#ExpositoryWriting

[piecesofkhleo]

Technology Interweaves My Reality

My days come in usuality, with zero conformity to certainties or set dynamics. It is true enough that I live by the contemporary truth that holds me steady and functioning — in any potential instance that may occur. Technology plays a vital role in my everyday existence from the concurrence of my interconnected routines at home, university, social, or other societal means. 

From the initiation of the day, I am equipped with the reasonable need to access technology first hand. Understanding that it embodies a central advantage in expanding communication and enhancing connection, I find it efficient to make use of it in the extent that it would resonate with my goals, and it would assist me in meeting ends with other of my responsibilities. 

Following the continuity of hours, I get in touch with the multitude of technological representations like the media and devices. The roles of such are hand-in-hand with the shaping of the community, outstanding factors that may subsequently affect cultural imperialism. As part of the youth and a bigger voice for the young, this is vital as it serves as a subset for the effective immersion of all interdisciplinary dealing with various global circumstances augmenting the locus of knowledge and the entrenchment of essentialism across the pursuit of promoting peace and effective intersubjectivity.

Hence, each day I spend it with technology present. From checking my mobile phone first thing in the morning to watching morning news and other multimedia arts and shows from the digital flatscreen televisions to utilizing applications like YouTube and TikTok in searching for food ingredients and cooking tutorials, not to mention the ample opportunities that the technology provides.

Technology, as an aspect in the day, may seem grounded but broad; it arises from the continuously emerging significance of applying scientific knowledge for practical purposes. Nevertheless, as it encompasses the straightforwardness of its use, it becomes an omnipotent element in my daily life that has taken impacts of a multitude of reasons and purposes in line with my personal objective to constantly develop.

[reading-well]

Ordinary

The day had started like every other that summer with my mother and me getting ready in tandem; I was eleven and in the last days of summer camp, and my mother was going to the profession that she had practiced for twenty years. We got ready in amicable silence, spent our usual time together in the car, and parted ways as mom dropped me at the entrance of the Escuela de Artes Plasticas y Diseño in San Juan and left for her job. At camp, I thought the day would be like any other. The campers and I took different classes that were supposed to enhance our art expertise. However, our days were really spent building relationships, which had the potential to last a lifetime, but would most probably come to an end as the summer came to a close. All this while we created art and expressed ourselves through different mediums in what felt like the best days of my life, at least what little I had lived of it, at the time.

Figure 1. Epcot (Cotto). 

During lunch, we received unexpected news of an afternoon surprise. Instead of spending the hot summer afternoon stuck inside old art classrooms that smelt of a mix of acrylic paint and summer breeze, which testified of the time and experiences greater artists had lived within, we would go outside in the fields of El Morro to experience the breeze and sun on our skin. Instead of the sparing drafts that blew and the rays that shined through the old wood windows that were always flung open in the building, we would be outside! There was a buzz of excitement in the air and a special twinkle in our eyes anticipating the fun and excitement that the afternoon would surely bring. Our gleeful countenances could not be contained no matter how much our teachers and camp counselors tried.

As soon as we were done with lunch,  the group counselors herded us together to hear the instructions and rules, passionately delivered, for our little outside excursion, which we listened to but would indubitably not follow. After we all came to a mutual agreement regarding our understanding of the rules, we set out towards El Morro. Both counselors were carrying two tubs of 64 Crayola jumbo chalks each, which we would use to apply color, art, and life to the sidewalks surrounding El Morro. All of us chose a spot, spreading out as much as possible so as to not infringe upon our fellow artists’ space, and laid claim with our art to that chosen section. Passively divided, we got to work.

Figure 2. Sidewalk Chalk Art (Cotto).

After what felt like only ten minutes, but was probably closer to twenty, I looked up and saw my mother walking in my direction from the grounds of the Escuela de Artes Plasticas. I also saw how my group counselor intercepted her; they spoke for a brief moment and soon after, he turned and signaled me to join them. I went over, and the counselor told me that my mother was there to pick me up, and that she had already retrieved my things from school.  With an excited sort of nervousness in my heart, I trekked after my mother towards the car.

