me think more about the structure of the essay and it gave me a better idea of what the essay is all about. Today I worked really well because I finished my plan during the lesson, even though the rest of the class has had longer to do it. So now have caught up with the work that I missed while I was away. I am glad that I caught up quickly, because now I dont have to wrry about falling behind. During the next few lessons my goal is to make sure that I keep up with writing my essay! My plan is as follows:



Introduction:

Where is Mesopotamia?

What time period was it around?

Why was the Ancient Mesopotamian Civiliation important?



Paragraph 1: Government & Law

What kind of Government was it?

Was the Government always the same?

How was the country divided? What was the setup? How did it work?



Paragraph 2: Government & Law

What jobs were there in the government?

What were the different levels in government?

How did the government make decisions?

Did the government control the army? How did this work?



Paragraph 3: Social classes

What were the different social classes?

What jobs ranked higher? Why?

How did class affect people's lives?



Paragraph 4: Social classes

Were the different classes completley seperate? Explain.

Did class affect peoples movement?



Paragraph 5: Education, Mathematics, Science and Astrology

What was the education system and how did it work?


Paragraph 6: Education, Mathematics, Science and Astrology

What are some examples of succesful breakthroughs in education, astronomy, mathematics, science and writing?

Why are these important to us?



Paragraph 7: Education, Mathematics, Science and Astrology

What Mesopotamian discoveries do we use today?

Why are they important?



Conclusion:

Why was Ancient Mesopotamia important to us?

...

22/04/09-26/04/09

From Wednesday to Sunday I wasnt here because I was in Cairo for Track&Field. So I missed some lessons where the class was planning their essays.

21/04/09

This was a blog post for the 21/04/09 didn't publish.


Today I looked and I looked and I looked for information about social classes but I couldnt find information that was relevant to my questions. I am quite concerned because we start planning the essay next week. Looking back now I dont think it was such a good idea to choose social classes because there isnt that much that you can say about. However I will still write about social classes in my essay. i just might have to look for information at home. The questions that I still need to answer for social classes are: 'Was movement affected by social classes?', '

20/04/09

Today I found a really good website which had information about Government and Law. It was really good because it was dedicated solely to the government and law of Mesopotamia! The questions I answered today were 'Did the government control the army/military?' and 'How did the government make decisions?' and also 'What were the different levels in government?' Tommorow I would like to finish answering my questions about social classes. I am happy with my progress so far but I am a little bit worried about not having enough information on social classes for my essay....

19/04/09

Today I found information about governemnt and law. I answered my questions 'What kind of Government did they have?' and "Did their governement change over time?' I found it interesting learning about governments in other countries and time. And despite a bit of research I learnt how to say 'leader' in Sumerian, lugal! Next week we are starting to plan our essays so this week I am going to get the last of my information about social classes before we start to write our essay. It was encouraging to hear that I had improved my proccess journal. Tommorow I am going to make sure that all of my questions about government and law are completed.

15/04/09

Today I found out some general information about law and government and I gathered more of an understanding of the different city states and their time periods. Also I found out the most well known kings of each city state and why they were well known. Out of the Sumerian kings Sargon was the most famous because it was under his rule that city states were developed. King Hammurabi of Bablyon was famous for code of laws. Because there were some many of them and they were all so detailed. King Hammurabi was also the king who displayed all of the laws on pillars around Babylon. He also conquered many places to extend the empire of Babylonia. None of this information related directly to my questions however I felt that it was important to include it. I also found information about social classes. However this information did relate to my question, "How did peoples jobs affect their lives? What were the most important jobs and why?" The most important jobs were obviously the king as well as scribes, powerful priests and gods & goddesses. This weekend I am taking my blue folder home to organize the cards and finish some un answered questions.

14/04/09

Today I was very productive and answered all of my questions about Astronomy, 'Who practiced Astronomy?", What are some examples of successful breakthroughs in Astronomy? Why are these important?', How have these discoveries changed over time?, How do these discoveries of Ancient mesopotamia affected our society? Today we found out that next week is the last week for research before we begin our essay. Also on Thursday Mr. Bonnalie is checking our proccess journals. Next week I am going to go over all of my note cards and make sure that every question is answered properly so that I wont have any problems when I write my essay. I am really proud of my work today. Tommorow I would like to finish answering all of my questions about social classes.

13/04/09

Today I discovered that I wont be able to find any information directly about Mathematics. But one of the main areas in which Mathematics was used was in Astronomy. This is because in order for the Mesopotamians to develop an understanding in Astronomy they had to have a basic understanding of mathematics. So only some of the questions I was hoping to answer about Mathematics were answered. I also made up new questions for Education to replace some of those that I was hoping to answer about Mathematics. They are, 'Who practiced Astronomy and what did they use it for?'; 'What are some examples of successful breakthroughs in Astrnonomy? Why are these important? How have these discoveries changed over time?'
Tommorow I would like to follow up and answer the questions about Astronomy.

12/04/09

Today I found a good website, the British museum site on Mesopotamia. I found the answer to my question 'What were some of the successful breakgthroughs in writing and how were they used?' There also seemed to be a wide variety of information outside this topic relating to my characteristics, so I will be sure to visit the site again. Tommorow I would like to look into a similiar question involving the developtment of Mathematics as this is an area that I haven't found that much information on. Tommorow I would also like to add onto some of my questions that I didnt get enough information on in the library

1/04/09

Today the internet was really slow so it took I loooong time to navigate between sites. However I found information about education today. I mainly extended the answer to one of my questions, What was the education system? How did it work? I enjoyed this because I found it interesting comparing what school was like then and now and how time has changed our views, opinions and ideas. Not many people from modern times would've survived school in Mesopotamia!!

