Writing Standard

1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts,
using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

b. Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the
most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and
limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge
level, concerns, values, and possible biases.



                                                          Equality in Sports



Throughout the world various forms of unequal fairness is happening all around us. One particular unfairness has come to my attention, playing time. Team sports who are equally trained and educated, are not receiving equal time in play within the members of the team. Being on a team should not limit someone’s chance of participating because they are no good at it. On the contrary, they should be forced to be engaged just as the rest of the team. All players on a team must play for the main purpose of equality, motivation, and development.


What is equality? Equality is being equal; sameness in amount, size, number, value, degree, rank and etc (Barnhart). Playing time is like winning the golden ticket, you feel very happy; it makes you feel like you are on top of the world. When you do not have that golden ticket it makes you feel miserable, and believe it or not you start losing interest in the sport. Basically playing time can make or break your season. Conversely, studies also tell us the number one reason athletes leave sports is because they are not having fun. I can think we all agree that sitting on the bench is not an enjoyable experience for anyone, which raises the issue of equal time playing (Amindon). Athletes sitting on the bench want to been seen out on the court playing their hardest , making the team proud. Having athletes sitting on the bench affects the team dynamics, especially when there is a risk of injury. In sports the main focus is winning. Lets say its the final game of the season, and your team has made it through, obviously the coach is going to put the best players. The opposing team is winning by a few points, and suddenly one of the best players gets injured. The player is going to have to sit out for the rest of the game. Therefore, the coach is left with no other choice but to put in an athlete from the bench. The game is now really intense, both teams are anxious, and all the pressure is left on the athlete who hardly gets put in. All his teammates know he does not play as much. Why? Because they never give him the opportunity to do so. Both teams are tied now, the team who makes the next point will win, the inexperienced athlete has the ball and he is going for the shot but, out of nowhere another athlete from the opposing team takes it away and make the final shot. If every athlete had equal playing time everyone would be confident, everyone would have worked together to win, and the athlete would have known how to play with the rest of the team. Equal play can bring out someone’s well performance in any game, you just have to give them the opportunity to prove themselves.


Motivation for students to participate in team sports is always being encouraged. When students decide to join a sport they plan to commit to it. No one signs up for something if they plan to not try. Having motivation makes everyone go to practice and be more engaged to do better in games. Because every player received meaningful minutes, every player was engaged in practice (McCormick). Coaches play an important role in motivation. Coaches can either reinforce negative or positive attitudes towards the players. When coaches deliver positive feedback, the players sense motivation that keeps them coming to practice, and especially it makes the coach feel content. Positive feedback is good for athletes, it will destine them to carry out a well developed game, with great attitude and a positive mindset. Coaches creating bad reinforcement only makes things worst for the team or an individual. What some coaches do not always seem to realize is that the kids are not just learning from the teammates and the actual playing of the game, but they are very in tune to what the coach is doing and how the coach leads and motivates the team (Lawrence). Coaches can really affect players with their words, they can make players feel very miserable, and cause them have a low self-esteem. Athletes stop caring about school, grades, and mainly the sport. It creates this mindset that they might not be good at anything, and it ruins their self-confidence. Ruining children’s self-confidence can even cause them to go into depression, feeling like they can no longer succeed in sports and thinking negative thoughts about themselves, which can ultimately affect their everyday lives (Grassi). We have to keep in mind that we are all human beings. We all deserve the chance to better ourselves, show that we are capable of improving, and capable of treating each other equally.


Players on a team must play for development. Putting players on the court or field is an advantage for them to develop many skills in the sport. The first skill one can develop is teamwork. When an athlete is put on the court, they learn how to work with each other, and they learn to give greater respect for one another. A team like that ends up winning, because they all learn how to work well. Learning to cooperate with others towards a common goal in sports is what builds character, friendship, and learning life skills for players and coaches (Harle).


Confidence is a great development that team sports offers because it allows you to break your shell and show others what you got. Thats why there should not be any athletes sitting on the bench the whole game, because they won't be able to learn or develop any of those skills. Being confident allows you to feel good about yourself, and it does not let any negativity affect you. Confidence makes you improve yourself to things you did not think you could do, and it allows you to conquer fear, uncertainness, and much more. Believing you could be good out on the court boosts your abilities to think you can play just as good as anyone on the team. Socializing plays an important role in an athlete's development, as well.


Socializing makes you have a great time with your friends on the team, and it makes others want to participate in teams to have that connection between teammates. Believe it or not, when you are not social among your teammates you feel unhappy, and no one should get to feel that way. The person who would be antisocial on a team would be the person less likely to be put out on the court. The reason why that person would act antisocial is because if the athlete sitting out did not get included to what would be an important game where the rest of the players did contribute and successfully win the game, the athlete on the bench would feel like he did not contribute to that win. He would keep all his emotions to himself, and distance himself away while others would celebrate the win. Its always important to keep in mind that a healthy team consists of well socialized people, and equal participation. Communication can get you from the bench to the court. Having good communication with your coach will allow him to realize you have great potential. It makes you stand out because you are the one reaching to be a good team player and it shows that you could do so much more for the team than just sitting down the whole game.


