The first time I took the ninth-grade proficiency test was in March of eighth grade. The test ultimately determines whether students may receive a high school diploma. After months of preparation and anxiety, the pressure was on. Throughout my elementary and middle school years,I was a strong student, always on the honor roll. I never had a GPA below 3.0. I was smart, and I knew it. That is, until I got the results of the proficiency test. Although the test was challenging, covering reading, writing, math, and citizenship, I was sure I had passed every part. To my surprise, I did pass every part—except writing. "Writing! Yeah right! How did I manage to fail writing, and by half a point, no less?" I thought to myself in disbelief. …show more content…
Until that time, I loved writing just as much as I loved math. It was one of my strengths. I was good at it, and I enjoyed it. If anything, I thought I might fail citizenship. How could I have screwed up writing? I surely spelled every word correctly, used good grammar, and even used big words in the proper context. How could I have failed?Finally I got over it and decided it was no big deal. Surely I would pass the next time. In my honorsEnglish class I worked diligently, passing with an A. By October I'd be ready to conquer that writing test. Well, guess what? I failed the test again, again with only 4.5 of the 5 points needed to pass. That time I did cry, and even went to my English teacher, Mrs. Brown, and asked, "How can I get A's in allmy English classes but fail the writing part of the proficiency test twice?" She couldn't answer my question. Even my friends and classmates were confused. I felt like a failure. I had disappointed my family and seriously let myself down. Worst of all, I still couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I decided to quit trying so
I could not write, but I was still passed to the next grade like the poet in “I Can’t Read” by Lamont Carey.
At the time I was devastated and felt that I had disappointed my family which is truly the only fear I have in my life. After, talking with them though it was made quite clear that I had actually done the opposite because they did not need to yell at me or punish me for my actions. I had done it all and I had even gone so far as to fix more than just the immediate problem I had fixed myself. This made my Mother and older sister proud. To this day they reference the change they see in me and I live a much better life now then I would have prior to this moment and for that I am an even more appreciative
She felt the test was challenging, but had confidence she had passed. To her surprise she passed every section excluding one, writing. She could not understand how she could have possibly failed. “How could I have screwed up writing? I surely spelled every word correctly, used good grammar, and even used big words in the proper context. How could I have failed?” exclaimed Nichols. Ultimately, she got over it. She continued her honors English class and passed with an A. By October she felt she was
What if an adolescent took a test that solely determined whether or not they make it to their high school graduation? For most high school students this is a reality. High schools across the U.S. require all of their students to pass proficiency tests in order to graduate. These state-wide tests include having a standard knowledge in reading, writing, and mathematics, as well as science in some states now. These tests show the level of proficiency that each student is at in each subject based only their test scores.
When I read “Proficiency” by Shannon Nichols I really felt for her. I understood and resonated with her story perfectly, especially when she stated “After I failed the test the first time, I began to hate writing and I started to doubt myself. I doubted my ability and the ideas I wrote about.” (83). After I failed my writing assignment I was so embarrassed and didn’t want to write again but obviously, I had to. I always doubt the things I am going to say or which order I am going to organize the essay in. I try so hard to make sure all my sentences are cohesive and all my ideas connect to each other and the main concept but sometimes it just seems that when I keep messing with one little sentence or paragraph I just makes things worse.
I have never liked writing; I always thought it was a waste of time. It was a great therapy but I never found academic writing to be useful just tedious. Only ever writing when I had too made it harder for my writing skills to grow or improve in any way. I have not taken an English class since the 10th grade, even then I never gave it much effort, just doing what I had to so I could pass the class. Then I jump in to College English 1010, I feel like I do well in all other subjects but this one. English is my worst nightmare.
... hate for writing and others think so too. Fahmy states, “She is not so confident about her writings” (2014, p.1). This statement is relevant. I have never been confident about any of the written work I have submitted so far. The thought of writing an essay frustrates me. I often don't know how to begin the essay or even end it. I feel short of words. Whenever I write something, I am doubtful about it and often strike out the entire page and start all over again. Every time I write something, I feel I'm being repetitive, which is a sign of my low self-esteem. Once I submit my work, I expect that the result will be bad. However, at times my ‘not so good’ writing actually doesn't turn out to get a bad grade. When I am given the next writing assignment, the process of not knowing what to write again repeats itself. Sometimes I even question the purpose of writing.
