I have never had too much trouble with writing, but usually
I also do not enjoy it very much. Although I do not enjoy writing very much, I
know that it is an effective way to communicate with others and that is why it
is necessary in life, no matter what we choose to do or become. My impression
about writing did not change much throughout the semester, although I did learn
much more that I could take with me from this point on and continue to use. The
assignment(s) that I personally enjoyed most was the Documentary Film and the
Opinion Piece. I enjoyed these two assignments the most because I was able to
advocate for something and integrate my point of view into both. The assignment
that I probably enjoyed the least was the Literature Review, because I was not
able to state my viewpoint on the situation, I had to remain mutual to both
sides, which I found very complicated. When we first discussed this assignment
in class it did not sound too difficult, but it turned out that it is much
easier said than done. I know that I will use most of the skills I have
acquired in this course; everything that we have learned can be used for the
rest of my student life and my career as well. One skill would definitely be
being able to not pick a side when writing about a specific topic, such as in
the Literature Review. Another skill would be the different ways that I had to
acquire my information and limit the information to only exactly what I needed.
The final skill would be time management; my time management skills definitely
improved in this class because it was a hybrid course it was very different
from any of my other courses. Overall I enjoyed this course and I do not see
many things that require improvements. The only thing that I am able to suggest
is to maybe discuss the assignments in more detail, sometimes I felt a little
lost when working on the assignment. But I also understand that there is a
major time limit on the discussion time since it is a hybrid course.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
OpEd-Standardized Testing
Standardized
Testing in Schools
- By
Audrey L. Swanson
Stress
levels at an all time high, pressure and expectations rising and students only
learning the minimum amount of information required for the test. All of these
things are due to standardized testing in the United States. Most children in
the United States attend a public school and therefore are forced to take a
standardized test. It has been said that the United States is falling behind in
education and what could be the cause of this? Some suggest this is due to
standardized testing.
A
standardized test is a test that is scored in a consistent manner and was
brought into the school systems in an attempt to reform schools in the United
States. This is a wide spread issue because in reality it affects most people
in the United States, whether it’s a student, parent, sibling, teacher, etc. We
are often already in the habit of taking these standardized tests that we
seldom stop and think about the consequences that they actually bring along
with them. Some of these consequences include: not receiving a complete
education, only learning what is on the test, extreme amounts of pressure,
cheating and much more. I myself had to take the standardized tests, TAKS at
the time, and I still remember feeling extremely pressured because I knew that
in order to graduate I had to pass these standardized tests. I also remember
that after the test was taken, nothing was taught in the classrooms anymore,
everyday after the test became a movie day, early release day or some other
easy day. I do not think this is right, because it takes so much out of
learning for students. There are so many more things that students would be
able to learn if there was no standardized test and therefore this semester I
decided to write about standardized testing and once I was able to state my
point of view, I decided that I would advocate against standardized testing.
I read blogs and articles about standardized
testing all semester to see how others felt about it and according to The 6th
Floor Blog, 47% of readers argue that standardized testing should be eliminated
or minimized, because it negatively impacts students’ self esteem and learning.
I do agree with this, because as mentioned above, the only thing that is taught
or focused on in classrooms is what is on the test and nothing more. Often, due
to these standardized tests students are unprepared for what college holds and
are not ready for the workload. I believe that we in the United States should
adapt to what some other countries do, that teachers are the ones to develop a
test at the end of the semester. I believe that this should be adapted because
the teachers know you best and are aware of what they taught you and how they
taught you these things. I personally lived and attended school in Germany and
there was no such thing as a standardized test, my teachers were the ones who
developed and administered the test. I enjoyed that much more, because teachers
were able to teach so much more and teach things that they found important for
life. From my perspective, students would feel much more comfortable if the
test was written by their teacher, rather than someone who has never entered
their classroom.
Therefore,
I believe that this would be a much needed policy change. By making this policy
change, teachers would be able to focus on things they would like to teach and
what they believe is important for the students’ future life. Teachers would
also be able to teach in a different way and students’ would be able to take much
more from this type of teaching. I truly do believe that this would be a great
change for the public schools in the United States. Teachers would be able to
teach more, teach better, stress levels would be minimized and learning
maximized.