Equal play time allows athletes to learn how to manage pressure. Its one thing getting use to pressure when you're always getting put into the games, but not everyone gets the chance to experience how to handle it. Handling pressure is a good life skill to learn because you will face it out in the real world. When you are hardly out on the court you really don't know how to handle pressure. If all players were given the same amount of play time, athletes would not have to feel that they might let their team down because the pressure got the best of them. Its always important to include every player to develop the skills to improve themselves in playing time. These are the things that will help shape them in life going forward (LaVoi). In all, teamwork, confidence, socializing, and handling pressure are all important developments an athlete should learn from being on a team sport. Building a high performance in a sport is all part of being developed, and everyone should be included to show a good performance out on the court.


In conclusion, all players on a team must play for equality. A team that respects each other is a winning team from the beginning to the end. We all deserve an opportunity to put ourselves out there even if they are short meaningful minutes. Players on a team must play to receive motivation. At the end its all worth it if the whole team motivates each other to participate and work together to get that win. Finally, all players on a team must play for greater development. Equal play time can provide a superior developmental opportunity to every athlete. Regardless of all opposing people, we should all keep in mind, a team full of well developed talent is always better than a team with few highly developed athletes.





                                                                  Works Cited


Amindon, Michele. "10U Q&A: How Do I Show Value in Equal Playing Time?" ADM Kids. N.p., 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.


Grassi, Giovanni. "Youth Sports Psychology: How to Ensure Your Athletes Stay Motivated and Have Fun." STACK. N.p., 2 Nov. 2012. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.


Harle, Wade. "Benefits of Teamwork in Sports." LIVESTRONG.COM. LIVESTRONG.COM, 19 Aug. 2013. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.


Lawrence, Jessica. "Creator by WeWork." Creator by WeWork. N.p., 3 Oct. 2014. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.


McCormick, Brian. "YBCA." Youth Basketball Coaching Association Does Every Player Deserve Playing Time Comments. N.p., 1 Mar. 2010. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.


NmLaVoi. "One Sport Voice." » A Question About Equal Playing Time in Youth Sports. N.p., 27 July 2010. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.


Rottkov, Richard. The World Book Encyclopedia. 1990 ed. Vol. 18. Chicago, IL: World Book, 1990. Print. So-Sz.


Thorndike, Edward L., and Clarence Lewis Barnhart. Thorndike-Barnhart Student Dictionary. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1997. Print.

English Standard

Warming up to write an Illustration

1a) If you shop wisely you can save large amounts of money.

• Shopping can get out of control. You just need to know how to manage your money. A good way to avoid spending a lot of money is to only buy things you really need. Second, if your shopping for food, you can easily find coupons, or stick with things that are on sale.

1b) My mom and dad hear and see things differently.

• Some ways to avoid excommunications, or to make both parents understand, you need to sit with them both and talk,Second, communicate with both no matter what you are doing.

English Standard

 1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts,

using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports

the argument presented.


Warming up to write an Argument

Write down at least three objections to each of the following propositions: 

1a) Women should be drafted into the military.

• emotionally unstable
• women should take care of their kids
• to weak

1b) The United States should have its own army

• its costly
• become one world government 
• United Nations should bring peace

1c) The euro should now be used in every country of the world.

• not everyone knows how to pay in euros
• all country's would be the same

1d) Every official meeting of congress should begin with a prayer.

• not everyone has the same religion
• conflicts of religion
• religion should not be involve with political view

 1e) " I am not responsible for saving the world"

• save the world by recycle
• volunteer work, picking up trash
• save water 

For each of the following areas, list three topics you think you could develop into a persuasive argument:

2a) Something in your personal life you would like to change.

• economic problems
• living conditions

2b) A social or political problem that needs solving.

• teen pregnancy
• minimum wage
• gas prices

2c) An area of education you would like to see improved.

• public speaking 
• attendance
• communication 

Sketch out some ideas you would like to use to support the following quotations: 

3a)  " Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest violence."

• When people are being discriminated, the end results end up in great violence

3b) " The most tragic paradox of our time is to be founded in the failure of nations-states to recognize the imperatives of internationalism."

• need to be more patriotic
• use time wisely 

3c) " There is no greater lie than the truth misunderstood."

• The boy who cried wolf was telling the truth , and they ended up killing him

3d) " To be successful in business, be daring, be first,be different."

•  make your own decisions, don't let anyone make them for you 

3e) " The drive toward complex technical achievement offers a clue to why the U.S is good at space gadgetry and bad at slum problems."

• the U.S has a good title, but yet does nothing to help poverty

Economic Standard

12.2.2. Discuss the effects of changes in supply and/ or demand on the relative scarcity, price, and quantity of particular products.