Even to this day, I can count on one hand the times that my mother ever came to pick me up early from any commitment in my life. As she maintained a single parent household, she worked an eight to six job six days a week to pay the bills and grant me opportunities that we would have been unable to afford otherwise, so I understood that her leaving work mid day ensured an unprecedented, and undoubtedly special, occasion.

As we walked towards the car, she said nothing, she simply stared ahead as if strongly determined to get to our beat up, white Toyota Corolla station wagon. I walked beside her in silence, as if reading her mood even when I was bursting with questions regarding her early arrival’s significance. We got to the car. I sat in the front, as I was old enough to proudly sit there. I immediately put on my seat belt, an automatic instinct and responsibility my mother had instilled in me as soon as I was grown up enough to sit in the front. I stared at the dashboard, unwilling to break the silence my mother had imposed on us, even in our car, which was our safe haven, where we could share all our ails and victories without fear of judgment. It was a place of mutual understanding, where most of our important conversations happened, and where I built trust in my mother.

Figure 3. Summetime (Mulero).

My mother started the car and rolled the windows down, creating the ordinary cacophony of heat and breeze, turned towards me, and said, “Your father is dead.” As I looked forward, not knowing how to react and unable to read or even imitate the appropriate cues of behavior from my only example, I understood for the first time that every ordinary thing ends, and our worlds are never the same, forever changed by those four words.

Works Cited

Cotto, Adria. “Epcot”. 2017. Mulero family collection, Puerto Rico.

Cotto, Adria.  “Sidewalk Chalk Art”. 2008. Mulero family collection, Puerto Rico.

Mulero, Luz. “A Day at the Beach”. 2004. Mulero family collection, Puerto Rico.

Hellow once again! Here is yet another essay I wrote for my Expository Writing class! I hope you enjoy this remembered event essay and much as I did writing it. It is my first time writing in this genre, and as such I didn’t feel super comfortable when I started writing it, but through the process I feel in love. Exploring and writing about my memories made me feel as if I was watching a movie  and helped me unearth realizations about significant events in my lifetime, so I definitely appreciate what this genre has done for me. Anyways, I will sign off now and let you keep scrolling. From my corner of the universe, Stardust. 

[andriaglex-blog]

EXPOSITORY RESEARCH UNIT FINAL VOCABULARY ASSESSMENT 📚📝📚📝 📚📝📚📝📚📝📚📝📚📝📚📝 This quiz is made for those who use the Smart Response clickers with their students. It goes along with the expository unit vocabulary words that can also be purchased in my store. There is a paper version of this assessment in my store, as well. This can be used during a research unit anywhere from 6th-12th grade. #TpT #research #teacherresources #elateacher #ELA #writing #vocabulary #SmartResponse #quizzes #middleschool #highschool #expositorytext #expositorywriting #informationalwriting #teacherspayteachers #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #teachingtools

[giftedkids]

An Introduction to Writing a Paper

An Introduction to Writing a Paper #writing #expositorywriting #researchpaper

Expository Writing An introduction to the process of writing a paper Pick a Topic Make it interesting. What do you like?

Choose a topic which interests you. If you like what you’re writing about, it makes it easier.

Stay within the parameters of the assignment. Obviously the topic you choose should fall within the confines of your assignment, but tailor it to your interests.

Be clear.Be clear…

[anjujindal]

New blog alert*

Have a look at my new blog on #writing #styles which needs to be considered before you start writing any content.

https://www.anjujindal.com/post/types-of-writing

#anjujindal #careergrowthmastermind #careergrowthacademy #writingstyles #typesofwritingstyles #persuasivewriting #expositorywriting #narrativewriting #descriptivewriting #communication

[flowerybedsheets]

one million.

Sarah is about to shit her pants.

She is in the middle of a phone interview with an oil and gas company based out of Texas and Oklahoma and North Dakota, a few of those Midwest states that she has never seen, let alone would she be able to map out the difference between Wyoming and Wisconsin – those are two different states, right? Something about tumbleweed and deserts.