31/03/09

I found some information about one of my questions about law and government, what jobs were there in government? What were their roles? I learned mainly about the roles of governors and priests. I didn't realize how divided the region was and what a large role the city states played. Also how many different roles the priest carried. Tommorow I will look at another characteristic.

29/03/09

Today I found a lot of information as we are now working on the computers. I also organized my questions so that I know which ones I have answered and which ones I still need to. I found a really good website which has a lot of information on Government and Law which was really helpful. We are finished using the books now so we are only using the computers for the rest of our research. Today I learned about the city states and their leaders, how they were run and who ran them. Tomorrow I will continue using this website and I also know another good one which is run by the British museum.

25/03/09

Today I started making my bibliography using Citation Machine. It was really easy and successful. One thing that I found really frustrating today was that I found that some of my blog posts hadn't been published or saved, so some of them only had 1 or 2 lines. Mr. Bonnalie said that it was okay because he could get a general idea from all of my other posts. We start using the computers for research next week. Overall it has been a good week, I just wish I had found the book "Find out about Ancient Mesopotamia" earlier, as it has been very useful/helpful!

24/03/09

Today I found a large amount of information about education and schooling. I also found the information really interesting as there are many similarities between our schooling now and schooling in ancient Mesopotamia despite how much time there is between now and then. I wish I had found the book I am using at the moment, "Find out about Mesopotamia," a long time ago because there is so much information about so many things. I answered several questions on education such as "What was the teachers job?", "Who went to school?", "What did they learn at school?" and more. Tomorrow we are going to use citation machine to create our bibliographies.

23/03/09

I found a lot of information about how/when/where writing developed in Ancient Mesopotamia, which is one of my questions. I find it to hard to think of the time periods, how do you think about what life was like 5000 years ago? I am finding it difficult to understand the city states so maybe on Wednesday I will do some research on that so that I can also include it in my essay. I would like to use this book again tomorrow as there is a lot of information.

22/03/09

Today i found a very good book which has a wide range of information and covers many aspects of Mesopotamia. I collected a lot of information on government & law. It covered parts of the government such as the governors of the city states and other region. This week is the last week that we are going to be in the library, because next Tuesday we are going to start working in the Multi media labs. So I am trying to make the most of the books in the library. Tomorrow I would like to use the same book again, and to look at the chapter on the development of writing.

18/03/09

Today I continued research government and law, but I didnt find that much information and the information that I did find I had to look really hard for. I realize that we dont have to find all of our information from these books but certain questions I cannot find the answer to, so I will leave them for the internet.

17/03/09

Today I found information about government and Law which is good because I havent found any other information about it. I really like an idea that the Ancient Mesopotamians used. It is where they had severally 3 meter high pillars which had all of the governments laws. I think that this would make it easier to arrest people because there would be no excuse for not knowing the law. I think that we should do this in our modern civilization!

16/03/09

I wrote out many cards today and I found a great deal of useful information. The topics that I found the most information about where Social Classes and Education. However I did a chapter that has a large amount of information of law and government which I will look at tomorrow. I have found it very interesting comparing the similarities of the Ancient Civilization culture and the Middle Eastern culture. Even much of the food that was eaten then it still enjoyed now such as dates and chickpeas. I was quite surprised to learn that only boys could attend school and that most girls became housewives with few exceptions. I feel very lucky with our school day is the timing that it is because the Ancient Mesopotamians had school from Sunrise to Sunset. Tomorrows I would like to focus on law and government as I haven't found much information about the topic until now.

15/03/09

Today I didn't take as many notes as I would have liked because the information that I found didn't directly relate to my questions however I feel that I understand the Mesopotamian periods and what each of them achieved better. Tomorrow I hope to be more productive continuing my work on Social Classes, Education and Government.

10/03/09

Today I got a lot of research done and I took a lot of notes. I mainly focused on Social Classes and towards the end I found some information on the development of writing and mathematics. i answered 2 of my questions about social classes. They are, 'what social classes were there in ancient Mesopotamia?' and 'How did social classes affect peoples lives, lifestyles and health?' With the Education characteristic I didn't answer any specific questions although I did find general/background information. I also decided that as well as doing social classes I would try and connect variety jobs with it. I feel that this is important because the Ancient Mesopotamians where the first people to hold jobs. This was mainly because that they were no longer nomads, as they had learnt to farm in one place. Overall it was a productive day. Tomorrow I plan to continue researching Education, Mathematics and Science.

9/03/09

Today was my first day of researching, so my main goal was to collect as much general and background information as possible. I found some really good books and I enjoyed making connections with some of the places that I have been to, like Persepolis. I have had a hard time trying to decide where to start as there are so many different topics and so much information. Tomorrow I am going to start answering my questions about the characteristics that I chose.

8/03/09

Today was the first day of researching for the Research Project. I did not do any research because I was absent on the day that the rest of the class organized their wiki's for the research project. Tomorrow I will start researching. Now I am caught up with the blogs and wiki's so I am now fully up to date with the class work. You can visit my wiki and blog.

Ancient Civilisations Research Project process journal

This is going to be my process journal of the work that I do throughout the Ancient civilisations research project. I have chosen to research Ancient Mesopotamia. The characteristics I have chosen are education, social classes and government & law. Today we made our folders that we are going to keep all of our information in. Next week we are going to start researching our topics and answering the questions that we have drawn up to guide us in our Essay. Then after researching in the library for about a month then we are going to use the Internet for research. Watch this place for more information!