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Thursday, January 5, 2012
Intellectual Apocolypse - WRITING SCORES!
Give your reasoning as to why “Writing scores…have declined every year since writing was first measured(on the S.A.T.) in 2006). What or who do you blame?
After taking the SATs back in the beginning of December, I don’t believe I was prepared for the writing section on it. I don’t think I was prepared because most things we are used to doing are not used on the SATs. Some being typing instead of hand writing something, getting a story to read then writing about it instead of getting one simple quote and getting as much time as you need on something then being focused to do it in 25 minutes. There are many differences from normal things high school students are used to then what you have to do on the SATs.
In school we hardly ever hand write something such as an essay. On the SATs, that is what you have to do. I don’t think that students have enough practice doing it to be able to get all their ideas down in time. You have 25 minutes total to read the quote you are giving, read the question being asked, plan out what you are going to write about and then write it. That is a lot to do in 25 minutes if you don’t have much practice before taking the SATs. It is a lot harder than most people think it is, it is one of those things that seems easy and simple until you actually have to do it.
I completely agree with S.Garvin. Not only are the students unprepared, some students are just too lazy. A lot of students just don't care enough to try. Kids today are terrible. We're lazy & we don't seem to care about much. Also, some teachers aren't very good at their job. They don't prepare us students for a chance to know what we're getting ourselves into. Teachers should take out time in class to help kids. I really do believe test scores would be better if teachers actually helped us. Most teachers just don't care. Yeah, there are classes you can take to help prepare you, but in all honesty, what student wants to take an everyday class when their teachers can help them out?
In the long run, not any one person or thing can be blamed for low test scores. It's everything mixed together that really screws kids over. I'm not saying it's all to be blamed on teachers, because it isn't. It's both the students and the teachers.
@Garvin. Thank you so much for relaying this information as I plan to integrate more "on Your Own" writing in the class. I feared this too, that literature becomes too much of assistance for the writer as opposed to the need to write about random unprecedented topics. As a teacher, though, I am caught between preparing you all for the real world and these tests... Which is more important, test scores or what happens after test scores?
I read an article about the SAT scores dropping, and it attributed the drop in scores to a growing test taking population, and gaps by race and ethnicity in how students score on the test. I think that scores are dropping because a bigger and more diverse group of kids are taking the test each year. The College Board also waives fees for low income students, who statistically score lower on the test.
The blame is not just the internet it's also the people who use the internet. More and more people these days depend to much on the internet. Not to mention the new smart phones wee have, it like a hand held computer that fits in you pocket. Kids, teens, and adults use these to get the answer to almost anything. Now a days teens use them in school to help with work, and to make doing class work easier on them. They took the saying "work smarter not harded" to a whole new level. They let the internet do the work and they don't have to think. This does nothing for them. They copy it down and don't learn anything. So to blame someone and something would be the internet use and how it is use by all of the kids and teens who use it just to get the work done.
Thank you DHarrington, for challenging the validty of the statistic. For so long the world has been expecting statistics and measurement to determine findings but truthfully, there is no truly valid, reliable or effective overall means of measuring anything. And yet people enjoy using these statistics as ammunition for stereotyping and complaining.
I believe the writing scores have drastically decreased not just due to internet but also because of texting. Personally, after a long summer vacation break and thousands of text messages, my spelling and writing skills have declined and weren't the as good as they were at the end of the previous year. Even though this is just a personal experience with barely any credibility, I believe it could be a part of the problem. We go from saying drawn out, correctly spelled and formated sentences to sentences with numbers and ridiculous abbreviations. Texting isn't all bad but it could be ruining our scores on the SAT, especially for the heavy texters.
I never thought about the fact that you all do go through a rather extensive time period (summer break) without any formal education AND only text-ed! Good point. Scary one for me though.. ANy advice as to how I can combat this better as an English teacher?
This is so cool because NOW!!! We can actually thread our comments, that is, we do not need to state "@" anymore! SO CLICK ON THE REPLY to directly reply to someone's particular comment!!