It has been over forty minutes into their conversation and her sweaty hand grips the sides of her favorite black G-2 Pilot pen as she scribbles down notes that Megan, her recruiter, has been telling her (a question here, an off-hand comment there), her dark hair is in a frenzy – or in as much of a frenzy as Chinese straight-black hair could possibly go when someone is nervous –, and her pajamas have a desperately gaping hole fit for a hamster’s hideout that Sarah has ignored for the last six months.

“If you had a million dollars,” Megan began, “And didn’t have to worry about money, or time, or anything, what would you do?”

-

Sarah finishes up her last bites of the white fish she’s never known the English or Chinese name for, but has always loved, and stuffs down her favorite tofu and yellow bean dish, dripping some pieces onto her T-shirt. It’s her last night in Brooklyn with her family, a home of eight – her parents, her brother, and her two sets of grandparents, before she heads back to college for her senior year. The dishes served that night – and really, every rare night that Sarah is home in time for dinner, always specially catered to their most absent daughter – are Sarah’s childhood favorites. The table, now clean of rice and soy sauce and the plastic wrap that protected the brilliant but age-old salmon-and-kelly green sheets under it, holds fast the chicken soup in several little bowls as Sarah, her mother, and her mother’s mother sit around the table, laughing at Sarah’s poor Chinese as she continues to justify that, “I’m only five!” is the perfect excuse to her occasional irresponsibility.

“When are you heading back to school, Sarah?” asks her grandmother, a lovely short and squat woman who never fails to be the first to look for her granddaughter when Sarah comes home. She is preparing yet another twenty-dollar bill to pass into Sarah’s unwilling hands.

“Tomorrow,” Sarah replies with a sad smile. “I’m a little scared though.”

“Don’t be,” her mother says while laughing, eyes twinkling the entire time. Sarah shares her mother’s small nose. “You’ll be just fine. Just look at how much you’ve accomplished this summer. We’re already so proud of you.” Her grandmother nods, raising up her right thumb in approval, her way of saying, “You’re my number one.”

Sarah’s throat tightens as she tries to speak, but instead, she makes steady eye contact with one piece of a rather yellow bean in her soup. “I haven’t done anything of the sort,” she insists. She moves her chopsticks to the other side of her bowl, and then moves them onto the table beside it. “Don’t say things like that. I barely got paid.”

“Don’t be silly. Also, your dad’s going to bring you to Port Authority tomorrow.”

Sarah finishes her soup and walks up to her mother to give her a hug, who simply says, “Alright, alright,” and pats her back, and does the same for her grandmother, who slips the twenty into Sarah’s pocket. She thanks them for the dinner, and walks upstairs to chat with her little brother.

-

“Are you doing UE this year?”

It is late November in 2013 when Garland asks her. They are in the middle of an AstroTurf field in Brooklyn, the fifth annual Stuyvesant Alumni Ultimate Frisbee tournament, where all of the graduates from years past return to New York City once more and show off new skills and catch up with one another. Garland had been one of her mentors back in 2008 when she first joined the volunteer program, and had taught the sport both to and before her. Post-graduation in 2011, he had moved to Washington, D.C. to work and is finally coming back to the city next spring, and participating in the program again.

Sarah shifts a little as the wind picks up, and jams her slowly-freezing hands into the soft, dark-blue hoodie she borrowed from a friend earlier that day. She looks down, up, and then back at Garland, who is simply smiling, his broad figure always a source of comfort to her. She was glad that he had taken a liking to her and kept her under his wing all these years, checking in on her every so often.

“I’ll have to see,” she begins to recite the same general response that she had perfected over the past three years to avoid the question. “I don’t know where I’ll be next summer.”

He complies with her answer before she can change her mind, so she asks him, “What will you be doing in UE? Teach Ultimate Frisbee again?”

Garland laughs and says, “Probably. But you know how I teach.” And she smiles, because she does remember. While he loves teaching and is patient, he was very strict in past years, and the age group has since expanded to include 7 – 8 year olds who can’t exactly hold a Frisbee, let alone throw it.