Up until this year, before taking the class intermediate composition, I thought I was a terrible writer. I was right. Writing isn’t something that I enjoy doing, nor am I good at. Writing is difficult for me because I’m not very good at explaining things in a professional manner, that can be easily well written. While writing you are expected to make little to no mistakes, which is not something I’m great at. I am so much better at explaining things with verbal words rather than written words. I had not taken any extra writing classes before this year rather than the mandatory ones. Like I had stated before, I hate writing, with a passion. I dread writing anything, especially an essay for school, like this one. I’m
Writing is by far the most challenging course I’ve ever had. It is a combinations of grammars, dictions, and proper conjugation that when done correctly, produce a beautiful piece of language. I for one, did not do very well in my attempt to writing a beautiful language. Well according to JK Rowling, “one must fail in order to succeed”, her quote is kind of inspiring for me but the better question I have for her is how much do I have to fail to succeed? My writings are like sort of driving on a road that is full of holes and cracks. It is never smooth. But my writings process in response to the assignments that Professor Bever has given, made me realize about how I’ve become that better writer and preparing for the future. With the assignments I had received and the instructions on crafting a masterful piece of paper. I have made numerous
What's the deal with reality television shows. For years they have dominated television, turning nobodies into millionaires and placing unrealistic dreams of fame in the minds of America’s youth. On the show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians,” the stars of the show act stupid, selfish, and disrespectful, yet still gained fame and fortune, making it seem okay to be a complete narcissist. Most of the people who are watching these shows don't know that they are mostly fabricated with cast reciting script and are edited for hours by producers before they air to increase drama and ratings. These shows are considered to be “reality” because the people they depict are real, not because the situations are real.
I knew I wasn’t bad at writing but I never thought I was great at it either. I think one of these reasons is because I had never really cared about and/or related to the subjects I was writing about. But because of Mrs. Shaw’s class I was taught that I couldn’t just write, I could take joy in it. This argument is supported in Lenhart et. al.’s article, “Writing, Technology, and Teens,” stating:
I added instead of multiplying. I got a grade of 74 in math, so I missed my shot at becoming one of the Top Ten. I finished 14th in my class. At first, failure was none of my business: I did not really care how high or low my grades were. But when I suddenly experienced what failure was like, I did not like it one bit.
When I left my room, my mother knew that I had gone through a rough time, and I did not want to talk to her about it. Even though there was only a month left in my school year, I promised myself that I would be completely truthful to my friends, my family, my heritage, and myself. I expected all my friends to leave me, but I was fully prepared for this. However, none of this ever happened. My friends didn’t leave me, I wasn’t alone at the lunch table, I wasn’t even seem differently by those around me. I had failed my family by doing this, and I wished I had stopped acting like someone I wasn’t sooner. This is one of the only mistakes I have made which I consider a failure because it had taken me close to a year to fix, and this is why I consider it my most successful failure.
I was expecting the test to be something simple, like correcting grammatical mistakes in a reading, or reading comprehension questions. Upon receiving the test, I looked through the questions and found that they were dramatically different from the questions that I was expecting. I expected the questions to be about reading comprehension with a BCR question requiring me to describe the main idea from the reading. Instead, they were questions involving the writer’s techniques and purposes with an analytical writing prompt. This style of writing questions pervades through the school year in later county formatives which were given each quarter and the semester exams.
As I stated in my previous reflective essay, I hated writing in grade school. I sucked my teeth and groaned every time my teachers assigned an essay for homework. I don’t actually hate writing. I just disliked it because I never excelled in it. I wrote just to get the job done, but never took the time to pay attention to the writing process and the other aspects of writing. As I grew older and got a career, I realized how important writing was in the real world. From friends revising your status updates on Facebook that were plagued in grammatical errors or writing a professional email to your boss, writing skills are crucial to the real world.