References:
The STAFF
(February 22, 2013). Are Standardized Tests Worth the
Stress? Retrieved from
Hursh, D.
(2005). The growth of high-stakes testing in the
USA: accountability, markets and the decline
in educational
Equality. Retrieved from
Projects
of Zack booth Simpson: Why I hate Standardized Tests [image].
(2010).
Retrieved from:
Deconstructing the discourse of citizen journalism: Who says what and why it matters (Article)
This article was an informative article about journalists.
This article gave the kairos on each type of journalist, or what is now
considered a journalist. In this article, they discuss the different ways that
each type of journalist works, what they do and how they do it. The article
also discusses how each different type of journalist is defined and by what
they are defined. This article also goes on to talk about who they are, the
elements of their (each type of journalist) discourse, the myths about each and
the implications for each type of journalist. In the article they tell us that
as long as you have correct information, are good at conducting research and a
few other specifics, you should be able to be classified as a journalist. Journalism
is a growing field however through the frequent use of Internet. The article
discusses how citizen journalism is rising and changing the “old” definition of
what a journalist is. People used to perceive journalists in a completely
different way until now, which is what we have discussed throughout the
semester in our class.
Semester Topic Proposal
My topic for this semester for my English 1312 class will be
about the public school systems in the United States, mainly standardized
testing. Standardized Testing affects all students in the United States who are
attending a Public School. Standardized Testing was put into effect in an
attempt to reform the education system in the United States. Although the
intentions of standardized testing were good, it ultimately affected the
students and teachers in a negative way. Because of this, many individuals have
been attempting to find alternatives to the standardized testing. I myself was
affected by standardized testing and therefore I know how it affects students
and teachers. I feel that students do not get the full learning experience that
they should receive and teachers are not able to teach everything that they
would like to teach. Students are only taught what is on the test and teachers
are given a curriculum to follow based off of the test. I feel like this is a
great topic to write about, because it affects many people and I experienced it
myself as well. My topic will also help me stay connected with my community and
I will be able to see how others feel about the schools and standardized
testing and why they feel that way. My original topic was very broad, just the
public school systems and therefore I decided to narrow it down to one main
problem that exists in the public schools, standardized testing. We should all
be aware of how standardized testing affects us, because in reality it affects
almost every single one of us, parents, teachers, students, school boards, etc.
I believe that it will be fairly easy to find articles and opinions on this
topic. Overall, I see my topic being very interesting and informing.
Citizen Journalism- What It Is? (Video)
This video is all about citizen journalism and defining
exactly what it is and why it is good. The argument in this video is that
citizen journalism is growing and affecting the printing press, because almost
all of citizen journalism is online. But at the same time, this helps us
connect to others and pass on information easily throughout the whole world. Also,
in the video they tell us that if you are not interested in what is going on
around you and/or new knowledge, you will not be interested in citizen
journalism. Blogging and citizen journalism are connected because blogs are
created, monitored and updated by citizen journalists. The blog that I have
been following this semester has impacted much of my writing and advocacy. I
believe that it has impacted it so much because I am able to read about how
others, just like me, feel about my topic. I like these blogs, because they are
not from professional journalists, who often can only mention certain things or
take certain sides, they are from regular citizens going through the same
situations and experiencing your topic directly. Creating a blogger about my
semester topic is actually a little more difficult than I expected it to be. It
is difficult in the sense that you do not know how other people will view or
feel about your topic. Maybe it will make them think about your topic more or
for some even for the first time, others will consider how and why it affects
them. It is also difficult because you have to find a way to make it appealing
to your viewers and hold their interest on your specific topic. This
distinction is important because it helps people be aware of some things that
are going on in the community and possibly affecting their community that otherwise
they would’ve not been aware of. It relates to my research topic, because
although my research topic, standardized testing, affects various areas in the
United Stated, I decided to keep my main focus on El Paso, my community, and
how it affects our schools, students and teachers.
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