“You’ll be fine,” Sarah says, and then adds quickly, “And maybe we can teach together,” before she could hold her tongue. “And we can have lunches now instead of seeing each other once a year.” She bites her lower lip, and cringes.

“Yep,” he pats her on the back, “It’ll be fun,” and Sarah watches him saunter off to talk with other alumni, hands still jammed tight in her hoodie, before slowly shuffling over to another old classmate to ask about her new job out in California.

-

Sarah takes a breath, puts down her notepad, swings her hair behind her head, and sits up straight in her chair.

“I would first put away enough money for my parents to stop working, and buy houses for them and for my grandparents near a beach somewhere.” She pauses, and Megan keeps quiet on the other line, the silence edging Sarah on. “I’d put away money for my little brother’s college career. I would continue to play Ultimate. I would work,” and she blushes brilliantly, ears burning up by her side as she says this next line with as much confidence as she can muster as her cheeks sweat into the phone, “as a high school chemistry teacher. Anywhere. To teach the kids a subject that I love and has gotten me this far,” and with a sharp breath, as if the money were running low, “And I would travel. I would travel everywhere I possibly can.”

[davidleeedtech]

#iPad Integration: 3rd grade using #Comiclife, 1st grade using #acceleratedreader, 4th grade doing #research for #expositorywriting

[reading-well]

Prepa, ¿Qué Actitud?

Every year during the first week of August, thousands of students that were admitted to the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez flood the campus for orientation with expectation in their hearts and wonder in their eyes; they take in the campus and all the activities volunteers and workers planned for them that await. Among these activities, Prepa, ¿Qué Actitud? is a parodic play that is held on the first night at the college’s Figueroa Chapel amphitheater. As the line fills with eager first year students, it curves around the building into the school’s inner courtyard. The stakes are high on opening night. However, opening night is just the end when it comes to the preparation of an activity like this.

Figure 1. Soul Stars Episode III. (Reyes).

Prepa, ¿Qué Actitud? started as a simple activity by the Jóvenes Cristianos del Parque’s, one of the university’s Christian associations, where members could bring friends to watch them perform in comedic skits (Rivera). The purpose was to introduce people to Christ through laughter and fun (Rivera). It began with Jaime Zayas in 1998, a former UPRM alumni who currently owns a circus, with a love for theater and the performing arts. According to Rivera, Jaime never imagined that this small project would transform into the production it now is. With time, this simple idea developed until it came to a peak during one particular orientation week. Members of the association performed a small informal play at the university’s central courtyard for incoming students (Rivera). It was so successful that the university’s administration allowed the group to perform at Figueroa Chapel amphitheater, and officially made it part of the orientation week's program to implement new and diverse activities with a positive message (Rivera). The initiative has withstood the test of time, carefree of the fluctuating audience, and has maintained its original concept: a space where incoming students can laugh and enjoy sane comedy, all while receiving an impactful and unchanging message: that Jesus loves them and that they are never alone, regardless of the trials they may face in the upcoming chapters of their lives.

Figure 2. Backstage (Montañez).  

All this would be impossible without an amazing body of volunteers that support and work tirelessly to bring this project to life. The process begins in January, when the script writers are selected and the topic is hashed out, during and after meetings and brainstorming sessions, where characters and storylines from the year’s most popular movies and current events are chosen. After that, with a story skeleton and tentative cast in mind, the writing process begins. Meanwhile, the association starts collecting money, in the well-anticipated Coin War, where male and female members compete against each other to collect the most coins and win that year’s war. Overall, it takes an average of five to six months for a team of full-time college students to write, and for members of the association to collect coins and bring the final vision to life.

Figure 3. Team Effort (Maymí).

Eventually, June arrives and brings along rehearsals. The cast and all other working hands meet Monday through Friday, from 7 am to 5 pm, to weave together all the threads that compose this beloved activity. It takes a village composed of executive leaders, such as a director and assistant director, producer, actors, choreographers and songwriters, stagehands and carpenters, makeup artists and wardrobe confectioners, ushers, as well as lighting, sound and audiovisual technicians. All jobs are taken up by members of the association who may have never found themselves in such an arduous setting before but are willing to take up the demanding mantle for this labor of love to come alive. The art of working in tandem creates friendships and family-like bonds among the team and enables members of the association to not only become indispensable to each other, but to also experience Christ. It also propels them to put their faith in action from a peculiar perspective.