After taking the SATs back in the beginning of December, I don’t believe I was prepared for the writing section on it. I don’t think I was prepared because most things we are used to doing are not used on the SATs. Some being typing instead of hand writing something, getting a story to read then writing about it instead of getting one simple quote and getting as much time as you need on something then being focused to do it in 25 minutes. There are many differences from normal things high school students are used to then what you have to do on the SATs.
ReplyDeleteIn school we hardly ever hand write something such as an essay. On the SATs, that is what you have to do. I don’t think that students have enough practice doing it to be able to get all their ideas down in time. You have 25 minutes total to read the quote you are giving, read the question being asked, plan out what you are going to write about and then write it. That is a lot to do in 25 minutes if you don’t have much practice before taking the SATs. It is a lot harder than most people think it is, it is one of those things that seems easy and simple until you actually have to do it.
I completely agree with S.Garvin. Not only are the students unprepared, some students are just too lazy. A lot of students just don't care enough to try. Kids today are terrible. We're lazy & we don't seem to care about much. Also, some teachers aren't very good at their job. They don't prepare us students for a chance to know what we're getting ourselves into. Teachers should take out time in class to help kids. I really do believe test scores would be better if teachers actually helped us. Most teachers just don't care. Yeah, there are classes you can take to help prepare you, but in all honesty, what student wants to take an everyday class when their teachers can help them out?
ReplyDeleteIn the long run, not any one person or thing can be blamed for low test scores. It's everything mixed together that really screws kids over. I'm not saying it's all to be blamed on teachers, because it isn't. It's both the students and the teachers.
@Garvin. Thank you so much for relaying this information as I plan to integrate more "on Your Own" writing in the class. I feared this too, that literature becomes too much of assistance for the writer as opposed to the need to write about random unprecedented topics.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher, though, I am caught between preparing you all for the real world and these tests... Which is more important, test scores or what happens after test scores?
I read an article about the SAT scores dropping, and it attributed the drop in scores to a growing test taking population, and gaps by race and ethnicity in how students score on the test. I think that scores are dropping because a bigger and more diverse group of kids are taking the test each year. The College Board also waives fees for low income students, who statistically score lower on the test.
ReplyDeleteThe blame is not just the internet it's also the people who use the internet. More and more people these days depend to much on the internet. Not to mention the new smart phones wee have, it like a hand held computer that fits in you pocket. Kids, teens, and adults use these to get the answer to almost anything. Now a days teens use them in school to help with work, and to make doing class work easier on them. They took the saying "work smarter not harded" to a whole new level. They let the internet do the work and they don't have to think. This does nothing for them. They copy it down and don't learn anything. So to blame someone and something would be the internet use and how it is use by all of the kids and teens who use it just to get the work done.
ReplyDeleteThank you DHarrington, for challenging the validty of the statistic. For so long the world has been expecting statistics and measurement to determine findings but truthfully, there is no truly valid, reliable or effective overall means of measuring anything. And yet people enjoy using these statistics as ammunition for stereotyping and complaining.
ReplyDeleteWow.
DeleteI believe the writing scores have drastically decreased not just due to internet but also because of texting. Personally, after a long summer vacation break and thousands of text messages, my spelling and writing skills have declined and weren't the as good as they were at the end of the previous year. Even though this is just a personal experience with barely any credibility, I believe it could be a part of the problem. We go from saying drawn out, correctly spelled and formated sentences to sentences with numbers and ridiculous abbreviations. Texting isn't all bad but it could be ruining our scores on the SAT, especially for the heavy texters.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about the fact that you all do go through a rather extensive time period (summer break) without any formal education AND only text-ed! Good point. Scary one for me though.. ANy advice as to how I can combat this better as an English teacher?
DeleteThis is so cool because NOW!!! We can actually thread our comments, that is, we do not need to state "@" anymore! SO CLICK ON THE REPLY to directly reply to someone's particular comment!!
ReplyDelete