What is the main point that beginning of your blog?
The main point that Drehle makes in his article, is that over the summer children lose knowledge of there previous year also known as "summer learning lose." He argues how there isn't enough summer enrichment programs.

Does the author of the student essay you're considering address the point?
Yes, he's always talking about summer enrichment programs saying that we need them for improving our low income students' grades and that without them students are not doing good in school.

What do you think about his claims, especially in light of the quick poll that we took at the beginning of class?
not alot of kids are not going to want to sign up for a summer enrichment program when they could be outside enjoying the summer sun.
How does this affect the author's ethos (his or her integrity; how much faith we have in his argument)?
It doesn't.
How does this essay compare to Victor's essay?
They both go straight to the point.

1/26/11

 During the Iraqi election in 2005, voters thumbs were stamped purple as evidence that they had cast their vote. It became a symbol of democracy as many women showed off their purple thumbs. this historical event gave the Iraqi women the process to freedom. They stamped to triumph.                            

The doors swish shut and with the press of a touchscreen button, the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) car is off, gliding through the tunnels beneath Abu Dhabi's new Masdar City. The sleek four-passenger vehicle — which looks like something out of the movie TRON: Legacy — runs on an electric motor, making it clean and carbon-free. There are no tracks — the car is autonomous, driven by a computer that charts direction with the help of tiny magnets embedded in the road. When my PRT car senses another vehicle waiting in our parking space, it stops and waits for the area to clear, avoiding a collision. PRT is meant to be the future of mass transit within cities, with the environmental benefits of buses and trains but the freedom of a private vehicle. But as my car pulls into an open docking bay, I can't help thinking there's something slightly silly about all this. For all the technology — which isn't cheap — the PRT has taken me to its one and only stop, maybe half a mile (800 m) from the starting point. For a lot less — and not much more time — I could have used a much older form of transport: my legs.



The topic sentence introduces the P.R.Ts and it explains how its good for the environment, how the cars travel, and how the technology runs the autopilot car.

1/24/11

after reviewing our essay's, many students essay didn't "hold hands" with the topic paragraph. Once again hamilton sat us down and took us through basics of writing.  

1/19/11 Final Exam Expository Reading and Writing Matt Aguilar

For many students , summer is fun and freedom. While more privileged students travel and visit museums, libraries and summer camps, many low income students are stuck at home and fall behind in their education during the three month break. Studies have shown that when students continue studying and learning during summer, they improve in reading, math, and science, because of this, educational reformers, with the contribution of their community and philanthropies, have begun to establish summer enrichment programs where less privileged students can increase their academic skills and knowledge while also having fun, a different model than traditional education and one that involves the idea of stealth learning(yes, we are bouncing a basketball,  but we are also learning about physics.)


I agree with David Von Grehles point of view to an extent because as a kid during summer vacation I would go outside and play with some of the kids from the neighborhood, we would ride are bikes and scooters, play tag and hide and go seek until the sun came down and we all had to go inside. This was my idea of summer, I didn't want to be at a summer enrichment program where I would have to do more work, after all summer is for play. But now that I am older I find my summers to be boring with nothing to do or any where to go, so i'll just lay on the couch and watch TV all day, so I wouldn't mind going to a summer enrichment program where I could possibly advance my reading and math skills by a full letter grade while not having to sit at a desk and do book work, but instead possibly going fishing where I can weigh and measure my catch doing math without even realizing it or what summer educators like to call stealth learning.  

1/10/11 Matt and Gabe

* Summer school is a good thing not punishment
* Overcome a cultural barrier
* Public schools are a roadblock

1/6/11

* Entire Corbin community pitches in
* Kids do math without knowing it "stealth learning"
* Kids in the Corbin program don't fall behind in the summer they move ahead
* Improved a full letter grade in math and reading

Summary
Kids who participate in the Corbin Redhound Enrichment program don't fall behind in summer, more than half improve by a letter grade or more in reading or math, with the entire Corbin community pitching in, this kids can do activities such as fishing, weighing and measuring their fish doing a day's worth of math.

1/3/11

Paragraph 1
States
Informs
Pathos: "But every camp and academy I visited had dozens of children stranded on a waiting list"
Logos: " A recent study sponsored by the wallace foundation estimated that only 25% of students currently participate in organized summer learning programs, although a majority of parents said they would enroll their children if more programs were available."

Paragraph 2
States
Informs
Pathos: "Eighty-eight percent of our children live in latchkey families, and we have no YMCA, no Boys & Girls club. Really, there was almost nothing for them to do."
Logos: " Lessons in reading, math, science, and social studies fill much of the day, but nothing about Redhound Enrichment feels like dreaded summer school."

Paragraph 1 and 2 states that not enough parents are encouraging there children to participate in summer enrichment programs and the parents who are encouraging do not have much choices in programs.