Figure 4. Curtains Rise (Reyes).

Sooner than expected, opening night arrives and there is a flurry of activity in the amphitheater’s backstage to make everything as perfect as possible for the night’s show. Actors oscillate between the dressing rooms and the main stage, all in different stages of costume and make-up, practicing their lines and positions one last time to ensure that when the moment comes, it will be their best and most accurate portrayal of their role. Stagehands verify that all the scenography and every single prop is in its right place backstage, and available when the moment comes. Light, sound, and audiovisual technicians verify that everything is in order one last time. One hour before show time, all the activity comes to a halt. Every single person that sacrificed their summer gets together on stage and looks at their comrades straight in the eyes. The anticipation is visible in their faces, the uncertainty of how this night will play out is heavy in their hearts, but above all they have a conviction that this project is bigger than singular individuals and even a collective body, which strengthens their resolve to see this done right until the very end. With that in mind, the group prays together for the outcome, for themselves and all the sacrifice, but most importantly, for the incoming students who unknowingly will receive the greatest good news story ever told. Once that important part is done, they all take their positions backstage, the curtains rise, and the show begins.

Works Cited

Maymí, Genesis. “Team Effort”. 2017. Private collection, Puerto Rico

Montañez, Victor. “Backstage”. 2016. Private collection, Puerto Rico.

Reyes, Efrain. “Curtains Rise”. 2015. Private collection, Puerto Rico.

Reyes, Eliab. “Soul Stars Episode III”. 2005. Private collection, Puerto Rico.

Rivera, Ruth. Personal Interview. 11 March. 2019.

Hello universe, it is I once again! I know this page promised book reviews and those are coming, fo’ sho’. But while that happens, here is another one of my essays for my expository writing class (Ingl 3231) with Dr. Griggs. This one is on an activity that goes on every year in my campus, which I have had the privilege being part of, and which I simply adore. I hope you enjoy readiang as much as I did writing! Til next time, Stardust.  

[andriaglex-blog]

MIDDLE SCHOOL WORKS CITED GUIDED NOTES 💻📝📚💻📚📝💻📝📚This activity is done whole group, on a projector screen & teaches how to create MLA citations. The teacher selects 1 of the citation websites on the page & walks the students through the process of how to make a citation. The 1st page has blanks for students to fill in as the teacher guides the process. The second page has the answers, so the teacher can prompt students. CLICK LINK IN BIO TO PURCHASE! #middleschool #MLA #highschool #writing #microsoftword #wordonline #essays #guidednotes #notetaking #typing #workscited #citations #bibliography #sources #cite #scholarlysources #database #databases #citationmachine #expository #informational #compose #expositorywriting #tpt #informationaltext #ELA #elateacher #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #teacherspayteachers

[andriaglex-blog]

MIDDLE SCHOOL MLA CITATION QUICK GUIDE 📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝📝 This document can be used when students are writing and need to cite their work using in-text citations and a Works Cited page. #workscited #citations #MLA #intextcitations #middleschool #highschool #writing #expositorywriting #ELA #informationalwriting #rsearch #elateacher #teacherresources #bibliography #references #sources #scholarlysources #tpt #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #teacherspayteachers

[andriaglex-blog]

MIDDLE SCHOOL EXPOSITORY/INFORMATIONAL VOCABULARY LIST 📝📚📝This is a list of words that students can study during an expository lesson, unit, or activity. This can be done through various activities including writing sentences, drawing images, creating student-friendly definitions, making flash cards, taking a pre/post quiz, etc... CLICK LINK IN BIO TO PURCHASE! #vocabulary #expositorywriting #informationalwriting #research #middleschool #highschool #tpt #vocabularyactivities #teacherresources #flashcards #spelling #expositorytext #ELA #elateacher #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #teacherspayteachers #vocab

[andriaglex-blog]

