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!!