Niccolo Machiavelli

1.     Drawing Conclusions:

How did Machiavelli’s ideas and actions reflect his respect for ancient Rome?

When Lorenzo de’ Medici died in 1492 his son took the family company as bankers, he was a terrible leader and was banished from the city. A few years after that the Florentines decided to form a republic. And that’s when Machiavelli stepped in. “He became an official in the new government. He served the city-state on several diplomatic missions that allowed him to close observation of some of the leading political figures of his time.” (Niccolo Machiavelli- Inventor of Political Science) As this ruling system went on with Machiavelli being an official, he grew to respect those who knew how to gain and use power. He then created an army of citizens of Florence. But in 1512 the Spanish army defeated Machiavelli’s army of citizens. After his loss he was sacked by the government and once again the Medici family took over.

2.     Analyzing Issues:

Why is it appropriate to call Machiavelli’s work political science?

It is appropriate to call Machiavelli’s work political science because previous writers of political philosophy tried to describe perfect governments whereas Machiavelli wanted to understand how political leaders could best obtain and hold power.

3.     Making Inferences:

What was Machiavelli’s view of human nature?

“He thought that trickery was more effective in achieving these goals than honesty. He also thought that acquiring and maintaining power was more important to rulers than being a “good” leader.” It is more difficult to be both, good and feared at the same time and it is harder to be good, so the easiest for people to get your attention is by being feared all the time. 

Blog 1- Diary Entry Constantinople (Justinian's World)

Dear Diary,

This letter is to anyone who read it. I wanted to inform you of some recent events. A man named Justinian just took power, a military man. He and his wife are very powerful people, they took all our money away, but every 3 days we have a town meeting and tell us about other civilizations that have money but their town is in a horrible state. They ask us every time if we wanted that. Some people said yes and some said no, but the ones that replied yes were killed on the spot. So life is good.... for now.

Dear Diary,

I am writing again to anyone, they have started working on this colossal cathedral here at the centre of our town and said to be a great place for praying. Soon I started to break a rule that if I get caught, they’re going to kill me; I started to work more to make more money and hid the money in my shoes. I had some close calls but I’m alright. I even managed to go to a couple chariot races with the illegal money.

Dear Diary,

Around a year later, at one of the games 35,000 people were killed right next to me! I was extremely lucky to get home alive because a friend of mine worked there and new the passages blindfolded. The entire empire strikes! For a reason I’m not sure yet. Although we had better technology, they told us every 3 days at those meetings, (which we hadn’t had in a while now because of the strikes) and a better life Justinian wasn’t his soldiers and they turned against him. Anyway I hear something or someone coming

Animal Farm Anticipation Guide

1. I agree because some people are born with certain disabilities, others chose to do what they like to during class instead of paying attention. Sometimes people are told that they are wrong and they continue to insist that they are right, at the end though they chose to ignore the truth and fail. I believe that some people are smarter than others because that’s how that person is made.

I think you can increase your IQ, but only to a specific point. Each person has a different limit, some the same, but usually different. These people are smarter than others. People can be smarter than others in different things.

2. I agree because we are all miracles in our world, we all should be treated with the same respect but the world doesn’t work like that, because someone is a different color it doesn’t mean that you can treat them with no respect because on the inside they are probably better people than others.

Because someone has a certain disability you can’t make fun of them because it looks funny, put yourself in their shoes and try to think how they could feel about it.

Business State

Phone Assassin strangles IT manager!

By: Elias Sapachlaris, American International School of Cyprus, Grade 8

Today a strange incident has occurred. In Business Tower LTD, a “Phone Assassin” has been said to strangle, but not kill an innocent IT manager while trying to fix the phone. The only witness but also innocent IT manager said that “it was the most horrifying time of his life” and then stated “I quit!” Although this is the first time that something like this has happened, we need to find out what caused this to happen or how created this. Also this might be a sign of evolution coming fast. The “phone assassin” has said “I will not tell you anything that I know. Never!” CSI investigators have tried to negotiate with the “phone assassin” but the thief has been exceptionally smart and has asked for a lawyer! Another quote of the “phone assassin” is “it was an accident, I did not know what I was doing, and I’m sorry for all the trouble that I caused.

Special thanks to CSI and Elias Sapachlaris who both had the courage and take on such a dangerous “phone assassin”.

Greasers vs. Socs

I am a Greaser and I am proud to be one. The name Greaser frightens some people, but I don’t know why. We Greasers have something very important to us, family. We always look after each other’s back in rumbles. We prefer to be around each other. The Socs try to make us feel ashamed of who we are. Middle class people or Socs immediately think “troublemakers” when they see us. Bad, rubbish kids with no manners or respect, but they don’t know us and shouldn’t judge us like that. But instead of wondering what we did wrong we don’t care about people’s thoughts, only our own. We don’t care about being rich or anything we just want to be respected the way we are. We don’t care about being rich, cause being rich wouldn’t make us any happier. We appreciate everything we have. The Socs think that they have the upper hand, that they can do whatever they want to because of their background- the social clubs. They are just some spoiled rich kids who live on the west side of town. Join us, the Greasers. I can promise you that you ain’t gonna regret it.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

"The Outsiders" Anticipation Guide

3. You can tell a lot about a person by their physical appearance (i.e. the clothes they were, their style)
Disagree,
I disagree with this because a person that went to the supermarket and had been dressed very poorly but actually he is a very clever, responsible, and caring man. Another person at the supermarket that has got a very bad character is in line waiting for his turn to pay next to the poorly dressed man and he is dressed in very fancy clothes might think that the poorly dressed man has a very bad character. Another way to look at it is what about a yo-yo guy with saggy pants, skate shoes, a New York cap put on the side, chains around his neck, cool bracelets, and many rings on his fingers? People usually if they a guy like that on the street they might think wow that guy is cool! Or that guy must be a bad boy. But what about a very good student at school who does all of his homework in time. And gets good grades? If this guy was walking in the street like that many people would think that he is also a bad boy in a gang but really he is not. Sometimes people guess right about people but most of the times not. So before you make a comment about someone, think well before you do.

Media clip

I prefer the first media clip because it has a lot of detail. I understood it very well, it was interesting, and I enjoyed it too. Also it does not continue for a very long while or a very short while as well. This media clip is of course not the exact original one but this media clip helps you understand about what happened in a more adventurous and funny way. They combined funny cartoons which made the whole story look and sound better for children our age and even younger. In my opinion I think that the best media clip for a reader to understand is the first one by far. This is because it explains what is going on very well unlike the other two media clips that skip the beginning and talk super fast that if you did not know the real story then you would be totally lost. And it is also more easier to get a grip of the real story.

The Monkey's Paw

-Setting (India and Visit)
-Characters (Herbert White, Mr. and Mrs. White, Monkey’s Paw, and Sergeant Major)
-Conflict (Curse, Greed, and Remorse)

Mr. and Mrs. White are going to visit their Uncle Herbert White in India to wish with a great day at the National Park of Monkey’s Paw in the Island of Bala Bala. Sergeant Major, the owner of the Park has been cursed by a greedy non-remorsed , young boy who hates that Park. When Mr. and Mrs. White find out about this they try to destroy the Island of Bala Bala before the crazy boy does something harmful to any person but mostly to Herbert White.