MIDDLE SCHOOL SELF-EDITING & REVISING ESSAY CHECKLIST 🕵🏼📝🕵🏼‍♀️📝 This document is strategically made so that the teacher can look at the student's paper at a glance to "check it in" and actually see if it was done or not because there are several steps that involve highlighting, underlining, circling, etc...The teacher can immediately see whether or not it was done, without having to actually read it for revisions-GENIUS! CLICK LINK IN BIO TO PURCHASE! #middleschool #highschool #selfediting #writingprocess #revising #expositorywriting #editing #writing #ELA #essay #5paragraphessay #tpt #thesisstatement #introduction #body #conclusion #teacherresources #classroomresources #elateacher #teachersofinstagram #education #teachersfollowteachers #teacherspayteachers

[andriaglex-blog]

MIDDLE SCHOOL RESEARCH UNIT ASSIGNMENT TIMELINE CHECKLIST 🗓✏️🗓✏️🗓✏️🗓✏️🗓✏️🗓✏️🗓✏️ Students can use this document to keep their assignment due dates organized. All items that go with the items listed on the document can also be found in my store. The document can easily be quickly revised or edited to work for the teacher's lessons and assignments. CLICK LINK IN BIO TO PURCHASE! #research #middleschool #highschool #expositorywriting #expositoryunit #researchunit #onlineactivities #teachersfollowteachers #ELA #elateacher #teacherresources #tpt #teacherspfinstagram #classroomresources #technology #technologyintheclassroom #electronicsintheclassroom #BYOD #middleschoolhomework #middleschoolela #teacherspayteachers

[reading-well]

The Hidden Hazards of Care

Foster care is a service provided by states for children who cannot live with their biological parents (“Foster Care” [Child Welfare Information]). Foster care can refer to a variety of care options: children can live with relatives who foster them, unrelated foster parents or foster placement settings, such as group homes, residential care facilities, emergency shelters, or supervised independent living (“Foster Care” [Child Welfare Information]). “The system works best when used to provide nurturing, short-term care to vulnerable children until their family crisis can be resolved and they can be returned home, or until a child can be placed with a permanent adoptive family” (Azzi-Lessing), but this expected effectiveness isn’t always met by the American system, and it’s in these failures that children unjustly suffer from the lack of responsibility of the adults who are vigilant over their care. The system is “plagued with problems, including a lack of funding and resources, a shortage of foster parents, and accusations of race and gender discrimination” (Anspach). The foster care system in the United States, although necessary, fails miserably to truly meet the needs of the children placed in its care because it does not promote good opportunities for the adoption of its wards, fails to regulate the care these wards of the state receives and, in most cases, damages the developing psychology and social skills of the children placed in its care.

The effectiveness of the foster care system lies in its being short-term care (Azzi-Lessing). The longer children spend in a foster care situation, the greater the chances of lasting psychological damage, and the less opportunity these children have for finding a permanent home. On any given day, there are nearly 443, 000 children in foster care situations in the United States (“Foster Care” [Children’s Rights]). These children spend an average of a year and a half in the system in the best of cases, most spend about five years, while in extreme cases, children can age out of the system (Azzi-Lessing). In 2016, more than 17,000 young people aged out of the system, were discharged from foster care and sent to live on their own (Anspach). Statistics show that former foster youth are more likely to become homeless, chronically unemployed and impoverished (Azzi-Lessing), involved in the criminal justice system as perpetrators of a crime, or pregnant by the age of 21 (Anspach). Additionally, studies have shown that young adults exiting the foster care system are prime targets for predators running sex-trafficking and prostitution rings (2019). Foster youth are also less likely to finish a general education degree, and “only 3% complete a four-year college degree by age 25” (Anspach).