In order to understand the effects of supply and demand, you first need to know what they are. Supply is the amount of goods that are available, and demand refers to the measure of how much of a certain item is wanted. I am going to tell you how the law of Supply and Demand drives our economy on how it effects the changes between them. I am also going to discuss how supply and demand affects our daily lives, and learn a bit on how to you can save and spend your money. Supply and Demand are the driven force of our economy, if demand increases, the price rises, and if supply increases, the prices fall. An example of demand is, “ The demand for a specific toy, can get really high at Christmas time.” Another example could be, “ During Valentines Day, there is a high demand for roses.” An example of supply is, “ Say there is corn normally than what people would buy, and in order to get rid of it the prices have to lower for everyone.”


Supply and Demand can affect our daily lives, especially with prices, they change all the time making it hard to decide on what to buy. Some changes could be from a store having a sale, or gas prices going up. No matter the changes, there is always a way to monitor your money by saving or even making some. Learning the ways of supply and demand can be hard, but there are simple things to save some money. For example, I love shopping, but prices on clothes can get really high, and one way to spend my money well is by buying things on “Opposite Season.” If I buy summer clothes during winter I have the advantage of the decreased demand,and same goes with the opposite season. This chart below shows the supply and demand for cookies.





When we then plot and draw both curves together we are able to see the market price of the product.





The market price for cookies in this graph is 30 cents. The quantity sold and bought is 1100 cookies.

Economics Standard

12.1.1 Performance Standard:


Examine the causal relationship between scarcity and the need for choices.


People in society struggle with scarcity and the need for choices. We all want more than we need, and its something that we can not avoid in this world. Scarcity is the fundamental economic problem of having seemingly unlimited human wants, in a world of limited resources. I can relate to scarcity a lot, I always want more than I actually need. For example, every time I go to a mall, in my mindset, I always have to buy at least one nice blouse, from my favorite store. Or, for example, I love watching television, especially when my favorite shows come out, and when I know I don’t have the channel to one of my favorite shows, I have to go and buy the seasons to watch it. I soon started to ask myself this question, “ What would my life be if I couldn’t get any of theses things?” Well, it would be horrible of course. Someday these things are not going to be available to me or anyone in particular who live their lives just like mine. People are so use to getting things they want, but they never really stop and think if they actually need it. Scarcity should remind us of the decisions we all should make daily to help us manage our resources to meet our needs not our wants.


Along with scarcity comes “Choice.” Since scarcity is the unlimited wants of a human being, choice comes in as an important concept to what the decisions are to making a change. For example, my endless wants of buying clothes, and purchasing my DVD television series, can be changed by a simple choice. It is my action to take whether or not I want to deliberately continue with buying my wants. Making the right choice can help me make the right decisions of what resources I really need. For example, I, can say something like, “ I want to buy my television show series.” Or I can totally make a decision that I thought about and say , “ I will save my money and buy the series next week.” This just shows how I should handle the way I want to spend my money, and use my resources. All human beings must choose between the things that will satisfy or benefit them, and think about the things that will leave them unsatisfied.

Student Store

~ Student Store Update ~
We did not open the store at the beginning of the week, we were all busy, and we did not find the time to do so. Friday we were definitely going to open it, there is a movie premiering here at school at 6:30 p.m and we were asked to open it earlier so that we could sell to the people who come early. This will bring great  business to our store, and also there is suppose to be an art gallery opened after school as well so we can sell to the people who come to that.

English Standard

 1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts,
using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

f. Use specific rhetorical devices to support assertions (e.g., appeal to logic
through reasoning; appeal to emotion or ethical belief; relate a personal
anecdote, case study, or analogy). CA




   Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth a women with a speech that talks about what life was as a black women. A speech which contains a message to those women who were thought to be inferior than men. Sojourner Truth uses exemplification to clarify the main points why women should have the same rights as men. She uses ethos, pathos, and logos to make her audience feel, and believe how and what she was going through, and she uses illustration to convey the message of equal rights.


Truth uses exemplification to sate that she does labor work just as a man would. How does that make Truth any different. Truth says, " Aren't I a women", showing the perseverance and power of what a women could achieve. Truth says a man should help a women into carriages, and lifted over ditches, but no one ever treated her that way. How is she suppose to go through that living with no respect and treated with no rights. Truth is a strong and smart women who knows where she stands.


Truth uses pathos, ethos, and logos to make her audience capture the emotion of what she went through. That includes the hard labor, and the abuse of lashes. Even the worst she talks about the thirteen children she once had, but she lost them all because they were sold off into slavery. She uses logos to point out that Christ came from a women and God. A women plays an important role, and she should have those rights. Ethos is used to show how yet again she was treated, being an African American, she has experienced racism of not being helped into carriages, as a women should be treated.

The illustration Truth uses is to make women realize that they are not some fragile thing that men think they are. They are strong women who can do anything they set their mind to, they are brave independent women. By this speech Truth wants the audience especially women to know they should have equal rights.

In conclusion, after all Truth has been through, she shows that she is a modest person, with an important message to strong women. She conveys this message through, exemplification, ethos, pathos, logos, and illustration.