           As the duration of the children’s care in the hands of the system lengthens, the possibilities of receiving nurturing care diminish. “The longer a child remains in temporary care, the more likely he or she will experience multiple placement changes” (Azzi-Lessing), and with these, the disrupted relationships that come as a consequence (Azzi-Lessing). Statistics indicate that “more than 40 percent of children placed in foster care are moved to a different foster home or care facility at least once during their first six months in state custody”(Azzi-Lessing), more than one third of children who spend up to two years in care experience three or more placement changes, as do two thirds of those who remain for more than two years (Azzi-Lessing). The tragic part, studies show, is that “70 percent of placement changes have little to do with improving the wellbeing of the children” and have more to do with implementing policy and system mandates, as well as with the unpreparedness of the foster parents to meet the needs of the child placed in their care (Azzi-Lessing).          

Every change in placement has its effect on the developing psychology of the children in the care system. The alarming conclusions, studies and statistics evidence, stem from developmental problem in the early stages of the children’s psychology. The disruption that placement changes have on the children in care upsets the formation of “stable attachments that undergird healthy social and emotional development” (Azzi-Lessing). Having strong and stable relationships as a means to the healthy development of these social and emotional behaviors is critically important in children of a young age , especially children ages five and under, which comprise the majority of children entering care (Azzi-Lessing). Along with attachment issues, placement changes and lack of stable care affect long-term behavior and increase the likelihood of emotional problems, contribute to mental health problems and poor educational achievement (Azzi-Lessing). Additionally, each placement change reduces the opportunity for a reunited family or finding a forever home (Azzi-Lessing). Besides these psychological issues, there is also the discrimination and prejudice that colored children, girls and LGBTQ youth face when going into the system.

“Once they’re in the system, children of color, especially black kids are more likely to stay in the system longer, reenter the system more often, amd be placed in group care. They’re also more likely to age out of care without finding a permanent family than white kids in foster care…Girls in foster care are also disproportionately vulnerable to sexual abuse, and LGBTQ youth are disproportionately vulnerable to abuse and discrimination” (Anspach).

These prejudices transcend into the adoption procedure, where Allan Collard-Wexler, an NYU Stern School economist who has estimated adoption price sensitivity, found that it is “about $8,000 cheaper to adopt a black baby than a white or Hispanic child and girls tend to cost about $2,000 more than boys” (“Discount Babies”).

All the flaws in the system are significant markers of a complex problem, but not an unsolvable one. Advocates say that the best way to solve the American foster care crisis is through preventive measures, keeping kids from entering state care unless absolutely necessary, as well as expanding and diversifying its staff and foster parents, so that a wider set of racial and geographical options are available (Anspach). Additionally, they stress the importance of “providing child protective agencies with sufficient funding to recruit, train and support higher quality foster families” (Azzi-Lessing) to ensure that children are placed in “the most appropriate settings and to expeditiously move children out of foster care and safely return them to their parents or place them with adoptive families” (Azzi-Lessing). Once reform strategies are in place, governments are held accountable through monitoring their progress and taking action as needed to ensure the support, care and thusly, the future of America's children, which is, after all, the sole purpose and mission of child protective agencies and the foster care system (“Foster Care Reform”).

 Works Cited

Anspach, Rachel. “The Foster Care System in the United States, Explained.” Teen Vogue, Teen Vogue, 31 May 2018, www.teenvogue.com/story/how-foster-care-works-in-the-united-states. Accessed 11 May 2019.

Azzi-Lessing, Lenette. “The Hidden Harms of the US Foster-Care System.” The Conversation, 16 Jan. 2019, www.theconversation.com/the-hidden-harms-of-the-us-foster-care-system-49700.  Accessed 11 May 2019.

“Discount Babies.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, 14 May 2010, www.economist.com/free-exchange/2010/05/14/discount-babies. Accessed 11 May 2019.

“Foster Care.” Children's Rights, 2018, www.childrensrights.org/newsroom/fact-sheets/foster-care/. Accessed 11 May 2019.

“Foster Care.” Foster Care - Child Welfare Information Gateway, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau, www.childwelfare.gov/topics/outofhome/foster-care/. Accessed 11 May 2019.

“Foster Care Reform.” Children's Rights, 2018, www.childrensrights.org/our-campaigns/foster-care-reform/. Accessed 11 May 2019.

 Hey guys! This is an essay I wrote for my expository writing class and we get bonus points in we publish our writings online. I hope you enjoy!